THE CHAPTER CONCERNING THE PALACE OF THE KING OF CALICUT.

The palace of the king is about a mile in circumference. The walls are low, as I have mentioned above, with very beautiful divisions of wood, with devils carved in relief. The floor of the house is all adorned with cow dung. The said house is worth two hundred ducats or thereabouts. I

sea during summer such as fall in their way. They possess certain small boats, like brigantines, which they row skilfully, and collecting many of these together, they themselves being armed with bows and arrows, they surround any ship that is becalmed, and after forcing it to surrender by means of their arrows, they proceed to plunder the crew and the ship, casting the men naked on the ground. The booty they divide with the lord of the country, who countenances them. This kind of boat they call Caturi." (RAMUSIO, vol. i. p. 312.) These piracies appear to have declined in Hamilton's time. He says: "Porcat or Porkah is of small extent, reaching not above four leagues along the seacoast. The prince is poor, having but little trade in his country, though it was a free port for pirates when Evory and Kid robbed along the coast of India; but since then the pirates infest the northern coasts, finding the richest prizes amongst the Mocha and Persia traders." (PINKERTON'S Voyages, vol. viii. p. 383.) Baldæus calls the place Percatti, and in Keith Johnston's superb new atlas it is written Parrakad.

Query? Is the whole or any part of the territory which formerly constituted the small state of Porca ever insulated by the "Backwater of Cochin ?" Horsburgh does not enable me to decide the question, but judging from the maps it seems highly probable.

1 A solution of cow dung (gobar) is in general use among the natives throughout India for anointing the walls and floors of their mud huts, on account of its binding and supposed purifying properties. Buchanan says: "It is also much used as fuel, even where wood is abundant, especially by men of rank, as, from the veneration paid to the cow, it is considered as by far the most pure substance that can be employed. Every herd of cattle, when at pasture, is attended by women, and those often of high caste, who with their hands gather the dung, and carry it home in baskets. They then form it into cakes, about half an inch thick, and nine in diameter, and stick them on the walls to dry. So different, indeed, are Hindu notions of cleanliness from ours, that the walls of their best houses are frequently bedaubed with these cakes.” PINKERTON'S Voyages, vol. viii. p. 612.

now saw the reason why they could not dig foundations, on account of the water, which is close to them.1 It would be impossible to estimate the jewels which the king wears, although in my time he was not in very good humour, in consequence of his being at war with the king of Portugal, and also because he had the French disease, and had it in the throat. Nevertheless, he wore so many jewels in his ears, on his hands, on his arms, on his feet, and on his legs, that it was a wonder to behold.3 His treasure consists of two magazines of ingots of gold, and stamped golden money, which many Brahmins said that a hundred mules could not carry. And they say, that this treasure has been left by ten or twelve previous kings, who have left it for the wants of the republic. This king of Calicut also possesses a casket three spans long and one and a half span high, filled with jewels of every description.

1 See note on p. 136 ante.

2 Frang or Frank is the common name among Arabs for the disease referred to.

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3 The following is a description of the Zamorin's dress when he gave audience to Pedro Alvarez Cabral in 1500:-" He had only a piece of white cloth, embroidered with gold, about his middle all the rest of his body being naked. On his head was a cap of cloth of gold. At his ears hung jewels, composed of diamonds, sapphires, and pearls, two of which were larger than walnuts. His arms, from the elbow to the wrist, and his legs, from the knees downwards, were loaded with bracelets, set with infinite precious stones of great value. His fingers and toes were covered with rings. In that of his great toe was a large ruby of surprising lustre. Among the rest was a diamond bigger than a large bean. But all this was as nothing compared with the richness of his girdle, made with precious stones set in gold, which cast a lustre which dazzled everybody's eyes. Near the Zamorin stood a chair of state and his litter, all of gold and silver, curiously made, and adorned with precious stones. There were three trumpets of gold and seventeen of silver, whose mouths were set with stones also; not to mention the silver lamps and censers smoking with perfumes, and his golden spitting basin." GREENE'S Collection, vol. i. p. 43.

THE CHAPTER CONCERNING THE SPICES WHICH GROW IN THAT COUNTRY OF CALICUT.

Many pepper trees are found in the territory of Calicut: there are also some within the city, but not in large quantities. Its stem is like that of a vine, that is to say, it is planted near to some other tree, because, like the vine, it cannot stand erect. This tree grows like the ivy, which embraces and climbs as high as the wood or tree which it can grasp. The said plant throws out a great number of branches, which branches are from two to three palmi long. The leaves of these branches resemble those of the sour orange, but are more dry, and on the underneath part they are full of minute veins. From each of these branches there grow five, six, and eight clusters, a little longer than a man's finger, and they are like small raisins, but more regularly arranged, and are as green as unripe grapes. They gather them in this green state in the month of October and even in November, and then they lay them in the sun on certain mats, and leave them in the sun for three or four days, when they become as black as they are seen amongst us without doing anything else to them. And you must know that these people neither prune nor hoe this tree which produces the pepper.1

1 "Pepper is proverbially styled the money of Malabar... The trailing plant which produces pepper is propagated by planting a cutting at the root of the jak, the mango, or other trees having rough bark, up which the vine climbs. After it has been planted it requires no great trouble or attention, the cultivator having little more to do than to collect the produce in the proper season. When the fruit is intended for black pepper, it is not allowed to ripen, but is collected green, and becomes black on drying. That which is intended for white pepper is left to ripen thoroughly, in which state the berries are covered with a red pulp, which being washed off, leaves the peppercorn white, and requiring merely to be dried to be fit for the market." (THORNTON'S Gazetteer.) Fitch says: The shrub is like unto our ivy tree, and if it did not run about some tree or pole, it would fall down and rot. When first they

In this place ginger also grows, which is a root, and of these same roots some are found of four, eight, and twelve ounces each. When they dig it, the stem of the said root is about three or four spans long, and is formed like some reeds [cannuze]. And when they gather the said ginger, in that same place they take an eye of the said root, which is like an eye of the cane, and plant it in the hole whence they have dug that root, and cover it up with the same earth. At the end of a year they return to gather it, and plant it in the aforesaid manner. This root grows in red soil, and on the mountain, and in the plain, as the mirabolans grow, kind of which is found here. Their stem is like that every of a middle-sized pear tree, and they bear like the pepper

tree.

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gather it, it is green; and then they lay it in the sun and it becometh black." (PINKERTON's Voyages, vol. ix. p. 425.) Barbosa gives a detailed account of the plant, and also of the pepper trade shortly after the arrival of the Portuguese in India. RAMUSIO, vol. i. p. 322.

1 Hieronimo di Santo Stefano, who visited Calicut some years prior to Varthema, describes the pepper-vine and ginger-shrub in similar terms. Of the latter, he says: "For the propagation of ginger, they plant the piece of a small fresh root, about the size of a small nut, which at the end of a month grows large. The leaf resembles that of a wild lilly.” (India in the Fifteenth Century, iv. p. 4, 5.) Fitch likens the plant to our garlic, and the root is the ginger." Dr. Buchanan states that the cuttings of ginger are planted between the months of April and May, and that between December and January the roots are fit for pulling. Those intended for replanting are mixed with a little mud, and immediately buried in a pit. See A Journey from Madras through Mysore, &c., vol. ii. p. 469.

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2 "Of Terminalia, the genus to which the Myrobalans belong, Wright and Arnott, in their Prodromus Flora Peninsula India Orientalis, vol. i, p. 312 et seq., enumerate eleven species; but probably only five of them have edible fruits, viz. :

THE CHAPTER CONCERNING SOME FRUITS OF CALICUT.

I found in Calicut a kind of fruit which is called Ciccara. Its stem is like that of a large pear tree. The fruit is two or two and a half palmi long, and is as thick as a man's thigh. This fruit grows on the trunk of the tree, that is to say, under the boughs, and partly on the middle of the stem. The colour of the said fruit is green, and it is formed like the pine, but the work is more minute. When it begins to ripen, the skin becomes black and appears rotten. This fruit is gathered in the month of December, and when it is eaten it seems as though you were eating musk melons, and it appears to resemble a very ripe Persian quince. It appears also, as though you were eating a preparation of honey, and it also has the taste of a sweet orange. Within the said fruit there are some pellicles like the pomegranate. And within the said pellicles there is another fruit which, if placed on the embers of the fire and then eaten, you would say that they were most excellent chestnuts. So that this appears to me to be the best and the most excellent fruit I ever ate. Another fruit is also found here, which is called Amba,

The fruit here described is obviously the Jack (Artocarpus integrifolia), the large seeds of which, when roasted, are frequently eaten. They were a favourite dish with my late lamented friend Sir James Outram, who used to say they were equal to chestnuts. Though the taste of the pulp is sweet, the smell is very disagreeable to Europeans. Varthema, who seems to affix the odour to the skin, is the only one of the old travellers who appears to have noticed this peculiarity. I cannot discover the origin of the name Ciccara which he gives to the fruit, unless it be a corruption of the Malayalim Tsjaka or Taca. Batûta mentions two species of the Jack, Esh-Shaki and El-Barki, and, in describing the fruit, says: "When it grows yellow in the autumn, they gather and divide it and in the inside of each is from one to two hundred seeds. Its seed resembles that of a cucumber, and has a stone something like a large bean. When the stone is roasted, it tastes like a dried bean." (LEE's Translation, p. 105.) The distinction thus drawn between the seed and the stones of the Jack seems to justify Varthema

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