Volume II Part 55 (1/2)

NOTE 3.--This is the _Colombine_ ginger which appears not unfrequently in mediaeval writings. Pegolotti tells us that ”ginger is of several sorts, to wit, _Belledi_, _Colombino_, and _Mecchino_. And these names are bestowed from the producing countries, at least this is the case with the _Colombino_ and _Mecchino_, for the _Belledi_ is produced in many districts of India. The Colombino grows in the Island of Colombo of India, and has a smooth, delicate, ash-coloured rind; whilst the Mecchino comes from the districts about Mecca and is a small kind, hard to cut,” etc.

(_Delia Dec._ III. 359.) A century later, in G. da Uzzano, we still find the _Colombino_ and _Belladi_ ginger (IV. 111, 210, etc.). The _Baladi_ is also mentioned by Ras.h.i.+duddin as an export of Guzerat, and by Barbosa and others as one of Calicut in the beginning of the 16th century. The _Mecchino_ too is mentioned again in that era by a Venetian traveller as grown in the Island of Camran in the Red Sea. Both Columbine (_gigembre columbin_) and Baladi ginger (_gig. baladit_) appear among the purchases for King John of France, during his captivity in England. And we gather from his accounts that the price of the former was 13_d._ a pound, and of the latter 12_d._, sums representing three times the amount of silver that they now indicate, with a higher value of silver also, and hence equivalent to about 4_s._ and 4_s._ 4_d._ a pound. The term _Baladi_ (Ar.), Indigenous or ”Country” ginger, indicated ordinary qualities of no particular repute. The word _Baladi_ seems to have become naturalised in Spanish with the meaning ”of small value.” We have noticed on a former occasion the decay of the demand for pepper in China. Ginger affords a similar example. This spice, so highly prized and so well known throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, I have found to be quite unknown by name and qualities to servants in Palermo of more than average intelligence.

(_Elliot_, I. 67; _Ramusio_, I. f. 275, v. 323; _Dozy and Engelm._ pp.

232-233; _Douet d'Arcq_, p. 218; _Philobiblon Soc. Miscellanies_, vol. ii.

p. 116.)

NOTE 4.--In Bengal Indigo factories artificial heat is employed to promote the drying of the precipitated dye; but this is not essential to the manufacture. Marco's account, though grotesque in its baldness, does describe the chief features of the manufacture of Indigo by fermentation.

The branches are cut and placed stem upwards in the vat till it is three parts full; they are loaded, and then the vat is filled with water.

Fermentation soon begins and goes on till in 24 hours the contents of the vat are so hot that the hand cannot be retained in it. This is what Marco ascribes to the sun's heat. The liquor is then drawn off to another cistern and there agitated; the indigo separates in flakes. A quant.i.ty of lime-water then is added, and the blue is allowed to subside. The clear water is drawn off; the sediment is drained, pressed, and cut into small squares, etc. (See _Madras Journal_, vol. viii. 198.)

Indigo had been introduced into Sicily by the Jews during the time of Frederick II., in the early part of Polo's century. Jews and Indigo have long vanished from Sicily. The dye is often mentioned in Pegolotti's Book; the finest quality being termed _Indaco Baccadeo_ a corruption of _Baghdadi_. Probably it came from India by way of Baghdad. In the Barcelona Tariffs it appears as Indigo de _Bagadel_. Another quality often mentioned is Indigo _di Golfo_. (See _Capmany, Memorias_ II. App. p. 73.) In the bye-laws of the London Painters' Guild of the 13th century, quoted by Sir F. Palgrave from the _Liber Horne_, it is forbidden to paint on gold or silver except with fine (mineral) colours, ”_e nient de_ brasil, _ne de_ inde de Baldas, _ne de nul autre mauveise couleur_.” (_The Merchant and the Friar_, p. xxiii.) There is now no indigo made or exported at Quilon, but there is still some feeble export of sappanwood, ginger, and pepper. These, and previous particulars as to the present Quilon, I owe to the kindness of Mr. Ballard, British Resident at Trevandrum.

NOTE 5.--Black Tigers and black Leopards are not very rare in Travancore (See _Welsh's Mil. Reminiscences_, II. 102.)

NOTE 6.--Probably founded on local or caste customs of marriage, several of which in South India are very peculiar; e.g., see _Nelson's Madura_, Pt. II. p. 51.

[1] The etymology of the name seems to be doubtful. Dr. Caldwell tells me it is an error to connect it (as in the first edition) with the word for a Tank, which is _Kulam_. The apparent meaning of _Kollam_ is ”slaughter,” but he thinks the name is best explained as ”Palace” or ”Royal Residence.”

[2] There is still a _Syrian_ church of St. George at Quilon, and a mosque of some importance;--the representatives at least of those noted above, though no actual trace of antiquity of any kind remains at the place. A vague tradition of extensive trade with China yet survives. The form _Columb.u.m_ is accounted for by an inscription, published by the Prince of Travancore (_Ind. Antiq._ II. 360), which shows that the city was called in Sanskrit _Kolamba_. May not the real etymology be Sansk. _Kolam_, ”Black Pepper”?

On the suggestion ventured in this note Dr. Caldwell writes:

”I fancy _Kola_, a name for pepper in Sanskrit, may be derived from the name of the country _Kolam_, North Malabar, which is much more celebrated for its pepper than the country around Quilon. This _Kolam_, though resembling _Kollam_, is really a separate word, and never confounded with the latter by the natives. The prince of Kolam (North Malabar) is called _Kolastri_ or _Kolattiri_[A]. Compare also _Kolagiri_, the name of a hill in the Sanskrit dictionaries, called also the _Kolla giri_. The only possible derivations for the Tamil and Malayalim name of Quilon that I am acquainted with are these: (1) From _Kolu_, the 'Royal Presence' or presence-chamber, or hall of audience. _Kollam_ might naturally be a derivation of this word; and in confirmation I find that other residences of Malabar kings were also called Kollam, e.g. Kodungalur or Cranganore. (2) From _Kolu_, the same word, but with the meaning 'a height' or 'high-ground'. Hence _Kollei_, a very common word in Tamil for a 'dry grain field, a back-yard'. _Kolli_ is also, in the Tamil poets, said to be the name of a hill in the Chera country, i.e. the Malabar coast. _Kolam_ in Tamil has not the meaning of pepper; it means 'beauty', and it is said also to mean the fruit of the jujuba. (3) It might possibly be derived from _Kol_, to slay;--_Kollam_, slaughter, or a place where some slaughter happened ... in the absence, however, of any tradition to this effect, this derivation seems improbable.”

[A] see II. 387.

[3] Burnell.

[4] The translated pa.s.sage about _'Apuhota_ is a little obscure. The name looks like _Kapukada_, which was the site of a palace north of _Calicut_ (not in Kaulam), the _Capucate_ of the Portuguese.

[5] _Dr. Caldwell_.

[6] Indeed, Humboldt speaks of Brazil Isle as appearing to the west of Ireland in a modern English map-_Purdy's_; but I do not know its date. (See _Examen_, etc., II. 244-245)

CHAPTER XXIII.

OF THE COUNTRY CALLED COMARI

Comari is a country belonging to India, and there you can see something of the North Star, which we had not been able to see from the Lesser Java thus far. In order to see it you must go some 30 miles out to sea, and then you see it about a cubit above the water.[NOTE 1]

This is a very wild country, and there are beasts of all kinds there, especially monkeys of such peculiar fas.h.i.+on that you would take them for men! There are also _gatpauls_[NOTE 2] in wonderful diversity, with bears, lions, and leopards, in abundance.

NOTE 1.--_k.u.mari_ is in some versions of the Hindu cosmography the most southerly of the nine divisions of Jambodvipa, the Indian world. Polo's Comari can only be the country about Cape COMORIN, the [Greek: komaria akron] of Ptolemy, a name derived from the Sanskrit _k.u.mari_, ”a Virgin,” an appellation of the G.o.ddess Durga. The monthly bathing in her honour, spoken of by the author of the _Periplus_, is still continued, though now the pilgrims are few. Abulfeda speaks of _Ras k.u.mhari_ as the limit between Malabar and Ma'bar. _k.u.mari_ is the Tamul p.r.o.nunciation of the Sanskrit word and probably _Comari_ was Polo's p.r.o.nunciation.