Having Thus Given Away His Whole
Dignities And Possessions, And Set Every Thing In Order, He Embarked From
The Place
Where Calicut now stands; and because this king embarked from
that place on his pilgrimage to Mecca, the Moors have
Ever since held
Calicut in so high devotion, that they and all their posterity would
never take their lading from any other port. From that time forwards,
they discontinued trade with the port of Coulan, which they had used
formerly, and that port therefore fell to ruin; especially after the
building of Calicut, and the settlement of many Moors in that place[51].
As the Moors are merchants of most extensive dealings, they have rendered
Calicut, as the centre of their trade, the richest mart of all the Indies;
in which is to be found all the spices, drugs, nutmegs, and other things
that can be desired, all kinds of precious stones, pearls and seed-pearls,
musk, sanders, aguila, fine dishes of earthen ware, lacker[52], gilded
coffers, and all the fine things of China, gold, amber, wax, ivory, fine
and coarse cotton goods, both white and dyed of many colours, much raw
and twisted silk, stuffs of silk and gold, cloth of gold, cloth of tissue,
grain, scarlets, silk carpets, copper, quicksilver, vermilion, alum,
coral, rose-water, and all kinds of conserves. Thus, every kind of
merchandize from all parts of the world is to be found in this place;
which, moreover, is very quiet, being situated along the coast, which is
almost open and very dangerous.
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