The Travels of Ludovico Di Varthema in Egypt, Syria, Arabia Deserta and Felix, in Persia, India, and Ethiopia, A. D. 1503 - 8; Translated from the Original Italian Edition of 1510, with a Preface, by John Winter Jones, and Edited, with (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1863 edition. Excerpt: ... CEVUL, AND ITS CUSTOMS, AND THE BRAVERY OP ITS PEOPLE. Departing from the said city of Combeia, I travelled on until I arrived at another city named Cevul,2which is distant some of the Joghee Fakirs, and of the estimation in which they were held by their co-religionists. On this occasion, Varthemais more modest in his description than either Bernier or Hamilton, who descend to the most disgusting particulars in the habits of these filthy ascetics. See Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. viii. pp. 180, 317-8. 1 This description of the country inhabited by Varthema's " Ioghe" confirms me in the impression that the Myhee Canta is indicated. "Chaul, Choul, or Chowul, a town and seaport of the Northern Concan, in the British district of Tannah, twenty-three miles south of Bombay. It appears to have been a place of considerable trade in former times. Nikitin, the Russian traveller, who calls it Chivil, visited it about thirtyfive years before Varthema, and describes the manners of the inhabitants much as he does: "People go about naked, with their heads uncovered, and bare breasts...Their kniaz prince wears &fata a large silken garment on the head, and another on the loins; the boyars wear it on the shoulders and on the loins, Varthema's alia apostolicha." The servants of the kniaz and of the boyars attach the fata round the loins, carrying in the hand a shield and a sword, or a scimitar, or knives, or a sabre, or a bow and arrows; but all naked and barefooted." (India in the XVth. Century, iii. 8, 9.) Ralph Fitch, who was at Chaul in 1583, after its capture by the Portuguese, says: "Here is great traffic for all sorts of spices and drugs, silk and cloth of silk, sandals, and elephants' teeth." The trade had...