119 if a female nair disobeys the rules for her caste and the king hears of it before her brothers and family, he orders her to be arrested and sold to a Mouros or Christian from outside the kingdom, and if her brothers and familyfind outfirst, they kill her by cutting her down and with spears, saying that not to do so will bring great shame on them, and the king does not act against this, for it is the law and tradition. There is a caste of people here in the kingdom of Calicut, who are known as Brahmins and who are their priests, like the clergy in our country. I have already referred to them, they all speak the same language and they can only be sons of Brahmins. When they are seven years old, they throw a leather strap over their shoulders, which is about twofingers wide. It is untanned and still has fur on it and it comes from an animal they call a crisvamergão [1] , which is like a wild donkey. And they are ordered not to chew betel for seven years, which is the whole time during which they wear that strap.And when they reach the age of fourteen, they are made a Brahmin and the leather strap is removed and replaced with another one which is three fingers’ wide and which they will wear for the rest of their lives, as a sign that he is athey are Brahmin. They hold a huge celebration and party, like we do when a priest says mass for the first time. From then on, they can chew betel, but cannot eat meat or fish. They are greatly respected by the Indians, and as I have said, they cannot be put to death for anything they have done, their leader gives them a soft punishment. They only marry once like us, and only the oldest son may marry, and they make him the sole heir of the family; all the remaining brothers stay single for the rest of their lives. These Brahmin carefully protect and look after their wives. No other men can sleep with her, and if either of them dies, the other does not re-marry. If the wife offends her husband, he poisons her to death. His 1. Translator's note: A black antelope.
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