Ceylon Is A Beautiful And Fertile Island, Yet By Reason Of Continual
Wars With The King, Every Thing Is Very
Dear, as he will not suffer any
thing to be brought to the castle belonging to the Portuguese, so that
They are often in great want of victuals, and they are forced to bring
their provisions every year from Bengal. The king is called rajah and is
very powerful, for he comes sometimes against Columbo, where the
Portuguese have their fort, with 100,000 men and many elephants. But
they are all naked people, though many of them are excellent marksmen
with their muskets. When the king talks with any man, he stands on one
leg, setting the other foot on his knee, with his sword in his hand; as,
according to their customs the king never sits. He is dressed in a fine
painted cotton cloth wrapped about his middle; his hair long and bound
about his head with a small fine cloth, and all the rest of his body
naked. His guard is a thousand men, which stand round about him. They
are all Chingalese, who are said to be the best kind of the Malabars.
They have very large ears, as the larger they are the more honourable
they are esteemed, some being a span long. They burn the wood of the
cinnamon tree, which gives a pleasant scent. In this island there is
great store of rubies, sapphires, and spinels of the best kind, but the
king will not allow the inhabitants to dig for them, lest they should
tempt his enemies to make war upon him and deprive him of his dominions.
There are no horses in this country, but many elephants, which are not
so large as those of Pegu, which are of prodigious size; yet it is said
all other elephants are afraid of those of Ceylon, and refuse to fight
them, though small. The women of this island wear a cloth round their
middles, reaching only to the knees, all the rest of their bodies being
bare. Both men and women are black and very little. Their houses are
small, being constructed of the branches of the palmer or coco tree, and
covered with the leaves of the same tree.
The 11th of March we departed from Ceylon and doubled Cape Comorin. Not
far from thence, between Ceylon and the main-land of India at
Negapatnam, they fish for pearls every year, whence all India, Cambaya,
and Bengal are supplied. But these pearls are _not so orient_ [are not
so round or of so fine a water] as those of Bahrain in the gulph of
Persia. From Cape Comorin we went to Coulan, a fort of the Portuguese,
whence comes great store of pepper for Portugal, as frequently one of
the caraks is laden here. We arrived at Cochin on the 22d of March,
where we found the weather very warm, and a great scarcity of
provisions, as neither corn nor rice grows here, having mostly to be
supplied from Bengal.
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