[271] MS. 5,650 reads: “and he was going, by the orders of the said sovereign, to discover the islands of Mallucque.”
[272] MS. 5,650 reads: “Thereupon the abovesaid merchant said to the king in their language,” etc., without giving the original Malay words. Eden gives the phrase as catacaia chita.
[273] Calicut, properly Kálíkot (said to be derived from two words meaning cock-crow, because the territory granted to the first king of Kálíkot was limited to the extent over which a cock could be heard to crow; or from Káli, one of the names of the goddess Gauri) is the name of a district and city on the Malabar coast. The king of all the Malabar coast from Goa to Cape Comorin, Samari Perymal, having adopted the Mahometan faith divided his kingdom into the kingdoms of Calicut, Cochin, Cananor, and Coulão, and gave them to his friends, on condition that the king of Calicut be termed “Zamorim” or “Samorim,” i.e., “Supreme emperor and God upon earth” (although the proper form is said to be “Tamurin” which is conjectured by some to be a modification of the Sanskrit “Samunri,” “seaking.” The city of Kálíkot, a noted emporium of trade, was built perhaps as early as 805 A.D., although the date 1300 A.D. is also given as that of its founding; and is described by Ibn Batuta in 1342 as one of the finest ports in the world. It was visited by Covilham in 1486, and Vasco da Gama’s ships were freighted there in 1498. The latter attacked the city in 1503 and 1510, and the Portuguese built a fortified factory there in 1513 which was destroyed by the governor in 1525 to avoid its falling into the enemy’s hands. The English established a factory in the city in 1616, which was captured in 1766 by Haidar Ali; but after a further series of capture and recapture, the city and district was permanently turned over to the British (1792). See Stanley’s Vasco da Gama (Hakluyt Society publications, London, 1869); Birch’s Alboquerque (Hakluyt Society publications, London, 1875–1884); Jones and Badger’s Ludovico di Varthema (Hakluyt Society publications, London, 1863), pp. 135–177; also Grey’s Travels of Pietro della Valle (Hakluyt Society publications, London, 1892), pp. 344, 345, note.
Malacca, or more correctly Mâlaka is the name of an ancient territory and city, which was probably first settled by Javanese, and is possibly derived from “Malayu” meaning in Javanese “to run” or “fugitive.” At an early period Malacca fell under the sway of the Siamese. The city, located on both sides of the Malacca River, and only one hundred and thirty miles northwest of Singapore (which has usurped the great volume of trade once centering at Malacca) was founded about 1250 A.D. The first European to visit the city was Varthema, about the year 1505. It was captured by the Portuguese under Albuquerque in 1511, and they held it (1580–1640 under Spanish control) until 1641 when it was captured by the Dutch, who had unsuccessfully besieged it, with the aid of the king of Jahor, in 1606. The English obtained possession of it in 1795, and still hold it, although the Dutch possessed it from 1818–1825. For descriptions and history of Malacca, see the following Hakluyt Society publications: Stanley’s East Africa and Malabar (London, 1866), pp. 190–195; Birch’s Alboquerque, iii, pp. 71–90 (and other citations); Burnell and Tiele’s Linschoten (London, 1885), i, pp. 104–106; Gray’s Voyage of François Pyrard (London, 1888), part i, p. ii. Also see Crawfurd’s Dictionary, pp. 238–249.
The terms India Major (Greater India) and India Minor (Lesser India) are differently applied by different authors. Schiltbergen applied the term Lesser India to the northern portion of the peninsula on this side of the Ganges, while the southern portion of the peninsula was termed Greater India. Marco Polo’s Lesser India extended from Makran to and including the Coromandel coast, and his Greater India extended from the Coromandel coast to Cochin China, while Middle India was Abyssinia. Mosto wrongly identifies India Major with the present Indian empire. See Telfer’s Johann Schiltberger (Hakluyt Society publications, 1879). Friar Jordanus (Wonders of the East, Hakluyt Society edition, London, 1863), describes (pp. 11–45) India the Less, India the Greater, and India Tertia. Yule points out that Jordanus’s Lesser India embraces Sindh, and probably Mekran, and India along the coast as far as some point immediately north of Malabar. Greater India extends from Malabar very indefinitely to the eastward, for he makes it include Champa. India Tertia is the east of Africa below Abyssinia. Thus Jordanus just reverses the Lesser and Greater Indias of Marco Polo. Ramusio who gives the Summary of Kingdoms of an old Portuguese geographer, ends First India at Mangalore, and Second India at the Ganges. Benjamin of Tudela speaks of “Middle India which is called Aden.” Conti divides India into three parts: the first extending from Persia to the Indus, the second from the Indus to the Ganges, and the third all the land beyond. Pliny discusses whether Mekran and other lands belonged to India or Ariana.
[274] MS. 5,650 adds: “and treat his subjects well.”
[275] This phrase is omitted in MS. 5,650.
[276] MS. 5,650 adds: “who was in the captain’s ship.”
[277] MS. 5,650 reads: “Thereupon the king told them that he was willing, and that as a greater token of his love, he would send the captain a drop of his blood from his right arm, and [asked] the captain to do the same.”
[278] MS. 5,650 reads: “Consequently they should ask their captain whether he intended to observe the custom.”