139 hail from. When I talked of Cambay, I described their traditions, which they follow in Malabar, because some live in Kochi and Cannanore, too, but the majority live in Calicut. They deal in all sorts of merchandise for many different places. The kings are very happy to have them in their country, because of all the customs duties they pay them from their trade. They live in large houses and their own streets, just like the Jews used to in our country. Their idols are different to those of others, they have lots of large and small bells like we do. There are also a large number of Mouros in this country, who speak the local language. They go naked. They cover their (sic), with cloths like the nairs. Their only difference to these gentiles is that they wear round hoods on their heads and have long beards. There are many of them who are well-established throughout the Malabar; they seem to me to make up a fifth of the populations, scattered across all the kingdoms and provinces. They are very rich and wealthy. All trade and seafaring is in their hands, and such as they are, if the King of Portugal had not discovered India, the whole of Malabar would now be Mouros and it would have a Mouros king. They have many of the same traditions as the gentiles: their children inherit half of their estate and their nephews, children of their sisters, the other half. They follow the idolatry of Mohammed, they observe Fridays, they have many mosques throughout the country, they marry as many women as they can keep, and in addition, they have many low caste mistresses among local women, and if one of them should bear their child, they make it a Mouros, and often the mother, too. This is how this dreadful clan multiplied in Malabar, known to the locals as Mappila. There are also many other foreign Mouros in the city of Calicut, known as Pardesi. They hail from various parts of Arabia; Persia; Gujarati; Khorasan and Deccan and have settled here because there is busy trade. Many have taken wives and have raised children; they
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