Letters from Malabar; by J. C. V. Now first translated ... To which is added an account of Travancore, and Fra Bartolomeo's Travels in that country. By H. Drury

Preface

BY THE EDITOR. The original volume, of which the following pages are a translation, came accidentally into my hands while at Cochin about two years ago, and imagining it might possess some interesting matter, I took it to England, and had it faithfully translated under my own superintendence. The present reproduction con tains the entire work, with the exception of one or two chapters, relating to Java, and the Dutch de pendencies of the Eastern Archipelago. These were purposely omitted, as they had no reference to the affairs of the Malabar Coast. There can be little doubt that Dutch writings on the subject of tlie East are very numerous, though but little known to us ; chiefly, of course, from the fact of their being sealed up in a tongue which few care to acquire in the present day. Yet, if we con sider for how considerable a period of time the Dutch were masters of the Malabar Coast and Ceylon and what laborious writers and compilers they were, both at home and abroad when in the zenith of their power and prosperity, there must surely be many works which, if rendered available for the English reader, would throw much interesting light upon the admi nistration of their Eastern possessions.

The early Dutch voyagers, such as Linschofcen, Valentyn, NieuhofF and others had their works pub lished separately or collectively, and are numerous enough, but a few only have been translated into the English language. AVhen Dr. Claudius Buchanan visited Cochin in 1806 (see his Christian Researches), it is believed there were large collections of Dutch and Portuguese books to be found in Cochin, but which were subse quently destroyed wholesale. The present volume is probably one of the few which escaped the vandal ism of those days, while manyothers may yet be lying in dishonoured obscurity. In addition to these " Letters from Malabar," I procured a MS. account of Cochin and Malabar, which was written by M. Adrian van Moens, who was the Dutch Governor of Cochin about 1772, and who appears to have been a man of considerable energy and ability.

He greatly improved the fortifications of the place, and other wise rendered great services to the town and its neighbourhood. This MS. is a large 4 to. volume and is now among the Government Records in Cochin. Of the Author of the " Letters from Malabar," I can find no account beyond what is in the preface of the Dutch edition. The name of Canterfisher is not unknown on the Coromandel Coast, and persons of that name, whom the present generation may recol lect at Madras, were probably descendants of the Dutch author. H D. Trevaxdkum, June 1862. j EXTRACT FROM THE AUTHOR'S

PREFACE.

. 1 have been induced to write these Memoirs by the desire to relate the veracious circumstances of which I have either myself been an eyewitness, or which I have heard from trustworthy persons ; for, all I shall say respecting the manners and customs of the Malabars I have drawn from the fountain head, namely, from the natives themselves, and particularly from such among them as are most thoroughly acquainted with them— their brahmins and lawyers. The task has cost me much labour and trouble, and a good deal of patience too ; for these people are very slow, and can only be forced to answer our enquiries by continual prompting. The reader need not expect any description of the incidents wliich have happened to me, or a narrative of my voyages, misfortunes, the storms and such things, with which almost all books of travels are filled.

My observations will bear only upon the manners and customs of the people, their laws, rites and ceremonies, the description of their kingdoms, as well as their origin and their modes of government, and other similar subjects. I give these Memoirs the title of Malabar Letters, although they do not all concern that country, be cause 1 wrote them there and despatched them to 1113' friends in Europe. I preferred this method of writing, because it gave me the opportunity to insert in this account of the Malabar people some other noteworthy circumstances. I conclude with expressing the hope that this little work may be of use to the reader, who is interested in the study of these subjects, EXTRACT FROM THE DUTCH EDITOR'S DEDICATION TO SOME RICHT HONORABLE LORDS AJiD LADIES IN HOLLAND. The following pages contain observations upon that part of India which is called the Coast of Malabar, describing the nature of the country, the varieties of its inhabitants, and the manner of life in vogue there, both amoDg the Dutch themselves and the heathens and mahometans.

My brother Jacobus Canter Visscher, at the time he wrote these letters to his friends at home, was Chaplain at Cochin, the chief town of that country; he lived there five whole jears, duririg which time he had sufficient opportunity to examine into matters there. He was afterwards a Minister of God's Word at Batavia, in the Portuguese language. It would not become me in this place to expatiate upon his abi lities, but your Excellencies will allow me to say simply, as a proof that he has been as accurate as it was possible for him to be, that from his youth upward he took delight in reading accounts of travels, and was filled by them with a strong desire himself to visit distant lands and nations, and to ascertain the truth or falsehood of other writers. This desire grew so irresistible, that, as soon as he had complet ed his studies, although he was by no means without hope of promotion in his native country, he accepted an appoint ment from the East India Company and gladly undertook the voyage to the East ; the Divine Providence placed him at first in the not uncelebrated region of which he here gives the description.

These letters were not written merely for the edification of his friends and acquaintance, but with the view of pub lication at a suitable time ; he kept a copy of them himself and had arranged thenj in what appeared to him a natural order. < This copy having, since my brother's death, fallen into my hands, I have resolved to publish it ; and have taken the liberty to dedicate it to your Excellencies, humbly begging you to receive it favourably. * I remain, as I have always been, Right Hon'ble Lords and Ladies, Your humble and obedient servant, C. T. VISSCHER, Chaplain at Pingjum. \6th August, 1743. CONTENTS. Page.

Letter I

Situation of Malabar — Signification of the name — First colonization according to .the Native legends — Difference between the Highlands and Lowlands — The stone found in Highlands — Cheapness of provisions — Neither volcanoes to be found nor earthquakes ever experienced here 9

Letter II

On some disorders indigenous to the country, and the causes of them — The distinction of seasons, and the effects thence arising. 13

Letter IV

Description of Quilon, Aiwike, Kully Quilon, Porcad, Cranganoor, Paliport, Chetwa — Dutch fortresses in Malabar— Narrative of the late war — Cannanore, Anjengo, and TeUicherry belonging to the Enghsh — Eddawa, formerly a possession of the Danes, but now abandoned 24

Letter V

Description of Canara, Vingorla, Goa — and the Customs of the Portuguese in these parts 32

Letter VI

Malabar an expensive settlement to the Dutch East India Company — Its importance — Remarks on the duties incumbent on our Commandants — Encomiums on Joh : Hertenberg — Administration of the East India Company — Landed estates belonging to them CONTEXTS. Page.

Letter VII

Trade of the English in Malabar, and the disasters they have experienced 44

Letter VIII

Divisions among the royal houses, and wars thence arising — Character and manners of Rajah Wierlarn — Customs at the decease of the Rajahs — Observations on the conduct which ought to be observed by the Dutch Government in its intercourse with these princes 49

Letter IX

Account of the royal houses of Malabar, Travancore, Cochin, the Zamorin, and Colastri — Disagreements existing between them... 57

Letter X

Laws of the Malabars — Strange manner of laying a seizure on the property of another — Their trials by ordeal, sometimes thrusting the fingers into boiling oil, sometimes the hand into a basket containing a Cobra Capella, sometimes swimming through a river inhabited by Crocodiles — Strange occurrence — Their prisons — The rights they possess over slaves — Sales and purchases 67

LETTER XL

Revenues of the Rajahs of Cochin — Their mode of Government- Accounts of the National Assemblies collected in cases of emergency 73

Letter XXII

Account of the Tattares and their privileges : of the Canareee, their manner of life, divisions of caste, nuptial and funeral ceremonies, and feasts : and of the Jogis 130 LFTTER XXIII. Malabar Temples — Religious service — Revenues attached to the temples — Mode of consecration 140

Letter XXIV

Superstitions of the Natives — How they consecrate their houses — Their charms against the evil eye — Auguries on building their houses — The respect for the Kalu tree, and the state of departed souls — Exorcisms — Lucky and' unlucky Omens CONTENTS. 8 Page.

Letter XXV

Discrepancy between the Chronologies of Holy Scripture, and those of the Gentile Nations. An account of the feast days of the Malabars 149

Letter XXVII

Description of the Cocoa Palm ; the Malabar Cinnamon, and Coffee shrub — Sanctity of Cows and Snakes and the eyes of the Malabars — Great Snakes — Quantity of Crocodiles— Dangerous Kites— Fire-Flies 159 An account of Travancore, and Fra Bartolomeo' s travels in that Country

Letter I

Situation of Malabar— Signification of tlie name — First colonization according to the Native legends— Difference between the Highlands aud Lowlands — The stone found in Highlands — Cheapness of provisions— Neither volcanoes to be found nor earthquakes ever experienced here. Though the broad ocean, which rolls between the Nether lands and Malabar, presents a barrier to my personal enjoy ment of your delightful society, it can neither extinguish my affection nor prevent me from holding communication with you by lettei". I therefore dispatch this, as the first tribute of our constant friendship, in which I propose to relate the origin of Malabar according to the tradition of the natives. This country of Malabar is situated about 10 degrees north of the Equator, stretcliing from Cape Comorin in the south to Mount Delli in the north.

The inhabitants are called by us Malabars, bjT the Portuguese, Mcdavares, and by themselves Mallealler.* This word properly signifies Moun taineers, not that they dwell amid lofty mountains, for the greater part of the country, stretching along the sea coast, is flat and marsh}- ; but the name must be derived from the original colonists, who were a mountain race. Their legend, doubtless embellished by fiction, is as follows : — In by-gone ages, the sea washed the foot of a mountain range, which now lies 7 or 8 miles inland. The men who dwelt in the neighbourhood gained their subsistence by fishing along the mountain shores. Now it happened that there dwelt at. Gocarna near Goa, a certain prophet universally renowned for sanctity, whose name was Paroese Raman. He, discovering to his sorrow that his aged mother bad acquired an evil notoriety in the neighbourhood for her misdeeds, felt unable to endure the public shame she had brought upon him.

At lengih, inspired by a divine impulse, he Seized a rice winnow, aud hurled it with tie- Mala, signifies a mountain, ami atom, a district or country. — H. D. B mendous force from Gocarna right over the sea : by a won derful miracle it was carried forward as far as Cape Comorin, upon which all the sea between the two places immediately rliied up, and was transformed into that tract of level land, to which we now give the name of Malabar. The prophet resolved to take up his abode with his mother in this strange land, hoping here to find a hiding place for her disgrace. Meantime, the fishermen of the mountains, hearing of the miracle, flocked into these lowlands to seek for the seashore. The prophet met them, and, knowing that a land without inhabitants is waste and desolate, persuaded them to remain and settle there ; and in order the more to attract them, he invested them with the dignity of Brahmins, promising at the same time to support them after his old custom, by which he was pledged to provide food daily for 3,000 of that caste.

He then took the fishing nets with which they were laden, and tore them into strands, which he twisted together, to make the three cords which the Brahmins wear as a sign of their dignity tied in a knot on the shoulder, and falling down below the waist. These Brahmins of Malabar are called Namboories and are re proached by the other Brahmins, for their descent from fishermen.* You will agree with me in treating this story as a meie fiction, but there is probably some foundation in fact for it, as there is for most fables : and any one who carefully exa mines these lowlands, will grant that formerly they must have been submerged under the sea. Not only do they lie so low, that like the coast of Holland they are under water in the rainy season, but they are in many parts broken up * Another account of this tradition is as follows : — When Parashura men was performing penance on the mountain Mahandra, where, after having gained twenty-one victories over the Kchettries, he had laid up all his arras, the chief munees or saints came to see him, and, having saluted him, advised him to cause the sea to recede, and to bring to light the land of Kerala, which li .ul been submerged under the ocean iu a former age.

Parashuramen im mediately went to the neighbourhood of Gokamam aud hurling an axe, recovered the land from the sea as far as to where the weapon fell. The limits are Cape Comorin on one side, and Gokarnam on the other. There are three divisions, that of Kerala, Tulu, and Heiga. From Cape Comorin to the river Kanyirota is the Kerala division. The middle portion from thence is the Tulu division. The last par. is the Heiga division, the boundary of which is the river Bashpasetu. These three divisions embrace what is now called Malayalim. Parashuramen having thus created the land of Kerala, summoned the Brahmins from a foreign country, and made over the country to them, aud giving chief authority to them over the employments and occupationof tlie four castes, namely, the Brahmin, the Kchettry, Veishya and the Sudra, he rested from his work. — II.

D. APPEARANCE OF THE LOAV COUNTRY, 11 into islets by the waters of the sea, which (low in channels between them, and into which the rivers from the moun tains empty themselves. May we not then suppose that this low and broken land is washed over entirely from time to time? We know that in some European countries the sea encroaches on the land, and in other places recedes. It is true, no doubt, that many parts of the shore are elevated. Nearly the whole coast from Kully Quilon to Ponany is low and broken up by numerous watercourses, but the coast of Quilon is steep and rocky, or rather it is merely a rock covered with a stratum of soil ; so that here it would seem the land can never have been under water. While I am on the subject of this rocky district, I must add that tbe stone is very well adapted for building.

There are quarries here from which the stones are hewn; and I have seen the stone when well cut from the rock, split like wood under the stroke of the axe. The stoneis reddish j^ellow and spotted,* very porous and full of holes, in which the lime used in building, gets mixed up, and the whole becomes so well consolidated, that old stone is often preferred to new. The East India Company find this stone very serviceable for erecting their fortresses and factories, and the inhabitants use it in building their houses. But to return from this digression. I must inform you that the variety of soil here causes a marked difference in its fertility. It is true, generally speaking, that the pleasant champaigns and sweet clover fields with which Holland abounds, are not to be found here, nor is it the case that tbe fields are clothed with many coloured flowers, breathing sweet fragrance, as the poet Antonides has it, in his poem on the river Y+.

" The fruitful Cochin, where sweet blossoming May, " For ever decks the earth with livery gay." This is poetical license deviating far from the real truth, as, commonly, the vegetation is but thin and scanty, and the fields are any thing but rich in flowers. It is true, indeed, that the low sandy tracts are more fertile than the more elevated and rocky districts, for while these yield nothing but trees, and tree fruits, the former contain vast expanses * Laterite, below which is found limestone and liguite. The cliffs rise to nearly 250 feet in some places. — H. D. t Antonides van der Goes, a Dutch poet who flourished in the seventeenth century. His principal work was a poem on the river Y, or the " Ystroom." See Foreign Quarterly Review, Vol. iv. p. 57. of rice fields, which are so productive that they suffice to furnish rice not only for the whole of Malabar, but also tor exportation.

It is curious that so dry a plant as rice grows in the water. In fact, the natives sow the nehj in the low lying meadows, at the time when they are a foot or two under water, scattering the seed in the water, through wliich it sinks to the earth, and there takes root ; when about a foot high the seedlings must be transplanted. Provisions are all cheap here, especially rice and meat. A pig can be bought for a dollar, a good calf for half a dollar, a fowl for 10 cents. This must be attributed to the habits of the natives, among whom it would be considered a sacrilege to eat beef — merely to kill a cow being a crime punished by death without mercy. Some castes are per mitted to eat other meats, but it is little done ; the Brahmins have a mortal abhorrence of animal food, and make use of nothing that has had life.

Upper Malabar is very elevated, and contains many mountain ranges rising one behind the other. It boasts few mineral productions, except iron, which is beat out in small bars and exported to Mocha. There are no volcanoes in this part of the world, nor are an}' serious convulsions of the earth known. Indeed there has never been an earthquake within the memory of man, while, in the countries lying further to the East, both volcanoes and earthquakes are most common.

Letter II

Oh some disorders indigenous to the country and the causes of them — The distinction of seasons, and the effects thence arising. The great respect I entertain for your judgment causes me to take up my pen with diffidence, being aware that my letters are not worthy to meet your eye ; but I trust to your kindness to overlook their deficiencies, and to be satisfied with my desire to inform you of all that I have observed in these distant lands. I remember to have read in certain books of travels that there are men to be met with in the Alps whose necks are covered with swellings, and that the inhabitants look upon them as ornamental.* Similar swellings are often to be seen on persons in this country ; but here the disorder generally attacks the legs, and other parts of the body besides. f The disorder always begins with a fever, which they here call the raging fever, which sometimes causes delirium, and as the strength of the malady increases, great pain is felt in the legs or in other parts attacked : the fever then settling in the suffering part, causes it to swell in a frightful manner.

In the commencement of the disorder, the swellings subside again, but as the fever returns, at intervals of one or two months, or a longer period, thejreappear and become per- * The author alludes to the goitre or bronchocele. The classical reader will recollect the line in Juvenal (Sat. xiii. 162.) Quis tumidum guttur miratur in Alpibus ? The sufferers were called ' Gutturosi.' It was formerly supposed that this glandular swelling only appeared in certain coun tries, such as Switzerland and Savoy, and that its origin arose from drinking suow water. It is however found in certain districts of South America, Su matra, and even in Great Britain, especially in Derbyshire, from whence it has been called the " Derbyshire -Neck." Its origin is very obscure, but as it pre vails in countries, both where snow exists and where it does not, drinking snow water can no longer be asserted as the cause of its appearance. — H. D. + Elephantiasis or Cochin Leg.

This prevails to a great extent among the inhabitants of the Western Coast ; nor has any certain remedy hitherto been discovered for the diseased part, short of amputation. It is more than probable that bad water and bad diet, are the remote causes of it. — H. D. mauent: so that men have 1 >■■<_- 11 found with legs as thick as iiiv waist .-mil other frightful swellings. 'This malady cannot lie ascribed to any particular nation or race of men. I remember to have read that it attacks only the St. Thomas' Christians, and that they may be known by this mark ; but nothing can be more absurd than such a notion, for we see every day people of all kinds, men and ■women, Mahometans, Heathens, and Christians, and even Europeans who reside here, atlacked by it. You, who have o-iven your mind to the investigation of nature, will no doubt be able to give a sufficient reason for these facts : but I trust you will have the goodness to weigh my opinion, which may possibly assist in the explanation.

I believe that the cause of the disorder is in the water and the soil, and partly also in the air, which is filled with vapour drawn up from the water. It appears that in the low lying parts of Malabar in the neighbourhood of Cochin, the earth is full of saltpetre or some other sub stances, which mingle with the water of the pools or rivers near the sea coast ; and the people who constantly drink this water acquire a disorder and fever which causes at first shivering, and then drives the particles which occasion the fever into a certain part of the system. These particles being sharp and pungent, cause great pain, and at last distend the small vessels in the afflicted region, which after the first access of the complaint, subside again, but after fresh particles have been driven in by fresh fevers, the enlarge ments not only remain fixed but increase in size.

On the legs thus deformed, the flesh becomes loose and spongjr • but this makes them light also, so that however enlarged they may be in size, the patients can walk with great ea se. These remarks of mine seem to be strengthened not only by the taste of the water of these lowlands, which is brackish and unpleasant, but by actual experience ; for tho people who are in better circumstances, and can get their water higher up, from the river Mangatti, are seldom visited by this disease, while on the other hand those who drink the water of the neighbourhood suffer from it much. On this account the E. I. Company has wisely ordered that this water should no longer be given out to the garrison, but wa ter from the Mangatti instead ; and it has been observed that the malady has been much less prevalent among the troops since that time.

I must add that the juice of the young cocoanuts is also very deleterious ; and my neighbour DISEASES, AND THEIR CAUSES. THE SEASONS. 15 said that he himself had caught the disorder from that cause. The reason is plain : for we know that the vessels of the cocoanut palm are of great width, so thatit imbibes water from the earth just as it is, without detaching it from the partieles of saltpetre ; and in this state the fluid enters the young nut, the interior of which contains nothing but a sort of water rather sweet in taste, and consequently it gives rise to the same disorder as the water of the wells. 1 am so fortunate as never to have suffered from this dis ease ; though I could not escape' another, which the natives term Mal-de-terre, which attacked me almost every month, beginning with great uneasiness and pain in the bowels, and ending with violent sickness and diarrhœa.

Tbe Indians have a curious j'emedy for it, which is to take a hot iron and bunt the soles of the feet with it. This often has a good effect. Not to detain you any longer with these painful topics, I shall now turn to descriptions of other natural phenomena, and proceed to relate briefly the courses of the seasons in this part of the world. One hardly finds here that difference of seasons which is experienced in Europe : for neither are heavy hailstorms,* nor thick falls of snow, nor hard frosts, ever seen or felt in these parts. One must divide the year into two Monsoons,^ or seasons, the one being the period of dry weather, the other the period of rain. The dry season may be divided noain, first into a temperate season, when the air is tolerably cool : this begins in November, when the atmosphere is bright and clear ; the S. E. land winds then begin to blow, attaining their greatest force in January and subsiding again in February.

They blow every morning during this period, * Hailstorms have occasionally occurred in these districts, though they are of very rare occurrence. One of unusual severity occurred only last month (April 1862) in the town of Cochin itself. — H. D. t A knowledge of the monsoons may be traced from very early ages. Humboldt says °that Alexander's companions were not ignorant of the ex istence of the monsoons, by which navigation was so greatly favoured between the Eastern Coasts of Africa and the North and Western parts of India. After having spent ten months in navigating the Indus between Nicæa on the Hydas pes and Pattala, with a view of opening the river to a universal traffic, Nearchus hastened to sail from Stura, at the mouth of the Indus at the be ginning of October ; since he knew that his passage would be favoured by the N. E. and Eastern Monsoons in the same parallel of latitude.

The knowledge of this remarkable local direction of the winds, subsequently emboldened naviga tors to attempt to sail from Ocelis on the Straits of Babelmandeb, cross the open sea to Muziris (south of Mangalore) the great Malabar emporium of trade, to which products from the Eastern shores of the Indian peninsula, and even gold from the distant Chryse (Borneo ?) were brought by inland trade.— (COSMOS.-) and are found by experience to be prejudicial. After this follows the hot season, when, the wind ceasing, the air be comes exceedingly sultry, especially in the forenoon and at night, because there is not the slightest breeze to cool it ; whereas, in the afternoon, there is often a wind from the sea. Iu the month of May the season begins to change. Tbe heavens become overspread with heavy clouds, and violent storms of thunder and lightning occur.

I cannot find that these storms cause so much damage as among us in Holland, the cause of which I take to be the rarefaction of the air through the continued heat of the sun, so that the thunder and lightning finding less obstruction, become more easily diffused aud fall to the earth with diminished force. Tlie rainy season sets iu at the end of Ma}' or beginning of June, and lasts till October, bringing perpetual storms of rain, often accompanied by violent winds. It would be well worth the trouble of any philosopher to enquire into the cause of this rainy season ; and I consider it my duty to speculate upon it, because the phenomena afford some clue to the decision of the question. In the hot season we find that the wind blows entirely from the North and West : on which account ships then coming from Persia and Surat have a speedy voyage.

It is also certain that as, during that time, the powerful action of the sun causes a quantity of vapours to accumulate in those regions, and rain falls there as little as it does here, there fore the N. W. wind must drive those vapours in a south easterly direction, till the}' meet the mountain ranges wliich are a barrier to their further progress. These mountains are the same which stretch from Cape Comorin through Asia. Now the vapours, as they approach these mountains, get more and more condensed : till at length, in the month of May, they are forced down by violent winds, then rebound again, and finally descend iu rain on all places situated west of the chain. That these mountains are the true cause of the rainy season appears from the circumstance that when the rainy season sets in on this side of the chain, on the other side, just at the same time, the dry season begins.