104 to take their cargoes of pepper from that place rather than any other. Hence, trade in Calicut began to grow and it turned into a great and noble city, with its king becoming the greatest and most powerful one of all in Malabar. He was given the title Camide, which sets him above the others, of which there are no more than three, that is, this Camide, called Maly Covadari, the King of Quilon called Benatadi, and the King of Cannanore called Cobetorim, not counting the many other lords in this country, who wish to be called kings, but who are not, because they cannot mint coins nor tile their rooves. Nobody in Malabar can cover them, however great a lord they might be, otherwise the Mouros will rise up against him, unless it is a temple or the king’s palace; later, some time afterwards, the Kings of Quilon and Cannanore minted coins without permission. Only one language is spoken in this country of Malabar, called Malayalam. All the kings are from the same caste and customs, approximately, but there are many different ones among the ordinary people, for there are some eighteen castes among the native gentiles of Malabar. They are all different and thus they do not touch each other, on pain of death or confiscation of all their possessions. They thus all obey their own laws; customs and idolatries as I shall now describe. The kings of Malabar are gentile idol-worshippers. Their skin is pale brown, some are blacker. They go naked, covering themselves below the waist with white silk or cotton cloths, sometimes they wear robes which are open at the front and which come down to their thighs. They are made of cotton or silk, or very fine scarlet or brocade. Their hair is tied up and they sometimes wear long hoods like Galician caps. They shave with a blade, leaving some long whiskers like the Turks. They pierce their ears in which they put manyfine precious stones and strings of huge pearls. They tie a belt with precious stones around their clothes. It is threefingers wide, withfine rich craftsmanship. They run
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