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struck by Parasu Rama, when he created Kerala. These fanams 
are not easily obtained; being considered as relics of the greatest 
antiquity: according to the fables of the brahmins, Parasu Rama 
created Kerala above eight hundred thousand years ago; and Dr. 
Buchanan received an account from the Tulava brahmins, taken 
from an historical work in the Sanscrit language, by which it ap- 
pears that Tulava was given to the brahmins 1,955,883,365 years, 
preceding A. D. 1801: in pursuing the history of Tulava, this 
intelligent writer observes, “ the candid reader will not expect, that 
in a work comprehending the accounts of such a long duration of 
time, a few thousand years, earlier or later, in the chronology of 
these degenerate times, can be considered as of any conse- 
quence/' 
We sailed from Goa with the land-wind, and the next morn- 
ing were off Carwar, a town of importance during the flourishing 
state of the Portugueze: the English had formerly a factory for 
the purchase of pepper, which has been for many years deserted: 
there are still a number of Portugueze inhabitants, with a bishop 
and inferior clergy; the Roman catholic churches at Bombay are 
in the diocese of Carwar. 
In the neighbouring country, the peasants manufacture cate- 
chu, or terra- Japonica, from the keiri tree (mimosa catechu) which 
grows wild on the hills of Kankana, but in no other part of the 
Indian peninsula. Dr. Buchanan says, “ the keira tree is felled 
at any season; and, the white wood being removed, the heart is 
cut into small pieces, and put, with one half of the quantity by 
measure, into a round earthen pot: it is then boiled for three hours; 
and when the decoction has become ropjq it is decanted. The 
