India in the Fifteenth Century: Being a Collection of Narratives of Voyages to India, in the Century Preceeding the Portugese Discovery of the Cape of Good Hope ; from Latin, Persian, Russian, and Italian Sources, Now First Translated Into EnglishRichard Henry Major |
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Common terms and phrases
Abd-er-Razzák afterwards ambassador animals Arabs arrived Beder Bidjanagar bird Boris and Gleb Calicut Cambay camphor Cape Caspian Sea century Ceylon China Christians coast colour Conti Covilham cubits cubits in length Dabul Daiang describes distance East elephants empire extremely fruit Ganges ghez gold Gulf Gulf of Cambay happy Khakan head Hindoo horse hundred Ibn Batuta idols India inhabitants island Java journey Khan king kingdom kniaz land Lord Mahommedan Malabar Maldives Mangalore Marco Polo Melikh merchants miles in circumference monarch month mountains Muhammedan Muscat narrative natives Nestorian Nicolò night Ollo Ormuz palace passed pearls pepper Persian pieces port precious stones present prince province Ptolemy reached Red Sea resembling river round Rukh Russian sailed says sent Shah ship Shirvanshah silk Sindbad Soliman sovereign sultan Sumatra Taprobana thence thou thousand tion town traveller tree twenty vessel viziers voyage women wood
Popular passages
Page 12 - Moses said unto him, Shall I follow thee, that thou mayest teach me part of that which thou hast been taught, for a direction unto me? He answered, Verily thou canst not bear with me : for how canst thou patiently suffer those things, the knowledge whereof thou dost not comprehend? Moses replied, Thou shall find 'me patient, if GOD please; neither will I be disobedient unto thee in anything.
Page 14 - ... bazaars, without thinking in the meantime of any necessity of checking the account or of keeping watch over the goods.
Page 23 - The city of Bidjanagar is such that the pupil of the eye has never seen a place like it, and the ear of intelligence has never been informed that there existed anything to equal it in the world.
Page xlvii - This nation is very trustworthy in matters of trade; and whenever foreign merchants enter their port, three secretaries of the king immediately repair on board their vessels, write down their names, and report them to him. The king thereupon grants them security for their property, which they may even leave in the open fields without any guard.
Page xlvii - ... have been found anywhere, and which he returns to those applicants who can minutely describe them. This custom is observed in the whole empire of the king. " From Easter to new year (from April to October) during the whole of the summer the heat is extreme.
Page 27 - The lower part is constructed with triple planks, in order to withstand the force of the tempests to which they are much exposed. But some ships are so built in compartments that should one part be shattered, the other portion remaining entire may accomplish the voyage.
Page 29 - ... favour of God. These men are assailed by the people, who pelt them with oranges, lemons, and other odoriferous fruits, all of which they bear most patiently. There are also three other festival days during which they sprinkle all passers-by, even the king and queen themselves, with saffron water, placed for that purpose by the way-side. This is received by all with much laughter.
Page 13 - Calicut is a perfectly secure harbour, which, like that of Ormuz, brings together merchants from every city and from every country; in it are to be found abundance of precious articles brought thither from maritime countries, and especially from Abyssinia, Zirbad, and...
Page 6 - The inhabitants of this region marry as many wives as they please, who are burnt with their dead husbands. Their king is more powerful than all the other kings of India. He takes to himself 12,000 wives, of whom 4,000 follow him on foot wherever he may go, and are employed solely in the service of the kitchen.
Page 30 - Here at a certain period of the year men bring oxen, which they drive to the top, and having cut them into pieces, cast the warm and bleeding fragments upon the summit of the other mountain by means of machines, which they construct for the purpose. The diamonds stick to these pieces of flesh. Then come vultures and eagles flying to the spot, which seizing the meat for their food fly away with it to places where they may be safe from the serpents. To these places the men afterwards come and collect...