153 the most beautiful ones in the whole world andfinely crafted. They are very fast and used to get from one island to another, and also to cross to Malabar in them. Many Mouros ships from China; Moluccas; Malacca; Sumatra; Bengal, and Ceylon crossing to the Red Sea stop here to take on water; provisions, and anything else they need for their voyages. Sometimes, they arrive here so unshipshape, that they unload them and let them go to the bottom. Many fine Mouros ships are wrecked among these islands, because when they cross the sea, they do not dare approach Malabar for fear of our vessels. The inhabitants of the islands get rich merchandise from them, which they sell to the Malabars who come here to load up on coir, as I have already mentioned. The Island of Ceylon Heading further on from the Maldive Islands, one comes to the great island of Ceylon, where our Lord and King [has] a recently-built trading fort, built by Lopo Soares, when he was governor of India. This island is inhabited by gentiles. Many Mouros live in large towns by her seaports, which obey the local king. Her inhabitants, both Mouros and gentile are great, great merchants. They are stout men and goodlooking; they are brown almost white-skinned and most of them have large bellies and are virile; they know nothing of weapons nor do they have them; they are all merchants who enjoy the good life. They go naked from the waist up and cover their lower half with silk and cotton cloths; they wear caps on their heads, and their ears are pierced with many gold earrings. Good, genuine cinnamon grows on this island. It grows on the mountains on trees that look like bay trees. The king orders that it be cut from the thin branches, and has the bark stripped and dried during certain months of the year. He gives it personally to the merchants, who come to purchase it, because no inhabitant of the island can harvest it other than the king.
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