Chap. II. from j. B. T 
Holes dug in the Sand, when the Sea is quite out, and it 
is tolerably frelh. 
From hence you go to Madrefpatan , or Fort St. 
George , which belongs to the Englijh , (here is a Convent 
of Capuchins) and fo to Meliapour , or St. Thomcrs’s 
Town, (where, they fay, St. fhomas was martyr’d ; and 
the Auftin Friars here, pretend to have the Iron Lance 
which killed him, the Jefuits alfo have a Church 
there) Serraveron , and then to Oudicut. The Way be- 
tween thofe two Towns is through a flat, fandy Country, 
and on both Sides of it are Copfes of Bamboo’s very 
high and thick, which breed prodigious Numbers of Apes. 
Thofe on one Side are inveterate Enemies to thofe on the 
other ; and it is very good Sport to Travellers to fet fome 
Balkets of Rice between them, with Cudgels by them, to 
make them fight for it, and batter one another with the 
Cudgels. The Road holds the fame to Naravacon and 
Gazzal. Hereabouts there are Gates and ftrong Guards 
at them at every two or three Leagues, who examine all 
Paffengers, whence they come, and whither they go •, fo 
that Men may travel there with their Money in their 
Hands. 
21. The next Place you arrive at is Courva , a celebrat- 
ed Pagod, where there is little to be had for Man or Beaft ; 
but the Country about it being full of Elephants, the King’s 
Officers come hither often to take them. The Manner 
of hunting them is thus i they cut feveral Allies or Walks 
in the Woods where they are, and having digged them 
full of Pits, which they cover with Hurdles and Earth, 
fcare them by hollowing, beating of Drums, and purfu- 
ing them with Pikes, with Wild-Are tied to the Ends, in- 
to thofe Walks, where, being tumbled into the Holes, 
the Hunters bind their Feet and Trunks with Ropes and 
Chains, and fo take them ; yet fome will efcape the 
Snare, and are ever after fo miftruftful, that with a Bough 
they will examine every Step they take, whether there is 
not an Hole in the Way ; and it is almoft impoffible to 
take them again. Such as they catch, they couple to 
two tame ones on each Side, and fet fix Men about them 
with lighted Torches at the End of an Half-pike, to talk 
to them, and give them Meat, which is brown Sugar, 
boiled Rice and Hay. 
If the wild Elephant will not eat, the Men order the 
tame ones to beat them with their Trunks, and fo conftrain 
him to learn Obedience. After an Elephant is tamed, he 
never meddles with the Female, yet is fometimes taken 
with a luftful Rage, which never ends but with fame Mil- 
chief, as the Death of his Rider, or fome body elfe. 
Though the Elephant’s Skin be very hard while he is 
alive, it is all like melted Glue when he is dead. There 
are Elephants in feveral Parts of th a Indies, as in the Iflands 
of Ceylon and Sumatra , the Kingdoms of Cochin , [Siam, 
and Bantam , on the Frontiers near the Great fartary ; 
but they are faid to be in the greateft Numbers on the 
Coaft of Melinda , Eaftward of Africa , where the Blacks 
of the Countries hunt them to eat the Flefh, but are 
obliged to give the Lord of the Place the Teeth, info- 
much that there are feveral Parks impailed with Elephants 
Teeth a League round. 
It is obfervable of the female Elephant, when fhe 
grows hot, that (he makes herfelf a great Bed of Herbs 
and Weeds, four or five Foot high from the Ground, on 
which, contrary to the Cuftom of all other Creatures, fhe 
lies upon her Back, in Expedition of the Male, whom 
Ihe calls to her by a peculiar Cry : And thus they take the 
Male in Ceylon , by a tame Female. This is alfo peculiar 
to the Elephants in Ceylon , which, though the fmalleft is 
the molt couragious, yet only the firft Elephant which 
the Female produces has any Tufks. And it is alfo ob- 
fervable, that the Ivory from Achen , when it is wrought, 
never grows yellow, as that does which comes out of the 
Continent and the Eafi-Indies , which makes it more 
efteerned than any other. It is hard to find how long an 
Elephant will live ; nor can the Keepers or Governors of 
them tell you more than' that fuch an Elephant was their 
Great-Grandfather’s ; fo that it may be conjedured that 
they have lived an hundred and twenty, or an hundred and 
thirty Years. The Great Mogul keeps five hundred for 
his Houfhold, to carry his Women, their Tents, and Lug- 
A V E R N I E R. 839 
gage, and about eighty or ninety for his Wars 5 and to 
the chief of them he allows five hundred Rupees*. Month 1 
but, to the reft, from fifty to twenty. The chief have 
Men to attend them, and fan them, and they are main* 
tained out of it. 
22. From Courva you pafs through R.agia~Peta, 3, 
large Town, and Ondecour to Outemela , where there is one 
of the greateft Pagods in India. It is built of large Free- 
ftone, and has three Towers, where there are feveral de- 
formed Figures of embofied Work. It is encompaffed 
with many little Chambers for the Priefts Lodgings. Hard 
by it is a wide Lake, upon the Banks of which are built 
feveral Pagods, eight or ten Foot fquare, and in every 
one of them an Idol, reprefenting fome Devil, with a 
Bramin, who takes Care that no Stranger tnat is not of 
their Superftition, lhall come to wafh in, or take any Wa- 
ter out of the Lake : But if any Stranger defires Water, 
they give it him in an earthen Pot j but if it touches the 
Stranger’s Veffel, they break it j and fay, if a Stranger 
mould* waffi in it, it muff be drained. They are very cha- 
ritable, and will give any thing they have to eat or drink 
to Perfons in Neceffity. dhere are feveral Women 
among them, who, having made a Vow to do adls of 
Charity for feven or eight Years, more or lefs, fit upon 
the Road continually for that End, with Fire, Tobacco, 
Rice boiled with Quicken, a fort of Grain like Hemp- 
feed, and Beans, and to every Traveller they give fome of 
their Beans, Rice-water, an Handful of Rice, I obacco, if 
they have none, and Fire. Other Women live continu- 
ally on the Highways and Fields, having made a Vow to 
eat nothing but what they find undigefted in the Dung of 
Oxen, Cows, and Horfes, which they feed with an hard 
fort of crooked Peafe ; and thefe feed the Cattle with 
Grafs all the Day. 
From Outemela you travel through Goulupale and Goge- 
ron to Gandicut. This Place is one of the ftrongeft Cities 
in the Kingdom of Carnate , being fituate upon the Top 
of an high Mountain or Rock, to which there is but one 
Afcent, not above twenty-five or thirty Foot broad at 
moft, and in fome Places not above feven or eight Foot 
wide at the moft. At the Right-hand of it there is a moft 
hideous Precipice, and at the Bottom of it runs a vaft 
River. Upon the Top of the Mountain is a fmall Plain, 
but a Quarter of a League broad, and about half a League 
long. This is fowed with Rice and Millet, and watered 
with many little Springs. 
The City ftands on the South-fide of this Plain, and is 
fo encompaffed with Precipices, at the Bottom of which 
runs two Rivers, that it has but one Gate to the Plain- 
fide, and that too fortified. with two good Walls of Free- 
ftone. Here is a Pagod, which is faid to be the faireft in 
all India, wherein are feveral Idols, fome of Gold, others 
Silver, and fix very large ones of Brafs, of which three are 
fet upon their Heels, and three ftood, and yet were ten Foot 
high a-piece. Thefe Statues, when the Nahab of the 
King of Golconda took the Cities from its own Rajah, he 
took out of the Pagod to make him fome Cannon ; but 
with all the Art the Artificer had, who was a Frenchman , 
he could not melt them, and fo he was forced to leave his 
Work unfinilhed. ’Tis a Cuftom in this City never to 
put any Man in Prifon, but as foon as the Offender is 
taken, he is examined, and Sentence is pronounced up- 
on him according to his Crime, which is immediately 
executed, and, if he be innocent, he is as foon ac- 
quitted and difcharged. 
The Puniftiment is generally iiifli&ed at the Difcretion 
of the Nahab, or Governor : One that had broken into an 
Houfe, and killed the Mother and three Children, was con- 
demned upon the Spot to have his Hands and Feet cut off, 
and to be caft into the Highway, there to end his Days in 
Mifery *, another, who had robbed upon the Highway, 
had his Belly ripped up, and was ordered to be caft upon 
the Dunghill. In thefe Parts of India they have a very 
quick Way of fending Letters by Foot Polls, which are 
more fpeedy than Horfemenj and the Reafon is, becaufe 
at the End of every two Leagues, there are little Huts, 
where there are Men always ready to run as foon as any 
Letter coifies. 
The 
