A.D. 

 1583-91. 



People with 

 swollen legges 

 mentioned also 

 by J oh. 

 Huygen. 



THE ENGLISH VOYAGES 





Hozv pepper 

 groweth. 



Blacke people 



I! Or Calicut, 

 or Cananor. 



for the river is farre off. This bad water causeth many 

 of the people to be like lepers, and many of them have 

 their legs swollen as bigge as a man in the waste, & 

 many of them are scant able to go. These people here 

 be Malabars, and of the race of the Naires of Calicut: 

 and they differ much from the other Malabars. These 

 have their heads very full of haire, and bound up with 

 a string : and there doth appeare a bush without the 

 band wherewith it is bound. The men be tall and 

 strong, and good archers with a long bow and a long 

 arrow, which is their best weapon : yet there be some 

 calivers among them, but they handle them badly. 



Heere groweth the pepper ; and it springeth up by 

 a tree or a pole, and is like our ivy berry, but some- 

 thing longer like the wheat eare : and at the first the 

 bunches are greene, and as they waxe ripe they cut 

 them off and dry them. The leafe is much lesser then 

 the ivy leafe and thinner. All the inhabitants here 

 have very little houses covered with the leaves of the 

 coco-trees. The men be of a reasonable stature ; the 

 women litle ; all blacke, with a cloth bound about their 

 middle hanging dowiic to their hammes ; all the rest of 

 their bodies be naked : they have horrible great eares 

 with many rings set with pearles and stones in them. 

 The king goeth incached, as they do all ; he doth not 

 remaine in a place above five or sixe dayes : he hath 

 many houses, but they be but litle : his guard is but 

 small : he remooveth from one house to another accord- 

 ing to their order. All the pepper of Calicut and 

 course cinamom groweth here in this countrey. The 

 best cinamom doth come from Ceylon, and is pilled 

 from fine yoong trees. Here are very many palmer or 

 coco trees, which is their chiefe food : for it is their 

 meat and drinke : and yeeldeth many other necessary 

 things, as I have declared before. 



The Naires which be under the king of II Samorin, 

 which be Malabars, have alwayes wars with the Portu- 

 The king hath alwayes peace with them ; but his 



rais. 



502 



