147 Our Lord and King has a most beautiful fortress at the mouth of the river, which is surrounded by a large settlement of Portuguese and local Christians, who became Christians after we had built our fortress, and every day, more and more Indians appear who are descended from those taught by the Blessed St. Thomas, or who have come from Quilon and other places to convert. Our Lord and King has his ships repaired and new ones built, both galleys and caravels, in this fortress town of Kochi, as perfectly as if they were built in Lisbon Docks. A large amount of pepper and other spices and remedies coming from Malacca are loaded here each year and taken to Portugal. The King of Kochi has a small country and he was not a king before the Portuguese discovered India, because all the kings [who] acceded to the throne of Calicut had the habit and rule of coming into Kochi and removing the king from his post and taking possession of it, and they would return it to him or not, according to their wishes; the King of Kochi would give him a certain number of elephants each year, but he was not allowed to mint coins nor roof his palace with tiles, otherwise he would lose his land. Now that Our Lord and King has discovered India, he has made him an independent and powerful king in his land, nobody interferes there and he mints as many coins as he pleases. The Kingdom of Quilon Going further along the coast, heading South from the Kingdom of Kochi, one comes straightaway to the Kingdom of Quilon, and there is a small village between it and Kochi called Porqua, which has its own lord. There are many gentilefishermen living here, who make their living just from fishing in the winter and stealing everything they find and can get hold of at sea, in the summer; they come in small rowingboats like brigs, and they are great rowers. A large number of them come together, all armed with bows and arrows, and they encircle any
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