712,' 
The FOY AGE of Francis Pirard de Laval Book I. 
ing. Upon the Flats near the Shore they catch fmall Fifli 
like Pilchards with Cafting-nets. 
At the two Equinoxes they have a general Fifhing, 
which is very remarkable: At thefe two Periods of the 
Year, as the Tides flow beyond their wonted Bounds, fo 
they 'ebb more than ufual, and difcover feveral Rocks and 
Flats, which at other times continue under Water. Upon 
this Occafion the Maldivians pitch upon feveral dry Cor- 
ners, which they encompafs with Stones raifed like a Wall 
to a great Height, being forty Paces in Circumference, 
with a Door or Entrance left that is three Paces wide. 
This done, thirty or forty of them ftretch out, all round the 
Flats, a large wide Circle of the great Cocoa-cords at each 
Fathom, of which they tie a Piece of Cocoa-Ihell dried, 
and that fupplies the Place of Cork, making the Line float. 
Now the Fifh inclofed within the Circle are fo feared 
with the Shadow of the Floating-line, as if it had a Net 
underneath it, that inftead of making their Efcape oy 
fwimming, they fly from it, and, by the gradual Contrac- 
tion of the Line, are brought into the Inclofure, the Entry 
of which is thereupon flopped with all Expedition with Fag- 
gots of the Boughs and Leaves of Cocoa compadted toge- 
ther of the Bignefs of a Man •, after all the Sea runs out, 
and leaves the Fifli on the dry Land. This Fifhery, which 
continues fifteen Days together, produces commonly ten or 
twelve thoufand Fifli. F o conclude, l know of no Place 
in all the Eafi-Indies that can vie with the Maldives for a 
rich and plentiful Fiihery. 
21. After having thus difpatched the Learning and Exer- 
cifes of the Malayans, it will now be proper to take a View 
of their Temper and Inclinations ; they are a lively, brifk, 
and at the fame time a fober and wife People, and very 
difereet in moil of their Ablions. They love Arms and 
Exercife, and are not deftitute of Courage. They difplay 
a great deal of Induftry in Arts and Manufactures, and are 
polite enough in their Manners. They are religious to a 
very high degree, and fuperftitious beyond meafure, tho’ 
at the fame time they are extreamly given to Wantonnefs 
and Debauchery. Adultery, Inceft, and Sodomy, are 
their common Ablions. Notwithftanding the Severity of 
their Laws, Fornication is accounted no Crime, and a young 
Woman fuffers no Affront for obliging a Friend before 
Marriage. The Impudence of the Women is unparalleled, 
and the Men are as vicious as they, though indeed they 
cannot outdo them if they would. The Men bend all their 
Thoughts upon their fupporting of Nature, and would give 
their whole Eftates for a Receipt to corroborate drooping 
Luft. Their amorous Feats engrofs all their Difcourfes, and 
their Wives or Whores are their infeparable Companions. 
Though they are impudent to the laft Degree, yet the 
Regard they have for their Parents and Relations ftifles it 
in their Prefence ; and if a Man talks a little jocularly to 
a Woman before any of her Relations, they will refent it 
fo far as to profecute him at Law, and oblige him to own 
in Court, that he takes them for Perfons of Honour, unlefs 
he declares he did not know of their Affinity to the Lady. 
A Man muft not enter where a Woman bathes, or is pre- 
fent without her Garment; tho’ ihe never takes off the Cloth 
that fupplies the Place of a Petticoat. When a Man is in 
Company with a V/oman, ir another Man meets them, he 
muft not afk if fhe be his Daughter, or Wife, but if ihe be 
his Kinfwoman, and what Degree of Affinity or Confan- 
guinity fhe ftands in to him : For, if the Woman be really 
the Man’s Daughter, and the other afk if fhe is his Wife, 
he will take the Queftion for an Infmuation of Inceft. 
As I intimated above, the Women feldom ftir abroad in 
the Days, fo that they make all their Vifits at Night, being 
accompanied with a Man who walks before, and when he 
fees any one approaching, calls out thrice Gas , i. e. take 
care. Upon this Signal the Man betakes himfelf to the 
other Side of the Street, without feeming to fee or know the 
Woman : Nay, if one Woman meets another, fhe takes to 
the other Side of the Way, and does not falute her unlefs 
ihe be very intimately acquainted with her, the outer 
Gate of the Houfes being always open till eleven o’Clock at 
Night, at which Time every body is at home. The Vifi- 
tors have no Occafion to knock, and indeed the Gates have 
no Knockets. After entering the Outer-gate, and ap- 
proaching to the Door of the Houfes, which is always open, 
and fpread with Tapeftry of Cotton Cloth, or Tome other 
Stuff, they cough once, upon which the People of the 
Houfe come out. In the Ifland of Male the King’s Offi- 
cers and Soldiers cough frequently, to give Notice to one 
another in the dark Streets, for fear of receiving mutual 
Wounds from their Arms, which are always naked in their 
Hands. 
22. We fhall in the next place take a View of their Go- 
vernment, which is an abfolute Monarchy, for the King is 
feared and revered by all, and every thing depends upon 
his Pleafure under him. Each Attollon has a Nay be or 
Governor, who is a Prieft, and Dobtor of the Law. The 
Naybes govern the inferior Priefts, and are intruded with 
the Adminiftration of Juftice, and the Management of reli- 
gious Concerns. The Cantons or Attallons being fubdi- 
vided into many Elands, each of thefe Elands that contain, 
above forty-one Men, is allotted a Doblor called Cantibe, 
who prefides there in religious Matters, and rules over the 
particular Priefts of the Mofques. All the Priefts are em- 
ployed in inftrucring the People in the Law, and live upon 
a certain Portion of Fruits collebted from every Inhabitant, 
and a Salary allowed them by the King, in proportion to 
their Dignity. 
The Naybes indeed are likewife employed in the Admi- 
niftration of Juftice ; nay, they are the only Judges both 
in civil and criminal Cafes; and it is for the fake of Ju- 
ftice, as well as the promoting of Religion, that they make 
four Circuits in the Year, through all Parts within their 
Jurifdibtion. When they go thefe Circuits they gather 
their Dues, and receive Prefents from an Infinity of Per- 
fons, fo that the Circuits furnifli by this means the beft Part 
of their Incomes. The Naybes, or thirteen Judges, are 
under the Direbtion of a fuperior called the Pandiare, and 
in Arabick the Cady, who refides in the Ifte of Male , and is 
not only the fupreme Judge in all Caufes, but likewife the 
Head of the national Church. He receives Appeals from 
the Naybes, but does not pafs Sentence without taking the 
Advice of four or five Moncoris, i. e. Dodtors learned in 
the Law, and divers other Sciences, who are univerfally 
honoured and refpebted, there being only fifteen in all the 
Maldives. The Judgment pronounced by the Pandiare 
may be reverfed by appealing to the King himfelf, who 
upon fuch Occafions orders Juftice to be done by the prin- 
cipal Officers, of whom there are fix Counfellors of State. 
The Pandiares make a Circuit once a Year through the 
Ifte of Male, as every Naybe does in his refpeblive Attollon , 
and condemns ail to be whipped that cannot fay their Creed 
and Prayers in the Arabic Tongue, and conftme them into 
the Maldivan. When he goes along the Street the Wo- 
men muft not ftiew themfelves ; for if he fpies any unveil- 
ed, he orders their Hair to be Ihaven. Each Attollon has, 
befides the Naybes, a Colleblor of the King’s Revenues. 
Juftice is difpenfed in the Houfe of the Naybe, or elfe at 
the Pandiare’s Houfe in Male, and fometimes, in Cafes of 
Moment, in the King’s Palace. The Defendant is fum- 
moned by Serjeants called Devaints to come before the 
Naybe, by Virtue of a fpecial Letter or Writ from the 
Naybe ; but if he lives out of the Naybe’s Jurifdibtion, he 
is fummoned by Letters from the Pandiare, which enjoins 
him to come from any Part of the Realm to the Eland of 
Male. 
The Pandiare’s Writ is ferved publicldy upon the De- 
fendant by the Calibe, or Superior of the Ifland, and if he 
does not appear at the Place appointed, he is not only ex- 
communicated, and excluded from eating and drinking 
with his Neighbours, or coming to Church, but feized by 
a Party of Soldiers. If either Plaintiff or Defendant fuf- 
pebts the Partiality of the Naybe, they have Recourfe to 
the King, who orders the Caufe to be tried before impar- 
tial Judges. The contending Parties plead their , own 
Caufes; in the Bufmefs of Right or Title they are judged 
by the Law ; and in Allegations of Matter of Fabt the 
Plaintiff muft have them attefted by three Witneffes, or 
elfe the Defendant’s own Oath will bring him off. In ad- 
miniftring an Oath ihe Judge holds up the Book of the 
Law, and the Evidence is obliged to touch it with his 
Hand, and that not fuperficially, but fo that every one may 
obferve 
