[628] Pegu (with a capital of the same name) formerly wielded great influence in the East, but was eclipsed by the kingdoms surrounding it. Together with Bengal or Bengala and Orissa (Uriza), it forms a portion of British India. Bengal was incorporated with the Ghôrî or Patan empire of Hindustân toward the end of the twelfth century, and was formed into a separate province under the second emperor. It became an independent kingdom at least by 1340, continuing as an independent state until conquered by Akbar in 1573. Chelin is probably Coulam or Quilon in Malabar, once an important center of trade, but an insignificant place by the middle of the seventeenth century. Narsinga or Bijayanagar, now a ruined city, was formerly the capital of the ancient Brahminical kingdom of the Carnatic, which before the conquests of the Mahometans extended over the greater part of the peninsula between the Malabar and Coromandel coasts. Calicut, Cambay, Cananore, Goa, and Ormus (Armus) were all important centers of trade before and during Portuguese occupation in the East. MS. 5,650 reads: “Gon” and “Armux.” See Varthema’s Travels (Hakluyt Society edition), and Mosto (p. 111, notes 3–11).
[629] In MS. 5,650 “Irauai,” “Poleni,” and “Poleai.” Stanley gives the first as “Franas.” The names of the castes as given by Varthema (Travels, pp. 141, 142) are as follows: “Brahmins (or priestly class), Naeri (or military class), Tiva (or artisans), Mechua (or fishermen), Poliar (who collect pepper, wine, and nuts), and Hirava (who sow and reap rice). There are only four main castes, viz.: the Brahman or Sacerdotal, which sprang from the mouth of Brahma; the warrior, styled Kshatriya, Ksettri, or Chuttree, and formerly the Rajputs, who sprang from the arms of Brahma; Vaisya or husbandmen class, who form the industrial class, and who sprang from the belly and thighs of Brahma; and the Sudra or servile class, who sprang from the feet of Brahma, and have no part in the sacred law. Each caste is further subdivided within its own ranks, and specific laws govern each branch. Under British rule and the influence of western civilization the rigidity of caste is gradually being relaxed. Pigafetta does not mention the priestly caste and confuses the various other divisions. For early descriptions of caste, see Barbosa’s East African and Malabar Coasts (Hakluyt Society edition), pp. 121–144; Linschoten’s Voyage (Hakluyt Society edition), i, pp. 278–284 (very defective and inadequate); Gray and Bell’s Voyage of François Pyrard de Laval (Hakluyt Society edition), ii, pp. 114, 115, 371–420; and Ball’s Travels in India by Jean Baptiste Tavernier (London and New York), ii, pp. 181–189.
[630] MS. 5,650 reads: “and never enter any city.”
[631] Malayâlam for “go.” Linschoten (i, p. 281), and Pyrard de Laval (i, pp. 383, 384), make the Nairs give this warning cry instead of the lowest caste, in order that the latter may keep out of their path. Varthema and Barbosa agree with Pigafetta. The Brahmans also call out for the same reason (Linschoten, i, p. 281, note 1).
[632] Eden says (p. 261): “ſeuen weekes.”
[633] Albo (Navarrete, iv) says under date of February 13, 1522, that the course was laid west southwest toward the Cape of Good Hope.
[634] MS. 5,650 reads: “one thousand and sixty.”
[635] The Portuguese occupation of Mozambique dates from 1498, when Vasco da Gama landed at the mouth of the Zambesi. A number of settlements were founded there in the first decade of the sixteenth century. Its present boundaries were fixed by agreement with Great Britain in 1891 and with Germany in 1886 and 1890. It has an area of 310,000 square miles, and has great vegetable and mineral wealth. Slavery was abolished in the colony in 1878. It is governed by a governor-general sent out by Portugal. John Pory in his preliminary translations prefixed to his translation of the history of the converted Moor Leo Africanus (Hakluyt Society edition, London, 1896) says (i, p. 58) that the kingdom of Mozambique was “so called of three small islets, situate in the mouth of the river Meghincate in fowerteene and a halfe or fifteene degrees of southerly latitude, which kingdome in ancient time by Ptolemy was called Promontorium Prassum.” Continuing he says that notwithstanding its unhealthful site, the chief of the three islands, where there was a secure port and where the Portuguese built a strong fort, became the most frequented Portuguese station on the way to the East Indies, and ships often wintered there. This must have been the settlement mentioned by Pigafetta. See also Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama (Hakluyt Society reprint, London, 1879), pp. 80–97.
[636] MS. 5,650 adds: “and stank.”
[637] On March 14, the crew of the “Victoria” worked at repairs on the ship until noon, and then set sail again. On the eighteenth they saw a lofty island (Amsterdam Island), which they tried in vain to make, and were compelled to lie to for further repairs. April 16, the course was altered to the north. Land was sighted on May 8, and on the following day they anchored on the rough coast. On the sixteenth the ship was further disabled by the loss of a mast. After many struggles they were finally clear of the cape on May 22, and directed their general course northward. See Albo’s log (Navarrete, iv), and Guillemard’s Magellan. Considering Albo’s date as correct, Pigafetta is in error by almost half a month in his date for the doubling of the cape.