[Footnote 63: What sovereign of India is meant by the king of Joga we cannot ascertain, unless perhaps some Hindoo rajah in the hilly country to the north-east of Gujerat. From some parts of the account of this king and his subjects, we are apt to conceive that the relation in the text is founded on some vague account of a chief or leader of a band of Hindoo devotees. A king or chief of the Jogues.--E.]
Departing from Cambay, I came in twelve days journey to the city of Ceull[64], the land of Guzerat being interposed between these two cities. The king of this city is an idolater. His subjects are of a dark yellow colour, or lion tawny, and are much addicted to war, in which they use swords, bows and arrows, darts, slings, and round targets. They have engines to beat down walls and to make a great slaughter in an army. The city is only three miles from the sea on the banks of a fine river, by which a great deal of merchandise is imported. The soil is fertile and produces many different kinds of fruits, and in the district great quantities of cotton cloth are made. The people are idolaters like those of Calicut, of whom mention will be made hereafter, yet there are many Mahometans in the city. The king has but a small military force, and the government is administered with justice. Two days journey from thence is a city named Dabuly[65] on a great river and in a fertile country. It is walled like the towns of Italy, and contains a vast number of Mahometan merchants. The king is an idolater, having an army of 30,000 men. Departing from thence I came to the island of Goga[66], not above a mile from the continent, which pays yearly a tribute of 1000 pieces of gold to the king of Deccan, about the same value with the seraphins of Babylon. These coins are impressed on one side with the image of the devil[67], and on the other side are some unknown characters. On the sea coast at one side of this island there is a town much like those of Italy, in which resides the governor, who is captain over a company of soldiers named Savain, consisting of 400 Mamelukes, he being likewise a Mameluke. Whenever he can procure any white man he takes them into his service and gives them good entertainment, and if fit for military service, of which he makes trial of their strength by wrestling, he gives them a monthly allowance of 20 gold seraphins; but if not found fit for war he employs them in handicrafts. With this small force of only 400 men, he gives much disturbance to the king of Narsinga.
[Footnote 64: There is a district on the west of Gujerat or Guzerat named Chuwal, on the river Butlass or Banass which runs into the gulf of Cutch, which may be here meant.--.]
[Footnote 65: No name having the least affinity to that in the text is to be found in any modern map of India near the coast of Gujerat. It would almost appear that the author had now gone down the coast of India, and that his Chuwal and Dabuly are Chaul and Dabul on the coast of the Concan.--E.]
[Footnote 66: Nothing can possibly be made of this island of Goga. There is a town on the coast of Gujerat and western side of the gulf of Cambay called Gogo, but it is no island, and could not possibly be subject to the king of the Deccan; and besides Verthema is obviously now going down the western coast of India.--E.]
[Footnote 67: Of a Swammy or Hindoo idol.--E.]
From the island of Goga I went to the city of Dechan[68], of which the king or sultan is a Mahometan, and to whom the before mentioned captain of the Mamelukes at Goga is tributary. The city is beautiful, and stands in a fertile country which abounds in all things necessary for man. The king of this country is reckoned a Mameluke, and has 35,000 horse and foot in his service. His palace is a sumptuous edifice, containing numerous and splendid apartments, insomuch, that one has to pass through 44 several rooms in a continued suite before getting to the presence-chamber of the sultan, who lives with wonderful pomp and magnificence, even those who wait upon him having their shoes or starpins ornamented with rubies and diamonds, and rich ear-rings of pearls and other precious stones. Six miles from the city is a mountain from which they dig diamonds, which mountain is surrounded by a wall, and guarded by a band of soldiers. The inhabitants of the city are mostly Mahometans, who are generally clad in silk, or at least have their shirts or lower garments of that fabric; they wear also thin buskin and hose or breeches like the Greek mariners, or what are called trowsers. Their women, like those of Damascus, have their faces veiled. The king of Deccan is almost in continual war with the king of Nursinga; most of his soldiers being white men from distant countries hired for war, whereas the natives are of a dark colour like the other inhabitants of India. This king is very rich and liberal, and has a large navy of ships, but he is a great enemy to the Christians. Having visited this country, I went in five days from thence to Bathacala or Batecolak, the inhabitants of which are idolaters, except some Mahometan merchants who resort thither for trade. It abounds in rice, sugar, wheat, walnuts[69], figs, and many kinds of fruits and roots unknown to us, and has plenty of beeves, kine, buffaloes, sheep, goats, and other beasts, but no horses, asses, or mules. From thence, at the distance of a days journey I came to Centacola? the prince of which has no great riches; but the district has plenty of flesh, rice, and such fruits as grow in India; and to this place many Mahometans resort for trade. The king is an idolater, and is subject to him of Batecolah. Two days journey from thence I came to Onore, the king of which is an idolater, subject to the king of Narsinga. The prince or king of Onore has eight armed foists or barks, which make excursions by sea, and subsist by piracy, yet is he in friendship with the Portuguese. The district produces plenty of rice, and has many kinds of wild beasts, as wild boars, harts, wolves, lions[70], and many kinds of birds, such as peacocks and parrots, besides others very different from ours. It has likewise many cattle of a bright yellow colour, and fine fat sheep. It has also abundance of flowers of all kinds. The air is so temperate and healthy, that the natives live much longer than we do in Italy. Not far from this place is another city named Mangalore, whence about sixty ships depart yearly with cargoes of rice. The inhabitants are partly idolaters, and part Mahometans.
[Footnote 68: Dechan, Deccan, or Dacshin, is the name of a territory or kingdom, and properly signifies southern India, or simply the south, in reference to Hindostan proper, on the north of the Nerbuddah: But Verthema almost always names the capital from the kingdom.--E.]
[Footnote 69: By walnuts, I suspect that coca-nuts are meant, and rendered walnuts by some mistaken translation.--E.]
[Footnote 70: There are no lions in India, and tigers are certainly here meant.--E.]