Cape Comorin (From A Sketch By Mr. Foote, Of The Geological Survey Of India)]

NOTE 2.

- I have not been able to ascertain with any precision what animal is meant by Gat-paul. The term occurs again, coupled with monkeys as here, at p. 240 of the Geog. Text, where, speaking of Abyssinia, it is said: "Il ont gat paulz et autre gat-maimon si divisez," etc. Gatto maimone, for an ape of some kind, is common in old Italian, the latter part of the term, from the Pers. Maimun, being possibly connected with our Baboon. And that the Gat-paul was also some kind of ape is confirmed by the Spanish Dictionaries. Cobarrubias gives: "Gato-Paus, a kind of tailed monkey. Gato-paus, Gato pablo; perhaps as they call a monkey 'Martha,' they may have called this particular monkey 'Paul,'" etc. (f. 431 v.). So also the Diccion. de la Lengua Castellana comp. por la Real Academia (1783) gives: "Gato Paul, a kind of monkey of a grey colour, black muzzle and very broad tail." In fact, the word is used by Columbus, who, in his own account of his third voyage, describes a hill on the coast of Paria as covered with a species of Gatos Paulos. (See Navarrete, Fr. ed. III. 21, also 147-148.) It also occurs in Marmol, Desc. General de Affrica, who says that one kind of monkeys has a black face; "y estas comunemente se llaman en Espana Gatos Paules, las quales se crian en la tierra de los Negros" (I. f. 27). It is worth noting that the revisers of the text adopted by Pauthier have not understood the word. For they substitute for the "Il hi a gat paul si divisez qe ce estoit mervoille" of the Geog. Text, "et si a moult de granz paluz et moult grans pantains a merveilles" - wonderful swamps and marshes! The Pipino Latin has adhered to the correct reading - "Ibi sunt cati qui dicuntur pauli, valde diversi ab aliis."

[1] Ind. Alt. 1st ed. I. 158.

[2] Id. 564; and 2nd ed. I. 103.

CHAPTER XXIV.

CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF ELI.

Eli is a kingdom towards the west, about 300 miles from Comari. The people are Idolaters and have a king, and are tributary to nobody; and have a peculiar language. We will tell you particulars about their manners and their products, and you will better understand things now because we are drawing near to places that are not so outlandish.[NOTE 1]

There is no proper harbour in the country, but there are many great rivers with good estuaries, wide and deep.[NOTE 2] Pepper and ginger grow there, and other spices in quantities.[NOTE 3] The King is rich in treasure, but not very strong in forces. The approach to his kingdom however is so strong by nature that no one can attack him, so he is afraid of nobody.

And you must know that if any ship enters their estuary and anchors there, having been bound for some other port, they seize her and plunder the cargo. For they say, "You were bound for somewhere else, and 'tis God has sent you hither to us, so we have a right to all your goods." And they think it no sin to act thus. And this naughty custom prevails all over these provinces of India, to wit, that if a ship be driven by stress of weather into some other port than that to which it was bound, it is sure to be plundered. But if a ship come bound originally to the place they receive it with all honour and give it due protection.[NOTE 4] The ships of Manzi and other countries that come hither in summer lay in their cargoes in 6 or 8 days and depart as fast as possible, because there is no harbour other than the river-mouth, a mere roadstead and sandbanks, so that it is perilous to tarry there. The ships of Manzi indeed are not so much afraid of these roadsteads as others are, because they have such huge wooden anchors which hold in all weather.[NOTE 5]

There are many lions and other wild beasts here and plenty of game, both beast and bird.

NOTE 1. - No city or district is now known by the name of ELY, but the name survives in that of Mount Dely, properly Monte d'ELY, the Yeli-mala of the Malabar people, and called also in the legends of the coast Sapta-shaila, or the Seven Hills. This is the only spur of the Ghats that reaches the sea within the Madras territory. It is an isolated and very conspicuous hill, or cluster of hills, forming a promontory some 16 miles north of Cananore, the first Indian land seen by Vasco da Gama, on that memorable August morning in 1498, and formerly very well known to navigators, though it has been allowed to drop out of some of our most ambitious modern maps. Abulfeda describes it as "a great mountain projecting into the sea, and descried from a great distance, called Ras Haili"; and it appears in Fra Mauro's map as Cavo de Eli.

Rashiduddin mentions "the country of Hili," between Manjarur (Mangalore) and Fandaraina (miswritten in Elliot's copy Sadarsa). Ibn Batuta speaks of Hili, which he reached on leaving Manjarur, as "a great and well-built city, situated on a large estuary accessible to great ships. The vessels of China come hither; this, Kaulam, and Kalikut, are the only ports that they enter." From Hili he proceeds 12 miles further down the coast to Jor-fattan, which probably corresponds to Baliapatan. ELLY appears in the Carta Catalana, and is marked as a Christian city. Nicolo Conti is the last to speak distinctly of the city. Sailing from Cambay, in 20 days he arrived at two cities on the sea-shore, Pacamuria (Faknur, of Rashid and Firishta, Baccanor of old books, and now Barkur, the Malayalim Vakkanur) and HELLI.

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