other kinds which are of seven very beautiful colours. Here there are hares and partridges, but not like ours. There is also here another kind of bird, one of prey, much larger than an eagle, of the beak of which, that is, of the upper part, they make sword-hilts, which beak is yellow and red, a thing very beautiful to behold. The colour of the said bird is black, red, and some feathers are white.1 There are produced here hens and cocks, the largest I ever saw, so much so that one of these hens is larger than three of ours. In this country in a few days we had great pleasure from some things which we saw, and especially that every day in the street where the Moorish merchants abide they make some cocks fight, and the owners of these cocks bet as much as a hundred ducats on the one which will fight best. we saw two fight for five hours continuously, so that at the last both remained dead. Here also is a sort of goat, much larger than ours, and which is much more handsome, and which always has four kids at a birth. Ten and twelve large and good sheep are sold here for a ducat. And there is another kind of sheep, which has horns like a deer :3 these And I am indebted to the kindness of Professor Owen of the British Museum for the following interesting note:-"This coloured bill applies to the Helmet-Hornbill, (Buceros galeatus,) of which the bowl of a jewelled ladle, for sherbet, which was sent from Constantinople for my inspection, was formed. The tradition of this sherbet-ladle, which is part of the crown-jewels of the Sultan, is that the bowl was made from the beak of the Phoenix. Buceros galeatus, however, is not known to exist, as an indigenous bird, out of the islands of the Indian Archipelago. Its plumage agrees, in a general way, with that ascribed to a bird with the parti-coloured bill in the text." "According to Turpin, "cock-fighting in Siam attracts multitudes, as the field is always stained by the death of one of the combatants." (PINKERTON, vol. ix. p. 598.) Low also, in his History of Tenasserim, says: they fight cocks with artificial spurs, but these are generally made of bone, or of an alligator's tooth, or even of a human bone, if the parties are of royal extraction, and so shaped as to resemble the natural spur." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. ii. p. 272. "More probably like an ox. It may refer to the huge horns of the male of Ovis ammon." PROFESSOR OWEN. There are are larger than ours, and fight most terribly. buffalos here, much more misshapen than ours. also great numbers of fish like ours. I saw here, however, a bone of a fish which weighed more than ten cantari.1 With respect to the manner of living of this city, the Pagans eat all kinds of flesh excepting that of oxen, and they eat on the ground, without a cloth, in some very beautiful vessels of wood. Their drink is water, sweetened where possible. They sleep high from the ground, in good beds of cotton, and covered with silk or cotton. Then, as to their dress, they go alla apostolica, with a quilted cloth of cotton or silk. Some merchants wear very beautiful shirts of silk or cotton : in general, they do not wear anything on their feet, excepting the Brahmins, who also wear on the head a cap of silk or camelot, which is two spans long. In the said cap they wear on the top a thing made like a hazel-nut, which is worked all round in gold. They also wear two strings of silk, more than two fingers wide, which they hang round the neck. They wear their ears full of jewels and none on their fingers. The colour of the said race is semi-white, 3 1 Turpin says: "The rivers and sea coasts of this kingdom [Siam] abound more with fish than elsewhere: the reason doubtless is, because the rivers for six months in the year overflow the sown grounds, and then the fish find plenty of food, and do not prey on one another." (PINKERTON, vol. ix. p. 632.) The bone which Varthema describes may have been that of a stray whale, as, according to Crawfurd, whales are only found in this region on the shores of some of the more easterly islands of the Archipelago. The Italian cantaro varies in different provinces and according to the article weighed. Its average is about a cwt. English. "The people live on rice, fish, venison, pork, and in general on the flesh of almost every sort of animal and reptile; but they seldom use beef or poultry, and do not make butter." Journ. of R. A. Soc., vol. ii. p. 266. 3 See note on p. 112 ante. 4 A similar dress is described by Colonel Symes as worn by the Burmese gentry :-"It consists of a long robe, either of flowered satin or velvet, reaching to the ancles, with an open collar and loose sleeves ; because the air here is cooler than it is in Calicut, and the scasons are the same as with us, and also the harvests.1 CAUSES HIS THE CHAPTER SHOWING HOW THE KING The king of the said city does not cause his wife's virginity to be taken by the Brahmins as the king of Calicut does, but he causes her to be deflowered by white men, whether Christians or Moors, provided they be not Pagans. Which Pagans also, before they conduct their wives to their house, find a white man, of whatever country he may be, and take him to their house for this particular purpose, to make him deflower the wife. And this happened to us when we arrived in the said city. We met by chance three or four merchants, who began to speak to my companion in this wise: "Langalli ni pardesi," that is, "Friend, are you strangers?" He answered: "Yes." He answered: "Yes." Said the merchants : "Ethera nali ni banno," that is, "How many days have you been in this country?" We replied: "Mun nal gnad banno," that is, " It is four days since we arrived." Another over this there is a scarf, or flowing mantle, that hangs from the shoulders; and on their heads they wear high caps made of velvet, either plain or of silk embroidered with flowers of gold, according to the rank of the wearer. Earrings are a part of male dress : persons of condition use tubes of gold about three inches long, and as thick as a large quill, which expands at one end like the mouth of a speakingtrumpet; others wear a heavy mass of gold beaten into a plate, and rolled up; this lump of metal forms a large orifice in the lobe of the ear, and drags it down by the weight, to the extent sometimes of two inches." PINKERTON, vol. ix. p. 496. 1 "The natives on the coast divide the year into three seasons, viz., the hot, the rainy, and the cold; the temperature, however, hardly varies sufficiently to justify the adoption of this division. THORNTON's Ga zetteer. one of the said merchants said: "Biti banno guan pigamanathon ondo," that is, " Come to my house, for we are great friends of strangers ;" and we, hearing this, went with him. When we had arrived at his house, he gave us a collation, and then he said to us: "My friends, Patanci nale banno gnan penna periti in penna orangono panna panni cortu," that is, "Fifteen days hence I wish to bring home my wife, and one of you shall sleep with her the first night, and shall deflower her for me." We remained quite ashamed at hearing such a thing. Then our interpreter said: "Do not be ashamed, for this is the custom of the country.' Then my companion hearing this said: "Let them not do us any other mischief, for we will satisfy you in this ;" but we thought that they were mocking us. The merchant saw that we remained undecided, and said: "O langal limaranconia ille ocha manezar irichenu," that is, "Do not be dispirited, for all this country follows this custom." Finding at last that such was the custom in all this country, as one who was in our company affirmed to us, and said that we need have no fear, my companion said to the merchant that he was content to go through this fatigue. The merchant then said: “I wish you to remain in my house, and that you, your companions and goods, be lodged here with me until I bring the lady home." Finally, after refusing, we were obliged to yield to his caresses, and all of us, five in number, together with all our things, were lodged in his house. Fifteen days from that time this merchant brought home his wife, and my companion slept with her the first night. She was a young girl of fifteen years, and he did for the merchant all that he had asked of him. But after the first night, it would have been at the peril of his life if he had returned again, although truly the lady would have desired that the first night had lasted a month. The mer chants, having received such a service from some of us, would gladly have retained us four or five months at their own expense, for all kinds of wares cost very little money, and also because they are most liberal and very agreeable men.1 THE CHAPTER SHOWING HOW THE DEAD BODIES ARE PRESERVED IN THIS CITY. All the Brahmins and the king are burnt after death, and at that time a solemn sacrifice is made to the devil. And then they preserve the ashes in certain vases made of baked earth, vitrified like glass, which vases have the mouth narrow like a small scutella. They then bury this vase with the ashes of the burnt body within their houses. When they make the said sacrifice, they make it under some trees, 1 I find nothing to confirm the flagrant profligacy described in this chapter, either as regards Tenasserim or Siam ; on the contrary, Turpin states that "the nuptial couch is seldom polluted by adultery...There is a whimsical custom, however, which deranges all matrimonial agreements. Sometimes the monarch bestows a wife, of whom he is tired, on one of his favourites: it is a flattering distinction, which often constrains the inclination." (PINKERTON, vol. ix. p. 585.) Nevertheless, revolting as the custom must appear to us, and difficult as it may be to account for so strange an illustration of human depravity, I see no reason to doubt the veracity of Varthema's narrative, more especially as Richard describes a similar usage as prevailing in the neighbouring country of Aracan :-" Virginity is not an esteemed virtue with them. Husbands prefer running the risk of fathering the children of others, rather than marry a novice. It is generally Dutch sailors, who are liberally paid for this infamous prostitution." Id. pp. 760-1. The colloquy between Varthema's party and the Tenasserim merchants was carried on through an interpreter, who appears to have communicated with the former in a corrupt Malayalim, as the specimens of the native dialect introduced bear a close affinity to those given in one of the preceding chapters on Calicut. 2 Or scodella. This word, which is nearly obsolete except in some of the Italian dialects, signifies a bowl or basin, and according to Alberti is a diminutive form of scudo, a shield. Not an inappropriate name for the chatties common throughout India, the lower part of which is round and convex. The upper part is generally drawn into a narrow mouth. |