[4] Tarantulas is assuredly, a mistake here for centipedes and scorpions, which are common all over India.--E.
The sepulchre of St. Thomas is in a small city, not much frequented by merchants, but very much by Christians and Saracens, on account of devotion. The Saracens hold him as a great prophet or holy man, and call him Ananias. The Christians take of a red earth which is found in the place where he was slain, which they mix with water, and administer to the sick with great reverence. It happened in the year 1288, that a great prince, who had more rice than he had room to keep it in, chose to make bold with that room in St. Thomas's church in which pilgrims are received, and converted it into a granary: But he was so terrified by a vision of St. Thomas in the night following, that he was glad to remove it with great speed. The inhabitants are black, although not born so, but by constantly anointing themselves with the oil of jasmine they become quite black, which they esteem a great beauty, insomuch, that they paint their idols black, and represent the devil as white. The cow worshippers carry with them to battle some of the hairs of an ox, as a preservative against dangers.
SECTION XX.
Of the Kingdom of Murfili, and the Diamond Mines, and some other Countries of India.
Murfili or Monsul[1], is five hundred miles northwards from Moabar, and is inhabited by idolaters. In the mountains of this country there are diamonds, which the people search for after the great rains. They afterwards ascend these mountains in the summer, though with great labour, on account of the excessive heat, and find abundance of these precious stones among the gravel; and are on these occasions much exposed to danger from the vast numbers of serpents which shelter themselves in the holes and caverns of the rocks, in which the diamonds are found in greatest abundance. Among other methods of obtaining the diamonds, they make, use of the following artifice: There are great numbers of white eagles, which rest in the upper parts of these rocks for the sake of feeding on the serpents, which are found at the bottom of the deep vallies and precipices where the men dare not go. They therefore throw pieces of raw meat down into these deep places, which the eagles seeing, stoop for, and seize with all the little stones and gravel which adhere to them. The people afterwards search the eagles nests when they leave them, and carefully pick out all the little stones they can find, and even carefully examine the eagles dung in quest of diamonds[2]. The kings and great men of the country keep all the largest and finest diamonds that are procured from these mines, and allow the merchants to sell the rest.
[1] Muis in the Trevigi edition, according to Pinkerton, and which, he says, is 10OO miles, instead of the 500 in the text. This certainly refers to Golconda. The districts of India have been continually changing their names with changes of dominion; and one or other of these names given by Marco to the diamond country, may at one time have been the designation of some town or district at the mines--E.
[2] One would suppose we were here reading a fragment of the adventures of Sinbad the sailor, from the Arabian Nights. But on this and a few other similar occasions in the narrative of Marco, it is always proper to notice carefully what he says on his own knowledge, and what he only gives on the report of others.--E.
Lac is westwards from the shrine of St. Thomas, from whence the Bramins have their original, who are the honestest merchants in the world, and will not lie on any account. They faithfully keep any thing committed to their charge, or as brokers, they will sell or barter merchandize for others, with great fidelity. They are known by a cotton thread, which they wear over their shoulders, and tied under their arms across their breast. They have but one wife, are great astrologers, of great abstinence, and live to great ages. They constantly chew a certain herb, which keeps their teeth good and helps digestion. There are certain religious persons among them called Tangui, who live with great austerity, going altogether naked; their principal worship is addressed to cows, of which they wear a small brass image on their foreheads, and they make an ointment of ox bones, with which they anoint themselves very devoutly. They neither kill nor eat any living creature, and even abstain from green herbs, or fresh roots till dried, esteeming every thing that lives to have a soul. They use no dishes, but lay their victuals on dry leaves. They ease themselves in the sands, and they disperse it, lest it should breed worms, which might die for want of food. Some of these people are said to live to 150 years of age, and when they die their bodies are burned.
Cael is a great city governed by Aster, one of the four brethren[3], who is very rich and kind to merchants. He is said to have three hundred concubines. All the people this country are continually chewing a leaf called Tembul[4], with lime and spices. Coulam[5] is 500 miles south-west from Moabar, being chiefly inhabited by idolaters, who are very much addicted to venery, and marry their near kindred, and even their own sisters. It also contains Jews and Christians, who have a peculiar language. They have pepper, Brazil, indigo, black lions, parrots of many kinds, some white as snow, some azure, and others red, peacocks very different from ours, and much larger, and their fruits are very large. In this country there are many astrologers and physicians. In Camari, there are apes so large, that they seem like men, and here we again came in sight of the north star. Delai has a king, and its inhabitants have a peculiar language[6] and are idolaters. Ships from Mangi come here for trade.
[3] This obscure expression seems to imply, that Aster was one of the four kings in Moabar, or the Carnatic.--E.
[4] Now called Betel, and still universally used in India in the same manner.--E.
[5] Coulam may possibly be Cochin or Calicut, on the Malabar coast as being south-west from Moabar or Coromandel, and having Jews and Christians; as the original trade from the Red Sea to India was on this coast.--E.
[6] Camari or Comati, and Delai or Orbai, are obviously the names of towns and districts on the Malabar coast going north from Coulain. Yet Comari may refer to the country about Cape Comorin.--E.
Malabar is a kingdom in the west, in which, and in Guzerat[7], there are many pirates, who sometimes put to sea with an hundred sail of vessels, and rob merchants. In these expeditions they take their wives and children to sea along with them, where they remain all summer. In Guzerat there is great abundance of cotton, which grows on trees six fathoms high, that last for twenty years; but after twelve years old, the cotton of these trees is not good for spinning; and is only fit for making quilts.
[7] According to Pinkerton, these are called Melibar and Gesurach in the Trevigi edition, and he is disposed to consider the last as indicating Geriach, because of the pirates. But there seems no necessity for that nicety, as all the north-western coast of India has always been addicted to maritime plunder or piracy.--E.
Canhau is a great city, having plenty of frankincense, and carrying on a great trade in horses. In Cambaia is much indigo, buckram, and cotton. Semenath or Sebeleth, is a kingdom of idolaters, who are very good people, and greatly occupied in trade. Resmacoran is a great kingdom of idolaters and Saracens, and is the last province towards the north in the Greater India. Near this there are said to be two islands, one inhabited by men and the other by women; the men visiting their wives only during the months of March, April, and May, and then returning to their own island; and it is reported, that the air of that country, admits of no other procedure. The women keep their sons till twelve years old, and then