They Shave Their Beards, Leaving Only The Hair
On Their Upper Lips, And Do Not Shave The Head Like The Turks.
In general,
the natives of this country, even of the higher ranks, use little state
in their households, and are very sparing in their diet; but the zamorin
is served with considerable splendour.
These kings or nobles never marry;
but every one has a mistress of the Nayre cast, which, among the Malabars,
are considered as the gentry; even the zamorin has only a mistress, who
has a house of her own near the palace, and a liberal allowance for the
charges of her household and maintenance at her own disposal. Upon any
dislike or difference, he may always leave her for another. The children
are only considered as the offspring of the mother, and have no right or
title to inherit the kingdom, or any thing else belonging to the father;
and when grown up, are only held in that rank or estimation which belongs
to the blood or parentage of their mother. Brothers succeed to brothers;
and in lack of these, the sons of their sisters, who do not marry, and
have no certainty respecting the fathers of their children; as they are
very free and dissolute in their manners, choosing paramours as they
please.
These sisters of the zamorin, and other kings of Malabar, have handsome
allowances to live upon; and when any of them reaches the age of ten,
their kindred send for a young man of the Nayre cast, out of the kingdom,
and give him great presents to induce him to initiate the young virgin;
after which he hangs a jewel round her neck, which she wears all the rest
of her life, as a token that she is now at liberty to dispose of herself
to any one she pleases as long as she lives.
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