_Sinnergan_ is a town six leagues from
_Serrepore_, where the best and finest cotton cloth of all the east is
made[423].
The chief king of all those countries is called Isa-khan,
being supreme over all the other kings or rajahs, and is a great friend
to the Christians. Here, as in most parts of India, the houses are very
small and covered with straw, having a few mats hung round the walls and
over the door-way, to keep out tigers and foxes. They live on rice,
milk, and fruits, eating no flesh and killing no animals; and though
many of them are very rich, their sole article of dress is a small cloth
before them. From hence they send great quantities of cotton cloths and
much rice, all over India, Pegu, Malacca, Sumatra, and other places.
[Footnote 422: Perhaps Pucouloe, a place of some size near Davas between
the Ganges and Burhampooter rivers. - E.]
[Footnote 423: Serampoor on the Hoogly river agrees at least in sound
with the Serrepore of the text; but, from the context, I rather suspect
Serrepore to have stood among the numerous islands of the great eastern
Ganges, in the province of Dava, and near the junction of the Ganges and
Burhampooter or Megna rivers. Of Sinnergan I can make nothing, only that
it must have stood in the same district. - E.]
I went from Serrepore the 28th of November 1586 for Pegu, in a small
ship or foist, commanded by one Albert Caravallos, and sailing down the
Ganges, we passed by the island of Sundiva, Porto grande, or Chittigong,
in the country of Tiperah, and the kingdom of Recon and Mogen[424],
leaving all on our left hand, our course being south by east, with the
wind at north-west, which brought us to the bar of Negrais in Pegu. Had
we met with a foul wind, we must have thrown many things overboard, for
we were so lumbered with people and goods, even on the deck, that there
was scarce a place to sit down upon. From Bengal to Pegu is 90 leagues.
We entered the bar of Negrais, [at the mouth of the western branch of
the river of Ava], which is an excellent bar, having four fathoms water
where shallowest. Three days afterwards we came to Cosmin, a very pretty
town, pleasantly situated and abounding in all things. The people are
tall and well disposed; the women white, round faced, and having small
eyes. The houses are high built, set upon great high posts, and they go
up to them by means of ladders for fear of the tigers, which are very
numerous. The country is very fertile, abounding in great figs, oranges,
coconuts, and other fruits. The land is very high on the sea coast, but
after getting within the bar, it is very low and much intersected with
rivers, so that they go everywhere in boats, which they call _paraos_,
in which many of them dwell with their wives and children.
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