OF THE GREAT ISLAND OF CEYLON, OF THE KINGDOM OF MALABAR, AND THE
STATE OF OTHER COUNTRIES VISITED BY THE AUTHOR.
Sailing hence one thousand miles to the west, and a little to the
north-west, is Zeilan, two thousand and four hundred miles in
circuit, and anciently three thousand and six hundred miles, as is
seen in the maps of the mariners of those places; but the north winds
have made a great part of it sea. It is the finest island in the
world; the king is called Sendernaz. The men and women are
idolaters, go naked, save that they cover their privities with a
cloth; have no corn, but rice and oil of Sesamino, milk, flesh, wine
of trees, abundance of brazil, the best rubies in the
world--sapphires, topazes, amethysts, and other gems; the king is
said to have the very finest ruby that was ever seen, as long as
one's hand, and as big as a man's arm, without spot, shining like a
fire, not to be bought for money. Cublai-Khan sent and offered the
value of a city for it; but the king answered he would not give it
for the treasure of the world, nor part with it, because it had been
his ancestors. The men are unfit for soldiers, and hire others when
they have occasion. From Zeilan, sailing sixty miles to the west,
lies the great province of Malabar, which is not an island, but firm
continent, called India the Greater, the richest province in the
world; there are in it four kings, the chief of which is Sinder
Candi, in whose kingdom they fish for pearls, viz., betwixt Malabar
and Zeilan, in a bay where the sea is not above ten or twelve fathom;
in which divers descend, and in bags or nets tied to their bodies
bring up the oysters, in which are the pearls; and because there are
some great fish which kill the fishermen, they hire certain Brahmins
to charm them, and these have the twentieth, and the king the tenth.
These oysters are found through the whole month of April, and till
the middle of May, and not at any time else. In September they find
them in a place above three hundred miles off, and till the midst of
October. The Khan goes as naked as the rest, save that he wears some
honourable ensigns, as a collar of precious stones about his neck,
and a thread of silk to his breast, with one hundred and four fair
pearls strung thereon to count his prayers by, of which he must daily
say so many to his idols. A sort of bracelets he weareth on three
places on his arms, and likewise on his legs, on his fingers, and on
his toes. The prayers which he says are _Pacauca_, _Pacauca_,
_Pacauca_, one hundred and four times. This king hath one thousand
concubines, and if any please him he takes her, as once he did from
his brother, whence wars had followed; but the mother threatening to
cut off her breasts, which had nourished them, if they proceeded, the
quarrel was composed. He hath many horsemen for his guard, which
always accompany him, who, when the king dies, throw themselves
voluntarily into the fire when he is burnt, to do him service in the
next world.
This prince and his brethren, the kings of Malabar, buy their horses
from Ormus and other parts; the country breeds none, and if it
sometimes falls out that it does, yet are they there bred
ill-favoured and naught. Condemned persons will offer themselves to
die in honour of such an idol, which is performed with twelve knives,
and twelve wounds in divers parts of the body, at every blow saying,
"I kill myself in honour of that idol;" and the last he thrusts in
his heart, and is then burnt by his kindred. The wives also cast
themselves into the fire with their husbands, disrepute following
those who refuse it. They worship idols, and most of them adore
cows, and would not eat so holy flesh as beef for all the world.
There are some called Gaui, who eat such oxen as die of themselves,
but may not kill them, and daub over their houses with ox-dung.
These Gaui are of the posterity of those which slew St. Thomas, and
cannot enter the place where his body is. They sit on carpets on the
ground in this kingdom: they have no corn but rice; are not a martial
people; kill no beasts, but when they will eat any, get the Saracens
to do it, or other people; wash twice a-day, morning and evening,
both men and women, and will not otherwise eat, which they who
observe not are accounted heretics. They touch not their meat with
their left hand, but use that hand only to wipe, and for other
unclean uses. They drink each in his own pot, and will not touch
another man's pot, nor suffer their own to touch their mouth, but
hold it over, and pour it in. To strangers who have no pot they pour
drink into his hands, and oblige him to drink with them. Justice is
severely administered for crimes, and a creditor may in some cases
encompass his debtor with a circle, which he dares not pass till he
hath paid the debt or given security; if he does, he is to be put to
death: and Master Marco once saw the king himself on horseback thus
encircled by a merchant, whom he had long delayed and put off:
neither would the king go out of the circle which the merchant had
drawn till he had satisfied him, the people applauding the king's
justice. They are very scrupulous of drinking wine made of the
grape, and they which do it are not thought worthy or honest men, or
admitted to be witnesses, a thing denied also to him who sails by
sea, for they say such men are desperate. They think lechery no sin.
It is very hot, and they have no rain but in June, July, and August,
without which refreshing of the air they could not live. They have
many physiognomers and soothsayers, which observe beasts and birds,
and have an unlucky hour every day in the week called Choiach, as on
Monday, betwixt two and three, on Tuesday the third hour, and on
Wednesday the ninth, etc., through all the year, set down in their
books. They curiously observe nativities. At thirteen years old
they put their boys to get their own livings, who run up and down to
buy and sell, having a small stock given them to begin, and in pearl
season they buy a few pearls, and sell them again to the merchants,
which cannot well endure the sun, for little gain; what they get they
bring to their mothers to dress for them, for they may not eat at
their father's cost. They have idols, male and female, to whom they
offer their daughters, who, when the monks or priests appoint, sing
and dance to the idols, and very often set victuals before them,
saying that they eat, leaving it the space of a meal, singing all the
while, and then they fall to eating in earnest, after which they
return home. The cause of these sacrifices is the household quarrels
betwixt the god and goddess, which, if they should appease, they
should lose their blessing. The great men have litters made of large
canes, which they fasten artificially to some upper place to prevent
tarantulas biting, and also fleas and other vermin, and for fresh air.
The place of St. Thomas's sepulchre is a small city, not much
frequented by merchants, but very much by Christians and Saracens for
devotion. The Saracens hold him a great prophet, and call him
Ananias, that is, a holy man. The Christians take of the earth where
he was slain, which is red, and carry it with them with great
reverence, and give it, mixed with water, to the sick. A.D. 1288, a
great prince, having more rice than room to lay it in, made bold with
St. Thomas's church, in the room where pilgrims were received; but,
by a vision of St. Thomas in the night, was so terrified that he
quickly left the place. The inhabitants are black, not so born, but
became so by often anointing themselves with jessamine oil, to obtain
that beauty. They paint the devil white, and their idols black. The
cow-worshippers carry with them to battle some of the hair of a wild
ox, as a preservation against dangers, and therefore such hairs are
sold at a high price.