THE CHAPTER SHOWING HOW THE PAGANS SOMETIMES EXCHANGE THEIR WIVES.

The Pagan gentlemen and merchants have this custom amongst them. There will sometimes be two merchants who will be great friends, and each will have a wife; and one merchant will say to the other in this wise: "Langal perganal monaton ondo ?" that is, "So-and-so, have we been a long time friends?" The other will answer: "Hognan perga manaton ondo ;" that is, "Yes, I have for a long time been your friend." The other says: "Nipatanga ciolli?" that is, "Do you speak the truth that you are my friend?" The other will answer, and say: "Ho;" that is, "Yes." Says the other one: "Tamarani?" that is, " By God?" The other replies: "Tamarani!" that is, " By God!" One

1 I had hoped to have been able, by the assistance of others, to reduce this and the subsequent native words and phrases introduced by Varthema into readable Malayalim, in the same manner as I have treated his Arabic sentences; but the attempt has proved unsuccessful. Two Malayalim scholars, to whom they were submitted, concur in forming a very low estimate of our traveller's attainments in that language. One of the gentlemen states that "the majority of the words are not Malayalim, or, if they are, the writer has trusted to his ear, and made a marvellous confusion, which I defy anybody to unravel." This is not to be wondered at; on the contrary, there would have been reasonable ground for surprise if, under his peculiar circumstances, Varthema had succeeded in mastering, even to a tolerable extent, any one of the native languages. During his sojourn in the country, which was comparatively short, and seldom lasting more than a few days at each place, he must have heard several different dialects spoken, without any definite knowledge, perhaps, that they were such. Moreover, as his most intimate associates appear to have been the Arab traders, who, however long their intercourse with India, seldom speak any of the native languages correctly, he most probably acquired most of his vocabulary from them, jumbling that up with words and phrases which he had picked up here and there along the coast. The specimens of his Arabic are undoubtedly far superior to his essays in Malayalim, and, although strongly Italianized, by no means inferior to the colloquial of the majority of his countrymen at the present day after a much longer residence in the East where that is the vernacular language.

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says: "In penna tonda gnan penna cortu; "that is, "Let us exchange wives, give me your wife and I will give you mine." The other answers: "Ni pantagocciolli?" that is, "Do you speak from your heart?" The other says: "Tamarani!" that is, "Yes, by God!" His companion answers, and says: "Biti banno;" that is, "Come to my house." And when he has arrived at his house he calls his wife and says to her: "Penna, ingaba idocon dopoi;” that is, "Wife, come here, go with this man, for he is your husband." The wife answers: "E indi?" that is, "Wherefore? Dost thou speak the truth, by God, Tamarani?" The husband replies: " Ho gran patangociolli; " that is, “I speak the truth." Says the wife: "Perga manno;" that is, "It pleases me." "Gnan poi;" that is, "I go." And so she goes away with his companion to his house. The friend then tells his wife to go with the other, and in this manner they exchange their wives; but the sons of each remain with him. And amongst the other classes of Pagans above-mentioned, one woman has five, six, and seven husbands, and even eight. And one sleeps with her one night, and another another night. And when the woman has children, she says

The polyandria which prevailed at Calicut is also described by Nicolò de' Conti and 'Abd er-Razzák. The three accounts vary in detail, and, as might be expected on a subject so intimately connected with the domestic life of the natives, involve several misconceptions. Dr. Buchanan's more accurate version of the custom is as follows:-"The Nairs marry before they are ten years of age;...but the husband never cohabits with his wife. Such a circumstance, indeed, would be considered very indecent. He allows her oil, clothing, ornaments, and food; but she lives in her mother's house, or, after her parents' death, with her brother, and cohabits with any person she chooses of an equal or higher rank than her own...It is no kind of reflection on a woman's character to say that she has formed the closest intimacy with many persons; on the contrary, the Nair women are proud of reckoning among their favoured lovers many Brahmins, Rajahs, or other persons of high birth...In consequence of this strange manner of propagating the species, no Nair knows his father, and every man looks on his sisters' children as his heirs." PINKERTON's Voyages, vol. viii. p. 737.

it is the child of this husband or of that husband, and thus the children go according to the word of the woman.

THE CHAPTER CONCERNING THE MANNER OF LIVING, AND OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE, AMONG THE PAGANS.

The said Pagans eat on the ground in a metal basin, and for a spoon make use of the leaf of a tree, and they always eat rice and fish, and spices and fruits. The two classes of peasants eat with the hand from a pipkin; and when they take the rice from the pipkin, they hold the hand over the said pipkin and make a ball of the rice, and then put it into their mouths. With respect to the laws which are in use among these people:-If one kills another, the king causes a stake to be taken four paces long and well pointed at one end, and has two sticks fixed across the said stake two spans from the top, and then the said wood is fixed in the middle of the back of the malefactor and passes through his body, and in this way he dies. And this torture they call uncalvet. And if there be any one who inflicts wounds or bastinadoes, the king makes him pay money, and in this manner he is absolved. And when any one ought to receive money from another merchant, there appearing any writing of the scribes of the king, (who has at least a hundred of them,) they observe this practice-Let us suppose the case that some one has to pay me twenty-five ducats, and the debtor promises me to pay them many times, and does not pay them; I, not being willing to wait any longer, nor to give him any indulgence, shall take a green branch in my hand, shall go softly behind the debtor, and with the said branch shall draw a circle on the ground surrounding him, and if I can enclose him in the circle, I shall say to him these words three times: "Bramini raza pertha polle;" that is, "I command you by the

head of the Brahmins and of the king, that you do not depart hence until you have paid have paid me and satisfied me as much as I ought to have from thee." And he will satisfy me, or truly he will die there without any other guard. And should he quit the said circle and not pay me, the king would put him to death.1

1 It is remarkable that the administration of justice in India has been the theme of general admiration from the earliest times. Greek and Roman writers, from Diodorus Siculus downward, have eulogized it, Marco Polo witnesses on the same side, and later Arabian authors confirm their favourable testimony. El-Edrîsi says: "Justice is a natural instinct among the inhabitants of India, and they hold nothing in equal estimation. It is stated that their numbers and prosperity are due to their integrity, their fidelity in fulfilling engagements, and to the general uprightness of their conduct. It is, moreover, on this account that visitors to their country have increased, that the country flourishes, and that the people thrive in plenty and in peace. As a proof of their adherence to what is right and their abhorrence of what is wrong may be instanced the following usage: if one man owes another money, the creditor finding him anywhere draws a line in the shape of a ring around him. This the creditor enters, and also the debtor of his own free will, and the latter cannot go beyond it until he has satisfied the claimant; but should the creditor decline to force him, or chooses to forgive him, he, the creditor, steps out of the ring." 'Abd er-Razzâk also, speaking of Calicut, says: "Security and justice are so firmly established in this city, that the most wealthy merchants bring thither from maritime countries considerable cargoes, which they unload, and unhesitatingly send into the market and bazaars, without thinking in the meantime of any necessity of checking the account, or of keeping watch over the goods." India in the Fifteenth Century, i. p. 14.

The mode of procedure against debtors, as described by El-Edrîsi and Varthema, and which Marco Polo, before them, states to have seen carried out against the person of the king of Malabar, is confirmed by Hamilton with slight variation :-"They have a good way of arresting people for debt, viz. there is a proper person sent with a small stick from the judge, who is generally a Brahmin, and when that person finds the debtor, he draws a circle round him with that stick, and charges him in the king and judge's name not to stir out of it till the creditor is satisfied either by payment or surety; and it is no less than death for the debtor to break prison by going out of the circle." PINKERTON's Voyages, vol. viii. p. 377.

Diodorus Siculus mentions the punishment by impaling as existing in India. Lib. ii. 18.

THE CHAPTER CONCERNING THE MODE OF WORSHIP OF THE PAGANS.

Early in the morning these Pagans go to wash at a tank, which tank is a pond of still water. And when they are washed, they may not touch any person until they have said their prayers, and this in their house.1 And they say their prayers in this manner :-They lie with their body extended on the ground and very secret, and they perform certain diabolical actions [or motions] with their eyes, and with their mouths they perform certain fearful actions [or motions]; and this lasts for a quarter of an hour, and then comes the hour for eating. And they cannot eat unless the cooking is performed by the hands of a gentleman, for the ladies only cook for themselves. And this is the custom among the gentlemen. The ladies wait to wash and perfume themselves. And every time that a man wishes to associate with his wife, she washes and perfumes herself very delicately; but, under any circumstances, they always go scented and covered with jewels, that is to say, on their hands and in their ears, on their feet and on their arms.

THE CHAPTER CONCERNING THE FIGHTING OF THESE PEOPLE OF CALICUT.

In general they practise every day with swords, shields, and lances. And when they go to war, the king of Calicut maintains constantly one hundred thousand people on foot, because they do not make use of horses, only of some ele

1 Brahmins are obliged to wash the whole body before eating. Some are under a vow to bathe before sun-rise, which they do either in warm water at home, or in a tank or river. After dressing, the Brahmin sits down to eat, but must preserve himself from numerous accidents which would render him impure, and compel him to desist from his meal. See FORBES'S Ras Mâlâ, vol. ii. pp. 255-8.