From Cochin there are
sent yearly to Portugal great quantities of pepper, dry and preserved
ginger, wild cinnamon, areka nuts and large store of cordage made of
_cayro_, that is from the bark of the cocoa-nut tree, which is reckoned
better than that made of hemp. The ships for Portugal depart every
season between the 5th of December and the 5th of January.
[Footnote 145: On former occasions these _amochi_ have been explained as
devoted naires, under a vow to revenge the death of their
sovereign. - E.]
From Cochin I went to Coulan, at which is a small fort belonging to the
Portuguese, 72 miles from Cochin. This is a place of small trade, as
every year a ship gets only half a lading of pepper here, and then goes
to Cochin to be filled up. From Cochin to Cape Comorin is 72 miles, and
here ends the Indian coast. Along this coast, and also at Cape Comorin,
and down to the low lands of _Chialon_[146], which is about 200 miles,
there are great numbers of the natives converted to the Christian faith,
and among them are many churches of the order of St Paul, the friars of
which order do much good in these places, and take great pains to
instruct the natives in the Christian faith.
