[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.”
[366] Should be Chalechut, as Bandini prints it.
[367] The last two paragraphs have been omitted by Ramusio.
[368] Translated from the Paesi 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.