journey inland from Cannanore brought the travelers to Bijayanagar, where they remained some time. After describing the city, its noble site, and the hunting grounds in the neighborhood, our author’s narrative is taken up with a full account of the elephants maintained by the Rajah, detailing the various uses to which they were applied, their armor when employed in war, their surprising intelligence, and the manner of their propagation. He also gives the names of the different coins cur-
lxvi INTRODUCTION.
rent in the country, with their relative value, on comparing which with a similar list supplied by the Arabian traveler Abd er-Razzak sixty years before, some changes appear to have been made in the interval in the silver and copper money; but the gold coinage had undergone no alteration, unless it was the withdrawal of the Varaha, or Double Pagoda, from circulation.
Returning to Cannanore, the party proceeded along the coast to Torma- patani, Pandarani, and Capogatto. The first of these places is undoubtedly the “Dormapatam” of Hamilton, situated near the Tellicherry river. The two last I have been unable to identify satisfactorily with the names of any exist- ing towns ; but they are distinctly mentioned by Bakkeus as occurring between Cannanore and Calicut, and appear to have occupied the sites of Hamilton’s “Burgara” and “Cottica,” answering to the “Bergara” and “Cotta” of D’Anville, and the “Vadacurry” and “Kotacull” of Buchanan and Arrowsmith. Vasco de Gama landed at this Pandarani, (which must not be confounded with a place which then bore a similar name, to the south of Calicut, but now called Ponani) when he paid his first visit to the Zamorin.
Our adventurers made a long stay at Calicut, and an entire book of Varthema’s narrative is taken up with reminiscences of the memorable things observed there. Its topography, trade, agriculture, animal and veg-etable productions, the court and state of the Zamorin, the administration of justice, the Brahmins, the religion of its inhabitants, their every-day worship
INTRODUCTION. lxvii
and funeral services, their division into castes, the influence acquired there by the foreign and native Muhammedans, their mode of navigation and warfare,—all these subjects are treated of in detail, and with more than ordinary care, forming together a most complete domestic history of what he calls “the place of the greatest dignity in India.” Bearing in mind that all this matter is original, and that many of the particulars noted were communicated to Europe for the first time through our author’s writings, one can- not but express surprise at the extent of his observation and the depth of his researches. What strikes us most is the generally clear insight which he obtained into some of the abstruse doctrines of Hinduism, and the correct account which he gives of the mode of succession to the sovereignty, the oligarchy of the Nairs, and the distinctions between the subordinate castes down to the half savage Poulias or Poulichees. Not less remarkable is his description of the extraordinary relations, sanctioned by usage if not by law, existing between the Nambouris, or highest caste, and the wife or wives of the Zamorin, which, coupled with the picture which he draws of the polyandry prevailing among the Nairs, reveals a state of social depravity as revolting as it is lamentably true.
Through what medium did Varthema acquire all this information, so diffuse in detail and yet so authentic. He had no books of reference, and his prejudiced Mussulman companions alone would undoubtedly have led him into frequent misrepresenta-
f2
lxviii INTRODUCTION.
tions regarding the Kafirs. The only inference we can draw is, that he did not confine his inquiries to them, but associated familiarly with the Hindus also, and, being endowed with uncommon perspicacity, was enabled to separate the true from the false, and to present us with a narrative almost unrivalled for originality of investigation and accuracy of statement among the published travels of his age. Moreover, how did he compile his book? Did he keep a journal, noting down day by day his acquired experience, or did he trust to recollection alone? If the latter, the retentiveness of his memory would not be the least qualification for the task which he accomplished with such surprising exactness.
The suspension of trade at Calicut, owing to the hostile proceedings of the Portuguese on the coast, was a serious drawback to Cogiazenor’s mercantile speculations, apparently causing him and Varthema to leave the place sooner than they had otherwise intended. In describing their onward progress, the latter says: “We departed and took our road by a river, which is the most beautiful I ever saw, and arrived at a city called Cacolon, distant from Calicut fifty leagues” This river was unquestionably what is known to sailors as the “Backwater of Cochin,” formed by the inland confluence of different streams with the numerous estuaries along the coast, by which, especially during the rainy monsoon, navigation is practicable in a line parallel with the shore. It seems very likely that the journey was continued by the same mode of conveyance as far as Quilon,
INTRODUCTION. lxix
for Varthema tells us, in a subsequent part of his narrative, that they went from that place to Calicut by this same “river” on their return from the Indian Archipelago. “Cacolon,” the modern Kayan Kulam, and the Coilcoiloan of Hamilton, is de- scribed by the latter, in his time (1688—1723) as “a little principality contiguous to Porkah,” which our author calls “the island of Porcai,” probably from its being almost insulated by the “Backwater of Cochin.” At Kayan Kulam he fell in with the “Christians of St. Thomas,” or Nestorians, the ancestors of the native Christian community still existing in Malabar, and notices briefly some of their ritual differences from the Church of Rome. Quilon, the town next gained, and which Varthema calls “Colon,” he describes as fertile in fruits but not in grain, and speaks of the king as being very powerful, and a great friend of the Portuguese, which is true, for they had obtained permission to settle a factory there two years prior to his visit.
Leaving Quilon, our travelers rounded Cape Comorin, and proceeded in a north-easterly direction to “Chayl,” noticing by the way the pearl-fishery near Tuticorin. Chayl, I take to represent the “Calligicura” of Pliny, and the “Kolkhi” of the author of the Periplus, and appears to have been situated near the promontory forming one side of the Pamban Passage. Their next voyage was to the city of
1 I have identified it with Barbosa's "Cael," which he locates on the mainland " after passing the province of Quilicare [Killi- karai] towards the north-east," and also with Hamilton's " Coil," (see note I, on p. 184); but I do not find the name in that neigh-
lxx INTRODUCTION.
“Cioromandel,” “distant from Colon seven days’ journey by sea, more or less, according to the wind,” and subject to the Rajah of Bijayanagar. From the indications given, I presume this to be Negapatam, though, if right in the conjecture, it was a place of greater commercial importance then than it is now. Departing thence, and passing a gulf where there were many rocks and shoals, (the Palk Strait,) they reached Ceylon, and from Varthema’s description of the locality as being situated near a large river, surrounded by cinnamon-plantations, and in the neighborhood of high mountains, I infer that they landed at Colombo. Though their stay here was short, owing to some jealousy of Cogiazenor on the part of a resident Arab merchant our author managed to collect a con- siderable amount of general information respecting the island. He mentions the intestine wars which prevailed between four rival kings,—a fact corroborated by Sir J. E. Tennent and other historians; the various gems found there; the cultivation of cinnamon; Adam’s Peak, and the tradition associated with it among Mussulmans; the dress of the people, their ignorance of fire-arms, and the weapons in use among them, with which, how- ever, “they did not kill each other overmuch, because they are cowardly fellows.”
Three days’ sail from Ceylon brought our party
