different customs we met with at every step as has been described, and especially by the inhuman men not unlike beasts, determined to return. I will now recount shortly, (in order that my narrative may not be wearisome,) what happened to me on our return, because it will be useful to some either in restraining their too eager appetite for seeing the inestimable greatness of the world, or, being on their road, in knowing how to regulate themselves and use their understanding in sudden emergencies. Being then arrived in Calicut on our return, as I have shortly before written, we found two Christians who were Milanese. One was called Ioan-Maria, and the other Piero Antonio, who had arrived from Portugal with the ships of the Portuguese, and had come to purchase jewels on the part of the king.1 And when they had arrived in Cocin, they fled to Calicut. Truly I never had greater pleasure than in seeing these two Christians. They and I went naked after the custom of the country. I asked them if they were Christians. Ioan-Maria answered: "Yes, truly we are." And then Piero Antonio asked me if I was a Christian. I answered: "Yes, God be praised." Then he took me by the hand, and led me into his house. And when we had arrived at the house, we 1 Don Emanuel of Portugal, surnamed the Fortunate. Cochin :-"a town which, though giving name to a small rûj or native state, belongs to the British, and is included within the district of Malabar, under the presidency of Madras. Lat. 9° 8', long. 76° 18′." (THORNTON'S Gazetteer.) When the Portuguese first arrived in India, Cochin was governed by a Rajah called Triumpara or Trimunpara, who appears to have been subject to the Zamorin of Calicut. Pedro Alvarez Cabral was well received by this sovereign, and established a factory in the town as early as 1500. In 1502, the Zamorin endeavoured to detach Triumpara from the Portuguese, but without effect, and the latter on their part engaged to support him against his suzerain, who in the following year attacked and defeated him. He was subsequently restored by the Portuguese, on which occasion they received permission to build a fort and church at Cochin, and became virtually masters of the place. It was taken from them by the Dutch in 1662. This is the first time that Varthema mentions Cochin. began to embrace and kiss each other, and to weep. Truly, I could not speak like a Christian: it appeared as though my tongue were large and hampered, for I had been four years without speaking with Christians. The night following I remained with them; and neither of them, nor could I, either eat or sleep solely for the great joy we had. You may imagine that we could have wished that that night might have lasted for a year, that we might talk together of various things, amongst which I asked them if they were friends of the king of Calicut. They replied that they were his chief men, and that they spoke with him every day. I asked them also what was their intention. They told me that they would willingly have returned to their country, but that they did not know by what way. I answered them: "Return by the way you came." They said that that was not possible, because they had escaped from the Portuguese, and that the king of Calicut had obliged them to make a great quantity of artillery against their will, and on this account they did not wish to return by that route; and they said that they expected the fleet of the king of Portugal very soon. I answered them, that if God granted me so much grace that I might be able to escape to Cananor when the fleet had arrived, I would so act that the captain of the Christians should pardon them; and I told them that it was not possible for them to escape by any other way, because it was known through many nations that they made artillery. And many kings had wished to have them in their hands on 1 Meaning, Europeans or European Christians. 2 Most of the cannoniers in the service of the Indian states at this period appear to have been either Franks or Turks; and a knowledge of artillery was evidently much prized, for Varthema professed himself capable of making the largest mortars in the world in order to escape from his Mamlûk companions at Meccah. (See p. 50 ante.) De Faria y Souza mentions incidentally, that in 1507 a renegade Christian directed the assault against the fort which the Portuguese had then recently built on the island of Angediva. STEVENS'S Portuguese Asia, vol. i. p. 108. account of their skill, and therefore it was not possible to escape in any other manner. And you must know that they had made between four and five hundred pieces of ordnance large and small, so that in short they had very great fear of the Portuguese; and in truth there was reason to be afraid, for not only did they make the artillery themselves, but they also taught the Pagans to make it; and they told me, moreover, that they had taught fifteen servants of the king to fire spingarde. And during the time I was here, they gave to a Pagan the design and form of a mortar, which weighed one hundred and five cantara, and was made of metal. There was also a Jew here who had built a very beautiful galley, and had made four mortars of iron. The said Jew, going to wash himself in a pond of water, was drowned. Let us return to the said Christians : God knows what I said to them, exhorting them not to commit such an act against Christians. Piero Antonio wept incessantly, and IoanMaria said it was the same to him whether he died in Calicut or in Rome, and that God had ordained what was to be. The next morning I returned to find my companion, who was making great lamentation, for he thought that I had been killed. I told him, in order to excuse myself, that I had been to sleep in a Moorish mosque to render thanks to God and to Mahomet for the benefit received in that we had returned in safety, and with this he was much pleased. And in order that I might be able to know what was going on in the country, I told him that I would continue to sleep in the mosque, and that I did not want any goods, but that I wished always to be poor. And wishing to escape from them, I thought that I could only deceive them by hypocrisy; for the Moors are the most stupid people in the world, so that he was satisfied. And this I did in order that I might be able to talk frequently with the Christians, because they knew everything, from day to day, from the court of the king. I began to put my hypocrisy in practice, and pretended to be a Moorish saint, and never would eat flesh excepting in the house of loanMaria, where every night we ate two brace of fowls. And I would no longer associate with merchants, neither did any man ever see me smile, and all day I remained in the mosque excepting when he [my companion] sent for me to go and eat; and he scolded me because I would not eat flesh. I replied: "That too much eating leads man to many sins." And in this manner, I began to be a Moorish saint, and happy was he who could kiss my hand and some my knees. THE CHAPTER SHOWING PHYSICIAN HOW I MADE MYSELF A It happening that a Moorish merchant fell sick of a very great malady, and could not by any means get natural relief, he sent to my companion, who was a great friend of his, to know if he or any one in his house could give him any remedy. He answered that I would go to visit him ; and so he and I together went to the house of the sick man and questioned him about his illness. He said to us: "I feel very bad in my stomach and bowels." I asked him if he had had any cold by which this illness might have been caused? The sick man replied: "That it could not be cold, for he did not know what that was.' Then my companion turned to me and asked me: “O Iunus, dost thou know any remedy for this my friend?" I replied: I replied: "That my father was a physician in my country, and that that which I knew, I knew by the practice which he had taught me." My companion said: "Well, then, let us see if by any remedy this merchant, my very dear friend, can be relieved." Then I said: "Bizmilei erechman erathin!" and then I took his hand, and, feeling his pulse, found that he had a great 1 See note 1 on p. 41 ante. deal of fever, and I asked him if his head ached. He replied: "Yes, it aches very much." Then I asked him if his bowels were relieved. He answered: "They had not been relieved for three days." I immediately thought to myself, this man has an overloaded stomach, and to assist him he requires an injection; and saying so to my companion he replied: "Do what you like, so that he be cured.” Then I made preparation for the injection in this wise: I took sugar, eggs, and salt, and for the decoction I took certain herbs, which did more harm than good: the said herbs were such as leaves of walnuts. And in this way, in the course of a day and a night, I administered five injections to him; and it did him no good on account of the herbs, which produced a contrary effect, so that I should have been glad had I not been involved in such a task. At length, seeing that he could not obtain relief on account of the wretched herbs, I took a good bunch of purslain, and made about half a jug of liquor, and put in it the same quantity of oil, and a good deal of salt and sugar, and then strained it all well. And here I committed another blunder, for I forgot to warm it, and administered it cold as it was. As soon as the injection was administered, I tied a cord to his feet, and we hoisted him up until he touched the ground with his hands and head, and we held him up thus high for the space of half a quarter of an hour. My companion said: "O Iunus, is it the custom to do thus in your country?" I replied: "Yes, when the sick man is in extremis." He said that that was a good reason, for in that position the mixture would penetrate better. The poor sick man cried out and said: "Matile, Matile, gnancia tu poi, gnancia tu poi!" that is, "No more, no more, for I am killed; I am killed!" and so we standing there to comfort him, whether it were God or nature, his bowels began to act like a fountain, and we immediately let him down; and truly he was relieved to the extent of half a vat full, and he was well |