[589] Eden reads (p. 260): “Giaua the leſſe, is as bygge as the Ilande of Madera, and is but half a leaque diſtante from Giaua maior;” thus confusing the island of Madura with the Portuguese island of Madeira. Madura has the same formation, vegetation, and manners and character of its inhabitants, as Java. The name is derived from the Hindu legend, which represents it as the kingdom of the hero and demi-god Baladewa, and is a corruption of the Sanskrit Mathura. The greatest length of the island is about ninety miles. The language although poorer and ruder than the Javanese, resembles the latter. It has one dialect, termed Sumanap. Many of its inhabitants have emigrated to Java. See Crawfurd’s Dictionary, pp. 233, 234; and Cust’s Modern Languages, p. 138.
[590] MS. 5,650 omits the remainder of this sentence.
[591] This ceremony, as it was practiced in the island of Bali (the only one of the East Indies to preserve the custom) is described by Crawfurd (Dictionary, pp. 30, 140–142). “The ordinary funeral rites of the Balinese much resemble those of the Buddhists of Siam and Ava, and the concremation is a modification of the Hindu Suttee, and the bloody ceremony of krising, a barbarism peculiar to the people of Bali themselves.” In that island, unless the dead man were of great wealth, the woman sacrificing herself was stabbed to death with a kris, instead of being burned with her husband’s corpse, as the expense accompanying the burning was so great. Barbosa (East African and Malabar Coasts, Hakluyt Society edition, p. 93) mentions this custom of one of the countries of India. See also Linschoten (Voyage, Hakluyt Society edition, pp. 249, 250, and note).
[592] MS. 5,650 adds: “of their vagina.”
[593] MS. 5,650 adds: “and more pleasantly.” This custom is also mentioned by Barbosa (ut supra, p. 184) in connection with the people of Pegu. His account, which is left untranslated by Stanley, is as follows:
“They are very voluptuous, and have certain round hawk’s-bells sewn and fastened in the head of their penis between the flesh and the skin in order to make them larger. Some have three, some five, and others seven. Some are made of gold and silver, and others of brass, and they tinkle as the men walk. The custom is considered as quite the proper thing. The women delight greatly in the bells, and do not like men who go without them. The most honored men are those who have the most and largest ones. I will say nothing more of this custom, for it is a shameful one.” Stanley says that this custom is also mentioned by Nicolo Conti in the fifteenth century.
[594] In MS. 5,650 and in Mosto: “Ocoloro.” Yule (Book of Ser Marco Polo, ii, p. 395) conjectures that this is the modern island of Engano.
[595] In MS. 5,650 “caiu paugganghi,” and “bua paugganghi.” Stanley (p. 155, note 2) says that garuda is Sanskrit and Malay for “griffin,” and (note 1) that campong anghin means “the place of wind.” Yule (Cathay, Hakluyt Society edition, ii, p. 511, note) says: “Garuda is a term from the Hindu mythology for the great bird that carries Vishnu; its use among the Malays is a relic of their ancient religion.... To an island of the Indian Sea also Kazwini attributes a bird of such enormous size, that, if dead, the half of its beak would serve for a ship.” De Gubernatis (Memorie intorno ai viaggiatori italiani nelle Indie orientali, Firenze, 1867) says that the tree of the text is perhaps the mythical tree, whose fruit gives felicity in the Hindu paradise; and the bird is the one with the golden feathers, into which Vishnu or the sun is transformed in the Hindu mythology. Mosto, p. 108, note 5.
[596] Probably Point Romania, at the southeastern extremity of the peninsula of Malacca.
[597] Cinghapola is Singapore or Singapura, so called from the Sanskrit singa, “lion,” and pura, “city.” It is an island and town located at the extremity of the Malacca Peninsula, and is a busy mart of trade. Pahan is Pahang (called Pam by the Portuguese, and properly spelt Päang), which is a city and district or province of the eastern part of the Malacca Peninsula. Calantan (Kalantan) and Patani are districts of the eastern part of the peninsula of Malacca whose chief towns have the same names. Both states were from early times tributary to Siam. Lagon is the Siamese province of Ligor (called Lâkon by the Siamese). Phran is perhaps the same name as seen today in the Pran River. Cui figures on the maps of Ortelius and Mercatorius; and Valentyn gives an island “Couir.” Brabri is perhaps Bangri, and Bangha, Bang-kok. India (error of ancient amanuensis for Iudia) is Yuthia, which became the Siamese capital in 1350. Mosto believes that Jandibum, Sanu, and Langhonpifa are also the names of Siamese kings, but they are probably the names of cities. MS. 5,650 makes Zacabedera the name of a city, but it appears later as part of a sovereign’s name. Stanley (following Amoretti, who mistranscribed) has Bradlini, Trombon, Joran (for Phran), Laun (in MS. 5,650 “Lauu”), and Langonpifa. See Crawfurd’s Dictionary, and Mosto (p. 109, notes 1–8).