_ 137 _ their abundance of spices and precious stones. According to the earliest Portuguese observers, Muslim society there was divided between the Mouros de terra (i.e. 'local Moors' or Mappila) and Mouros de Meca, or Pardesi). The latter did not come from Mecca only but from the entire Near and Middle East. Some of these had settled at Calicut. They had administrative functions there and were obliged to respect the terms of the agreement reached with the Hindu community, notably in respecting the caste system and abstaining from eating beef. In return the king offered protection to mosques and forbade the consumption of pork. The Muslims had their own lawcourt, but only the king could pronounce a death sentence. There was one yet more important privilege; at sea all power belonged to the merchants, since to orthodox Hindus the see was impure. The king reigned over his own territories, but the merchant's determined matters of war at sea and had full powers to seek land overseas. It was this separation of powers which the Portuguese could not comprehend a fact which underlay many of their misunderstandings with rulers in India. The maritime economy of the eastern Indian Ocean was based on the export of food and textiles and was concentrated at the ports of Bengal-Satgaon, Sonargaon
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