ABSTRACT

He who kills another in this country is put to death* the same as in Calicut.1 With respect to conveying and holding, it is necessary that it should appear by writing or by wit­ nesses. Their writing is on paper like ours, not on the leaves of a tree like that of Calicut. And then they go to a governor of the city, who administers justice for them summarily. However, when any foreign merchant dies who has no wife or children, he cannot leave his property to whomsoever he pleases, because the king wills to be his heir. And in this country, that is, the natives, commencing from the king, after his death his son remains king.2 And when any Moorish merchant dies, very great expense is in­ curred in odoriferous substances to preserve the body, which they put into wooden boxes and then bury it, placing the head towards the city of Mecca, which comes to be towards the north.3 I f the deceased have children, they are his heirs.