109 prayer there in worship, before continuing. And when he comes to see him, or during this celebration itself he is accompanied by many great lords, who all bring nairs with them and many small and large drums; Mouros trumpets, flutes, cymbals and tambourines, with which they make a lot of noise, or rather, they play tunes. The nairs go ahead all in perfect step, and then come the archers and behind them the lancers, and then the men with bucklers carrying bare swords in their hands. When the king comes out of the palace, he stands by a door watching all these people arrive. As they do so, they all bow to him, as if worshipping him, and then they move away. He stands there for quite some time until they have all passed. And the prince appears at the distance of a shot from a crossbow, with a bare sword in his hand, which he swings around several times, looking up and staring at the king. When he catches his eye, he worships him falling prostate to the ground with his arms stretched out in front of him. After he has laid there for a short time, he gets up again and heads towards the king in the same fashion, throwing himself to the floor in front of him. The king takes two steps forward, takes him by the hand and pulls him to his feet and then they both go inside, where the king sits on his dais, and the prince and all the other heirs and lords stand in front of him holding their bare swords in their right hands and their left hands in front of their mouths out of deference, and stay at a distance from him. Should they decide to speak, they have to keep their voices down so that he doesn’t hear them, hence there are some two thousand men in the king’s house with him, who do not spit in his presence nor make a noise. There are always a number of clerks in the King of Calicut’s palace, who sit in a corner away from him, and they write all the matters concerning the king’s estate; justice, and governance on a stone block. They write on stiff, long palm-leaves, with an iron stylus without ink, their letters are in lines and look rather like ours, and are written from left to right. Wherever they
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