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and considered as a species of leprosy. I have seen many with a 
leg thicker than their body; on the naked limbs of the natives it 
has a disgusting appearance; to the leg of a European, with a 
silk-stocking, shoe and buckle, something ludicrous is annexed; 
the Asiatic garb would be more comely. The swelling generally 
commences at the knee, and continues of the same wonderful cir- 
cumference to the foot; few persons are affected in both legs; and 
I believe they are insensible of any other inconvenience than that 
of dragging such a cumberous load. 
During my residence at Anjengo, I was deputed to transact 
some money concerns between the English Company and the Jews 
of Cochin; they do not reside in the city, but at Jews-town, or 
Mottancheree, situated on the banks of the river, about a mile 
distant; where they have two large synagogues, and many excel- 
lent houses and gardens; and are allowed the free exercise of their 
religion, and carry on the principal trade of the settlement. Jews 
from Poland, Spain, and other parts of Europe, were intermingled 
with those established in Malabar, many ages before the discovery 
of India by the Cape of Good Hope. 
Samuel Abraham, a native of Poland, a man of learning, years, 
and respectability, was the most eminent merchant at Mottan- 
cheree in 1772. He managed my business for the Company, and 
gave me every information in his power respecting the Jewish 
tribes settled in the king of Cochin's dominions. They are a people 
distinct and separate from the surrounding Malabars, in dress, 
manners, and religion, as wmll as in their complexion and general 
appearance. This Hebrew colony is said to have emigrated from 
Judea soon after the destruction of the second temple by Titus 
