Chapter 12

[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 9s.8d.It is interesting to compare these prices with those given by Duarte Barbosa for Calecut. Assuming the fanão to be worth 6.5d.they were as follows per pound:—Cinnamon, 4.3d.; cloves, 7.2d.to 8.3d.; pepper, 2.9d.to 3.3d.; ginger, 0.5d.to 0.9d.; nutmeg, 3.0d.to 3.36d.; lac, 3.6d.to 5.2d.; rhubarb, 9s.9d.to 11s.; musk, £15 11s.; aloe-wood, 24s.7d.; frankincense, 0.9d.to 1.5d.A purchaser of one pound of each of these commodities would have paid at Calecut £17 13s.6d., and would have received at Alexandria £57 12s.8d., an increase of 210 per cent. (See Lord Stanley of Alderley’s version ofDuarte Barbosa, Hakluyt Society, 1866, p. 219.)Present Retail Prices in London are as follows (per pound): cinnamon, 1s.8d.; cloves, 1s.6d.; pepper, 7½d.to 10½d.; ginger, 10d.to 1s.4d.; nutmeg, 2s.6d.to 3s.; lac, 8d.; rhubarb, 8s.to 12s.; musk, £117.

[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 9s.8d.

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

Present Retail Prices in London are as follows (per pound): cinnamon, 1s.8d.; cloves, 1s.6d.; pepper, 7½d.to 10½d.; ginger, 10d.to 1s.4d.; nutmeg, 2s.6d.to 3s.; lac, 8d.; rhubarb, 8s.to 12s.; 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 theS. 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, inAlguns 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 theJournalsays about gathering the branches and leaves of supposed cinnamon trees, p. 81.

[272]Alguns Documentosadds: “nor such as suited”, that is, suited the requirements of the Indian market.

[273]This paragraph only appears inAlguns 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 mapIndiae Orientalis, inTheatrum 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 fromAlguns 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 Parte III,Fonti italiane, vol. i, p. 215; vol. ii, p. 113.

[280]Delle Navigationi e Viaggi, i, Venice, 1550.

[281]Vita e lettere d’ Amerigo Vespucci, Firenze, 1745, p. L.

[282]Roteiro, 2º ed., pp. 124-7.

[283]Markham,The Letters of Amerigo Vespucci. London (Hakluyt Society), 1894, p. x.

[284]Il Milione di Marco Polo, Firenze, 1828, i, p. liii.

[285]Sechs-und-zwanzigster Jahresbericht des historichen Kreisvereins von Schwaben, Augsburg, 1861, pp. 113-170.

[286]Peutinger studied at Padua and other cities of Italy, 1483-6. He is supposed to have paid a flying visit to Rome early in the sixteenth century. His brother-in-law, Christopher Welser, was at that time resident there, and perhaps the abstract was made by him.

[287]Sailing vessels going from the Cape Verde Islands to Lisbon frequently shape their course by the Azores. See p.94.

[288]Translated from Codex 1910 in the Riccardian Library at Florence.

[289]Literally, “whalers”, or “vessels having the shape of a whale”, called “barinels” by the Portuguese, and not caravels.

[290]According to thePaesi novamente retrovatiand Ramusio, there were 180, but Peutinger says there were 118, of whom 55 died and 60 came back.

[291]According to thePaesi, etc., July 11th.

[292]This was the vessel commanded by Nicolau Coelho.

[293]“Molto amalado”. ThePaesisays “amallato a morte”, sick unto death, the very expression used by Peutinger.

[294]Ramusio says 1,300 leagues, but even this is a gross exaggeration. If we allow 17½ leagues to a degree, the new land actually discovered beyond the Rio de Infante amounted to 860 leagues, viz., 800 leagues along the African coast and 60 leagues in India.

[295]From the Cape to the Rio dos Bons Signaes is only 460 leagues.

[296]The Rio dos Bons Signaes, or Kiliman River.

[297]Peutinger says: “if they would stay till new moon, when the waters would grow small, they would give them gold in plenty in exchange for their money or merchandise.”The Zambezi begins to subside in the beginning of April. Vasco da Gama left on February 25th. This is a very satisfactory confirmation of the writer’s information.

[297]Peutinger says: “if they would stay till new moon, when the waters would grow small, they would give them gold in plenty in exchange for their money or merchandise.”

The Zambezi begins to subside in the beginning of April. Vasco da Gama left on February 25th. This is a very satisfactory confirmation of the writer’s information.

[298]From the Kiliman River (Zambezi) to Melinde is 330 leagues.

[299]The writer must have misunderstood his informants. Gaspar da Gama is evidently referred to. See Appendix E.

[300]From Melinde to Calecut is about 2,340 miles, or 682 leagues.

[301]This sentence is omitted by Ramusio.

[302]The “Bab el mandeb”.

[303]The Strait of Romania is the Bosporus, ancient cartographers (Ortelius and others) very properly writing “Romania” for the Turkish “Rum-ili”, instead of the corrupt “Roumelia” of most modern authors.

[304]The “Sinus Arabicus” of Pliny (vi, 28) is a gulf of the Erythrean, identical with our Red Sea.

[305]Peutinger adds that the people of Calecut were neither black nor white; and that they were Christians, although bad ones.

[306]Peutinger says: “churches and convents.”

[307]Peutinger’s version of this sentence is as follows: “Large and small are baptized in a state of nudity, once every three years, in a river near the town.”

[308]The writer evidently refers to the roads in Portugal, but Ramusio says “as in Italy”.

[309]Ramusio: “Esquires, doorkeepers and chamberlains.”

[310]Ramusio and Peutinger say: “by about fifty persons.”

[311]Peutinger says the couch “was hung round (umhangen) with blackish-green velvet, and had a white coverlet, all worked with gold, and above it a sumptuous curtain. The walls were hung with fine velvet of various colours.”

[312]Peutinger: “the king had the captain asked what he wanted or sought.”

[313]Ramusio: “carried on in their vessels.”

[314]Peutinger translates: “Irrkirche,”i.e., heterodox church.

[315]Industria: The word in Peutinger’s letter, “gescheidigkeit”, or intelligence, seems more appropriate.

[316]Ramusio adds here “partly”. The island is Ceylon.

[317]Ramusio adds: “and not by Christians, and the Moors are the masters (signori).”

[318]The Italian original has “stapola”.

[319]Babylonia of Egypt. Ramusio omits “Babylonia”. Peutinger has Alkeiro (Cairo).

[320]The xerafins of Portuguese authors, worth about 7s.10d.(at Calecut).

[321]ThePaesiand Ramusio add “zetanini velutati”; and Ramusio introduces also “damasked Lucca cloth”, in place of “scarlet cloth”. Prof. Dalla Vedova suggests that “cetanini” may stand for “setini”, a silken stuff of narrow width used in decorating the columns of churches. Bandini says it means “zendado, a kind of cloth”. Lucca was famous in the sixteenth century for its silks and woollen cloths.

[322]Tin, from Malacca.

[323]ThePaesi, Ramusio, and Peutinger say May 19. According to the “Roteiro”, Vasco da Gama anchored off Capua on May 20.

[324]Ramusio says 200 tons; Peutinger 1,200.

[325]This sentence is omitted by Ramusio; but Peutinger says “many of these vessels are drowned in the sea”.

[326]Ramusio says: “are of curious build”.

[327]Ramusio adds: “but with wooden bolts”, but omits the allusion to the loadstone.Peutinger locates the “calamito or loadstone” near Ceylon. The myth of magnetic mountains and islands originated in India or China, and was widely credited during the Middle Ages. It was believed that the magnet pulled out the iron bolts and nails of passing ships, which then fell to pieces and were lost.

[327]Ramusio adds: “but with wooden bolts”, but omits the allusion to the loadstone.

Peutinger locates the “calamito or loadstone” near Ceylon. The myth of magnetic mountains and islands originated in India or China, and was widely credited during the Middle Ages. It was believed that the magnet pulled out the iron bolts and nails of passing ships, which then fell to pieces and were lost.

[328]Ramusio adds: “The sea rises and falls alternately every six hours, as elsewhere, and sometimes between 500 and 700 vessels may be seen there—a great sight”.

[329]Peutinger adds that the cantar is equal to 250 pounds, when in fact it is only a hundredweight. Five cantars were equal to 1 bahar = 208 kilo = 460 pounds.

[330]Ramusio and Peutinger say that ginger is worth only one half. They say nothing about cinnamon.

[331]Ramusio says nothing about “calking”. The writer seems to look upon “ballasting” and “calking” as identical operations. Or has he made use of a Portuguese term (alastrar), the meaning of which he did not know? Or are we to understand that lac was employed as a substitute for pitch?

[332]Ramusio and Peutinger say that they also take corals in payment, and this seems more probable.

[333]“Balasci” are the pink rubies named after the country of their origin, Badakhshi, which was usually known, according to Ibn Batuta, as Al-balaksh (Yule’sMarco Polo, I, p. 169; Heyd,Geschichte des Levante-Handels, 1879, I, p. 582). Badakhshi is Badakhshan, and not a kingdom near Pegu and Bengal, as supposed by Duarte Barbosa (Hakluyt Society’s edition, 1866, p. 212).

[334]The latter part of this sentence is omitted by Ramusio.

[335]Bab el Mandeb.

[336]The Rio dos Bons Signaes, or Zambezi.

[337]Malvasia (Malmsey) is a luscious Greek wine, named after the town of Napoli di Malvasia, in Laconia. The vines were transplanted to Crete, Madeira, and other places.

[338]Ramusio says: “they had a beard between the nose and the mouth, such as is worn by the courtiers at Constantinople, who call it a moustache.”

[339]Ramusio adds: “of Melinde”. The “pilot” here referred to was Gaspar da Gama. See Appendix E.

[340]This information was apparently never asked for. The “strangers” were undoubtedly Chinese. Marco Polo (Yule, I, p. lxvi, and II, pp. 197, 327) already mentions their four-masted vessels. In his time, Chinese vessels regularly visited the west coast of India. The vizor in the guise of a mask, distinctly points to the Chinese, and the sword attached to a spear is a Chinese weapon. Up to the introduction of pig-tails by the Manju, in 1644, the Chinese wore their hair long. A punitive fleet of sixty-two Chinese vessels was sent to Ceylon in 1401. In 1417 an embassy was sent from Mu-ku-tu-su (Magadoxo) to China (Bretschneider,On the Knowledge possessed by the Ancient Chinese of the Arabs, London, 1871), and in 1431 Chinese junks might be seen at Jedda (Hirth,Verhandlungen, Berlin Geographical Society, 1889, p. 46).During the second half of the fifteenth century the intercourse between China and Malabar seems to have become rare, until at last it ceased altogether (Richthofen,China, I, p. 10, 5).Ramusio contemptuously suppresses the writer’s speculations about these curious strangers being Germans or Russians.

During the second half of the fifteenth century the intercourse between China and Malabar seems to have become rare, until at last it ceased altogether (Richthofen,China, I, p. 10, 5).

Ramusio contemptuously suppresses the writer’s speculations about these curious strangers being Germans or Russians.

[341]Less than a penny.

[342]“di mezo sapore”. Ramusio has “tutte dolci”.

[343]“Poponi”: Ramusio says “pomi”, apples.

[344]Or rather Buddha.

[345]Ramusio has suppressed this passage.

[346]Ramusio adds: “And bread made of corn and other things of the kind”.

[347]Professor Dalla Vedova suggests that the “pescotto” of the original may be the “Pesce persico” (Perca fluviatilis), or perch. Ramusio, in his edition of 1563, however, has “pescietti”, which means “small fishes” (sardines).

[348]Lenguazzi: perhaps the modern “linguattole”, or sole.

[349]Bisuccho, in Portuguese Besugo, the sea-bream (Sparus cantabricus).

[350]The words within brackets are only to be found in thePaesi.

[351]Ramusio adds: “There are also horses as with us, and they are highly valued by Christians and Moors alike”. Peutinger and thePaesisay the same.

[352]Ramusio says: “silk-stuffs and bocassins”. He does not mention the colours.

[353]Peutinger adds: “They are decent, quiet (fromm) people at his court, and dress according to their condition and rank (adel)”.

[354]Jubbi(Arabic) is a long coat or caftan; thebalandrau(Portuguese) is a surtout worn by the Brothers of Mercy in Portugal. Ramusio calls the latter garmentspalascani.

[355]The actual distance is about 10,500 nautical miles, or 3,060 Portuguese leagues.

[356]In his second letter the writer recurs to this subject.

[357]These are the Laccadive islands, fourteen in number: but, as their name implies (Laksha Dwipa = the Hundred Thousand Islands), supposed to be much more numerous. Mr. Sneyd’sCodexsays there were 11,000 of these islands. The Maldives were known as Narikela Dwipa.

[358]That is the West Indies!

[359]Ramusio adds: “through vessels which go to Mecca”.

[360]Ramusio adds: “benzoin”.

[361]It should be 160.

[362]Ramusio adds: “many sapphires and other jewels”. He then says: ”Pepper and ginger grow around the said city of Calicut”. The paragraph is worded obscurely, but my version seems to be preferable. Sapphires are mentioned at the end of the letter.

[363]Ramusio does not mention almonds, nor does Peutinger.

[364]This expression proves that the letter was not written at one sitting, but by degrees.

[365]Ramusio has much condensed the whole of this paragraph, and seems to have misunderstood the writer. The statement that provisions were sent from Melinde to Calecut can hardly be accepted, and it was perhaps for this reason that Ramusio suppressed the name of that town. The country around Calecut is certainly sandy, but it is not as sterile as the bald statement of the writer would lead one to believe, for the city lies in the midst of extensive groves of palm, mango, and jack trees.Peutinger thus summarises this passage: “The country around Kalekut is mostly sand, and neither corn nor any other fruit grows there. These are imported by sea.”

Peutinger thus summarises this passage: “The country around Kalekut is mostly sand, and neither corn nor any other fruit grows there. These are imported by sea.”

[366]Should be Chalechut, as Bandini prints it.

[367]The last two paragraphs have been omitted by Ramusio.

[368]Translated from thePaesi novamente retrovati, Vicenza, 1507.

[369]The true history of the Jewish colony in Malabar has been written by Claudius Buchanan (Christian Researches in Asia, Edinburgh, 1812). Ritter (Erdkunde, v, pp. 595-601) gives an excellent summary.

[370]Gaspar da Gama was quite right. There were no Christians at Calecut when Vasco da Gama first visited that town, nor are there many now. Cochin, and not Calecut, was the chief seat of the Syrian Christians of Malabar. They were an offshoot of the church of Persia, which recognised the Nestorian patriarch of Babylon (Mosul). After the condemnation of their dogmas by the Council of Ephesus (431) they sought a refuge in distant countries. After 1599 many of them recognised the Pope, but after the ascendency of the Dutch (since 1653) some turned Protestants, whilst others recognised the Jacobite bishop of Antioch as their head. Popularly they are known as S. Thomas Christians, although there exists not the slightest evidence of that Apostle ever having visited India. Their worship is of a simple nature: they admit no images to their churches, reject the doctrine of transubstantiation, and allow their priests to marry (G. Milne Rae,The Syrian Church in India, 1892; Percy Badger,The Nestorians and their Ritual, 1852; German,Die Kirche der Thomaschristen, 1877).

[371]Ramusio says: “excepting those called Jacobites and those of Prester John.”

[372]Ramusio says forty days.

[373]Ramusio adds: “towards the Gulf of Persia”.

[374]Ramusio says 300 leagues. The real distance of Bahrein is about 550 leagues. There may be some confusion with the Manar pearl fishery.

[375]Varthema (p. 95) and Duarte Barbosa (p. 37) refer to the pearl fishery of the Bahrein islands. They both describe the islanders as Mohammedans. Mr. Bent (Journal Royal Geographical Society, xii, 1890) visited the islands in 1889, and states that there is a good supply of water. Indeed, a river such as is described in the letter only exists some 250 miles away.

[376]King Manuel was better advised (see p.115, note).

[377]Ramusio says: “is frightened”.

[378]These “anchors”, according to Varthema (p. 153), consist of a block of marble, which has two ropes attached to it. On the African coast a box fitted with stones is used for the same purpose.

[379]The next expedition was that sent out under Pedralvarez Cabral, who left Lisbon in March, 1500, with thirteen vessels.

[380]In BookVIIIof hisNatural History.

[381]This last paragraph is not found in thePaesi novamente retrovati, and is taken from Ramusio.

[382]This paragraph is rather puzzling. July 10th, 1499, was the date of Coelho’s arrival. Of the four vessels, two are correctly stated to have been burnt, though not near Cape Verde, namely, the store ship of 110 tons, and one of the vessels of 90 tons (theS. Raphael). Coelho brought home the small vessel of 50 tons, and the “captain” himself is stated to have returned in the remaining vessel of 90 tons.

[383]The Cape Verde islands.

[384]Grão or gran (Portuguese), kermes-grain, anciently scarlet, is not mentioned by Ramusio.

[385]Rosebeeren (Roseberries) seems to stand for Rose mallus, or Rossamalha, an aromatic resin containing benzoic acid, yielded by the majestic Rasamala tree (Altingia excelsa) of Java, where it is used as a substitute for benzoin.

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