ABSTRACT
AS THEN we leave this land and this Kingdom 1 and return to the seacoast the Land of Malabar 2 begins from the place called Cumbola, and in all from the Hill of Dely 3 and ending at the Cape of Comorin it is one hundred and thirty 1 leagues along the coast. They say that in ancient days there was a heathen King, whose name was Cirimay Pirençal,l a very mighty Lord: And after the Moors of Meca had discovered India they began to voyage towards it for the sake of the pepper, of which they first began to take cargoes at Coulam,2 a city with a harbour, where the King ofttimes abides. "This will not be less than six hundred years ago, for the Indians of that period adopted the era by which those Moors are ruled." And continuing to sail to India for many years they began to spread out therein, and they had such discussions with the King himself and he with them, that in the end they converted him to the sect of the abominable Mafamede, wherefore he went in their company to the House of Meca, and there he died, or, as it seems probable, on the way thither; for they say that the Malabarese never more heard any tidings of him.3 Before he started, this King divided his Kingdom 1 among his Kinsfolk into several portions as it yet is, for before that time all Malabar was one Kingdom. He went on making this partition in such a manner that when he had given a certain land to any person, he forthwith left it never to return thither. And at last, having given away all, and going to take ship from an uninhabited strand (where now is the town of Calecut) , and accompanied by more Moors than Heathen, he took with him a nephew who served him as his page to whom he gave this piece of land, telling him to settle and inhabit it. He then gave him his sword, and a golden lamp which he carried with him as a matter of state, and left a charge to all the Kings and Lords to whom he had given lands that they should obey and honour him, save only the Kings of Cananor and Coulam whom he made independent. Thus he left in Malabar three Kings free one of another, but none was to coin money except his nephew, who was afterwards King of Calecut. This partition made, the old man took ship, and the nephew who stayed on that shore founded a city to ,which he gave the name of Calecut, and the Moors, in memory of the embarkation of the Indian King there on his way to become a Moor, began to take cargoes of pepper there before any other place, and so the trade of Calecut went on increasing, the city became great and noble, and the King made himself the greatest and most powerful of all in Malabar, and they called him Çamidre, 1 which is a distinction above the others. They are only three, to wit, the Çamidre whom they call Maly Conadary, and he of Coulam whom they call Benetady, and he of Cananor whom they can Cobertorim. Besides these, there are many great Lords in the Land who wish to be called Kings, which they are not, for they neither coin money, nor roof houses with tiles,1 nor indeed in all Malabar can anyone roof them so, howsoever great a Lord he may be, for forthwith the Moors would rise against him, save only if it be a House of Prayer or a King's Palace. Afterwards, in the course of time the Kings of Cochim and Cananor struck money by force.
