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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XIX. 



in other islands about 150 leagues beyond Calichut, very near the 

 mainland : they are inhabited by Moors. Pepper and cloves 

 come from more distant parts. 



The island of Taprobana, of which Pliny wrote so fully, must 3 

 be out at sea very far from the mainland. 4 



1 This letter, like the previous one, was first printed (anonymously) 

 in the Paesi Novamente Retrovati. An English translation is given in 

 App. B of the First Voy. of V. da Gama. 



2 This was Gaspar da India (see A 1, note 2 , above). 



3 Before " must " Mr. Ravenstein inserts " was not known to the 

 pilot, for it." 



4 Evidently Gaspar da India could not identify Ceylon with Pliny's 

 Taprobane. 



A 5. 



Girolamo Sernig€s Letter to his Brother. 1 

 [? August or September 1499.] 



Item : The spices that come there to Kalakutt come for the 

 most part from the island called Zelony. 2 And there are only 

 heathen folk there, and they are lords over the island. 3 And it 

 lies 160 leagues distant from the town of Kalakutt, and from the 

 mainland it lies only 1 league. 



And if one wants to get to the land there from this city one must 

 take 20 days. 4 And in the island are forests with brazil and 

 many roseberries there , and other spicery , cloves , rhubarb. Some 

 other small spicery comes from afar from other islands. The 

 cinnamon barks also come from the island of Zelony. 



1 The original of this letter is not extant, but an abstract in German, 

 made by the antiquary Peutinger, was printed by Dr. B. Greiff in the 



Sechsundzwanzigster Jahres-Bericht des historischen Kreis-Vereins 



von Schwaben (Augsburg, 1861). An English translation of a few 

 extracts is given in App. B of the First Voy. of V. da Gama. 



2 Misprinted " Zelong " in the First Voy. of V. da Gama. 



3 Mr. Ravenstein has " and the king is a heathen [Moor]." 



4 Mr. Ravenstein has " By land it is a journey of twenty days." 



A 6. 

 Barros I. v. vi. 

 [November-December 1500.] 



He [Coge Cemecerij, a Moor of Calecut] learnt that from 



Cochij, a city some twenty miles from there, had set sail a ship, 

 which had come from the island of Ceilam and carried seven 

 elephants which it was conveying for sale to the kingdom of 

 Cambaya ; and it belonged to two merchants of the same Cochij, 

 who were called Mammale Mercar and Cherina Mercar 



