Part II

, p. 10).

[235] The Rio Grande of the Portuguese is an arm of the sea from five to thirteen miles in breadth, called Orango Channel on the Admiralty Chart. It lies between the mainland and the Bissagos islands.

[236] This church was demolished in 1646; the place of burial can no longer be identified.

[237] See _Jose da Silva Mendes Leal_ (Transactions of Lisbon Academy, 1871), and _Texeira de Aragão_ (Boletim Lisbon Geogr. Soc., VI, 1886, p. 583).

[238] This trustworthy man can have been no other than the “Moor” who was carried off from Anjediva (see Appendix E), and who, having been baptised, became known as Gaspar da Gama.

[239] The frazila of Calecut is equal to 10.4 kilogr.; the fanão is worth 25-5/7 reis of 1555 (about 7.45_d._) and the cruzado is worth 9_s._ 8_d._ But if 3 cruzados are accepted as the equivalent of 50 fanãos, the value of a fanão would be 6.96_d._

[240] I have little doubt that instead of Baqua we ought to read Bezoar. In D. Manuel’s letter to the King of Castile, the royal writer states that among the presents which the King of Cochin gave to Vasco da Gama (in 1502) there was a stone as large as a filbert, which was taken out of the head of a very rare animal, called Burgoldof, and which proved a specific against all poisons.

The Rev. J. J. Jaus, of the Basel Mission, informs me that the bezoar, in Malayalam, is called _Gōrōchanam_, which means “out of the cow’s brain”, _go_ signifying cow. It still sells for its weight in silver, and is highly prized as a medicine and antidote. My esteemed correspondent is unable to enlighten me as to the meaning of _burgoldof_.

Bishop J. M. Speechly, in a letter addressed to me, suggests that “Baqua” (Bakwa) may be a corruption of “Bagawat”, a common name for Shiva, and the “Stone of Baqua” a dedication to him.

The Arabic name of the bezoar (badesar) has the meaning of antidote. This “stone” is a calcareous concretion found in the intestines of some animals, more especially goats and antelopes, but also in those of monkeys. It varies in size from a pea to a fist. All through the Middle Ages, this oriental bezoar was looked upon as a most potent medicine against poisons, and it is still highly valued in the East. The Bezoar of Goa (Gowa) is an artificial product made up of musk, ambergris, and gum of tragacanth.

[241] The pequy (pik) is about 27 inches.

[242] This, according to Prof. Kopke, is meant for Crangalor, the modern Kodungalar in Cochin. The frazila there is equal to 8.314 kilo., and the fanão, when buying pepper, is valued at 22-8/19 reis (6.5_d._).

[243] It is the Coilum of Marco Polo, the Columbum of Friar Jordanus (1330), the modern Quilon. It is one of the principal seats of the Syrian Christians. The Portuguese built a fort there in 1503.

[244] Marco Polo’s Cael has been satisfactorily identified by Dr. Caldwell with the decayed village of Kayal (Palaya Kayal), near the mouth of the Tamrapanni river; whilst our author’s Caell is the Callegrande of Barros, now represented by Kayal Patnam, some distance to the south of that river. (Comp. Yule’s _Marco Polo_, ii, p. 307.) The pearl fisheries are near it, on the coast of Ceylon.

[245] According to Prof. Kopke, it extended from Point Calymere to the Godavari.

[246] Barbosa (p. 214) says that “the best sapphires are found in Ceylon,” as also “many rubies,” but inferior to those of Pegu.

[247] The silk referred to by the author, as also by Barbosa and Barros, is the produce of the silk cotton tree (_Bombax malabaricum_) and is much inferior in quality to true silk.—KOPKE.

[248] This, according to Prof. Kopke and Yule (_Marco Polo_, ii, p. 222), is Siam, the old capital of which (Ayuthia) is called Sornau or Xarnau by Varthema, Giovanni d’Empoli, and Mendez Pinto.

[249] Benzoin (Gum-Benjamin) is the produce of Styrax Benzoin, found in Siam, Cochin-China, Java and Sumatra, that of Siam being accounted the best.

[250] The odoriferous aloe-wood of the author is the wood of _Aquilaria Agallocha (Roxb.)_, found in Further India, and more especially in Chamba. Its Sanscrit name, Aguru, was corrupted into Agila and Aquila; and hence its Latin and Portuguese name of “Eaglewood.” (Yule’s _Marco Polo_, ii, p. 215.)

[251] Prof. Kopke identifies Tenacar with Tenasserim, a great emporium at one time, through which the products of Siam reached the outer world.

[252] Brazil-wood first became known in Europe at the beginning of the fourteenth century under the designation of _Lignum presillum_. The most esteemed kind of this dye-wood is known as Sapan wood (_Caesalpinia sappan_), found more especially in Siam.

[253] This is no doubt Bengal, the capital of which was Chatigam (Chittagong).

[254] Cloves were originally found only in the Moluccas; the true nutmeg (_Myristica moschata_) comes from the same islands and those further to the east. Tin was—and still is—a native product. The silk and porcelain came from China.

[255] The frazila was equal to 10.51 kilo., the bahar was 210.22 kilo. The cruzado was a silver coin and was valued at 360 reis (8_s._ 8_d._).

[256] Barbosa (p. 186) gives a better account of musk, which really only reaches Pegu from the interior. It is the secretion of _Moschus moschiferus_, an animal resembling a deer, which lives in the mountains lying between the Amur river, China and India. The male has a pouch between the navel and the genitals which holds about 50 grammes of this secretion.

[257] Burma, above Pegu, is still famous for its rubies.

[258] This is evidently a duplicate account of what has been said above about Bemgala.

[259] Prof. Kopke would identify this with Timor, where there is a fort called Camanaça. This, however, is quite inadmissible, for there are no elephants in Timor. I am more inclined to think that “Conimata” stands for Sumatra, a small state in North Sumatra, adjoining Pedir. The voyage to Pater and Conimata is stated to occupy the same time, viz., fifty days. If this be so, there is a duplication of Sumatra as well as of Bengal.

[260] This seems to be Pedir, a small kingdom in Northern Sumatra, which had a pagan king when Varthema was there, although many of the inhabitants were Mohammedans. Rhubarb (_Rheum officinale_) is, however, only to be found in W. and N.W. China and in Tibet. The lacca tree is a native of Sumatra.

[261] Say £966.

[262] In calculating these values we have assumed the quintal to be equivalent to 100 pounds, the bahar = 460 pounds, the ratel = 1 pound. The cruzado is taken at 9_s._ 8_d._

It is interesting to compare these prices with those given by Duarte Barbosa for Calecut. Assuming the fanão to be worth 6.5_d._ they were as follows per pound:—Cinnamon, 4.3_d._; cloves, 7.2_d._ to 8.3_d._; pepper, 2.9_d._ to 3.3_d._; ginger, 0.5_d._ to 0.9_d._; nutmeg, 3.0_d._ to 3.36_d._; lac, 3.6_d._ to 5.2_d._; rhubarb, 9_s._ 9_d._ to 11_s._; musk, £15 11_s._; aloe-wood, 24_s._ 7_d._; frankincense, 0.9_d._ to 1.5_d._ A purchaser of one pound of each of these commodities would have paid at Calecut £17 13_s._ 6_d._, and would have received at Alexandria £57 12_s._ 8_d._, an increase of 210 per cent. (See Lord Stanley of Alderley’s version of _Duarte Barbosa_, Hakluyt Society, 1866, p. 219.)

Present Retail Prices in London are as follows (per pound): cinnamon, 1_s._ 8_d._; cloves, 1_s._ 6_d._; pepper, 7½_d._ to 10½_d._; ginger, 10_d._ to 1_s._ 4_d._; nutmeg, 2_s._ 6_d._ to 3_s._; lac, 8_d._; rhubarb, 8_s._ to 12_s._; musk, £117.

[263] The words placed within brackets have been kindly furnished me by the Rt. Rev. J. M. Speechly, D.D., who was Bishop of Travancore, 1879-89. In a letter to me he remarks that, “at the sea-port towns generally the worst Malayālam is spoken. Many Malayālam words are the same in Tamil, and in this list there are some which a Tamil scholar would be able to point out. Also, it is not unlikely that there are some Arabic words Malayālamised in the list. The anonymous author’s list is a very interesting one, and his journal, I have no doubt, will be so also. The ‘ne’ which ends so many words may stand for ‘nī’, ‘thou’. Sometimes it is only an expressive ending”.

[264] She died in childbed on August 24, 1498; and Dom Manuel, having been granted a dispensation from the Pope, married her sister, Doña Maria, on August 24, 1500, the second anniversary of his first wife’s death.

[265] _Collecção de S. Vicente_, t. III, fol. 513; XIV, fol. 1.

[266] _Collecção de S. Vicente_, t. XIV, fol. 1.

[267] Gaspar da Gama certainly came in the _S. Gabriel_ (see Sernigi’s letter, Appendix B).

[268] The immediate business of Pedro Correa was to get Pope Alexander VI to grant permission to the Commanders and Knights of the Orders of Christ and Aviz to marry. In this he succeeded (Goes, _Chronica do D. Manuel_, I, c. 15).

[269] “e proveito nosso.” This, in _Alguns Documentos_, is rendered “e principalemente nosso”. It is just possible that the King meant to say that the “service of God” was his principal object, as it had been that of his predecessors.

[270] “By these same discoverers” (_Alguns Documentos_).

[271] This reference to “boughs and leaves” reminds us of what the author of the _Journal_ says about gathering the branches and leaves of supposed cinnamon trees, p. 81.

[272] _Alguns Documentos_ adds: “nor such as suited”, that is, suited the requirements of the Indian market.

[273] This paragraph only appears in _Alguns Documentos_.

[274] The King, or his advisers, thus at once identified Ptolemy’s Taprobane with Ceylon, whilst Ortelius, the professional geographer, seventy-six years later, still assigns that name to Sumatra (see his map _Indiae Orientalis_, in _Theatrum Orbis Terrarum_).

[275] Monçaide and Gaspar da Gama, see Appendix E.

[276] A Bull of Alexander VI, dated Rome 1497, kalendas of June, allows King Manuel and his successors to keep possession of the countries conquered from the infidels, without prejudice to any prior claims of other Christian powers, and prohibits all kings, not possessing such claims, from disturbing King Manuel in the enjoyment of these rights. Finally, the Pope requires the King to establish the Christian religion in all the countries he may conquer (quoted from _Alguns Documentos_, p. 90).

[277] Canestrini, _Delle relazioni tra Firenze e il Portugallo_ (Archivo Storico Italiano, Florence, 1846, App. III).

[278] Falcão, _Livro de toda a fazenda_, 1612, p. 144.

[279] See