Now I have told you about this kingdom of the province of Maabar, and I must pass on to the other kingdoms of the same province, for I have much to tell of their peculiarities.

NOTE 1.—­The non-existence of tailors is not a mere figure of speech.  Sundry learned pundits have been of opinion that the ancient Hindu knew no needle-made clothing, and Colonel Meadows Taylor has alleged that they had not even a word for the tailor’s craft in their language.  These opinions have been patriotically refuted by Babu Rajendralal Mitra. (Proc.  Ass.  Soc.  B. 1871, p. 100.)

Ibn Batuta describes the King of Calicut, the great “Zamorin,” coming down to the beach to see the wreck of certain Junks;—­“his clothing consisted of a great piece of white stuff rolled about him from the navel to the knees, and a little scrap of a turban on his head; his feet were bare, and a young slave carried an umbrella over him.” (IV. 97.)

NOTE 2.—­The necklace taken from the neck of the Hindu King Jaipal, captured by Mahmud in A.D. 1001, was composed of large pearls, rubies, etc., and was valued at 200,000 dinars, or a good deal more than 100,000_l._ (Elliot, II. 26.) Compare Correa’s account of the King of Calicut, in Stanley’s V. da Gama, 194.

NOTE 3.—­The word is printed in Ramusio Pacauca, but no doubt Pacauta is the true reading.  Dr. Caldwell has favoured me with a note on this:  “The word ... was probably Bagava or Pagava, the Tamil form of the vocative of Bhagavata, ‘Lord,’ pronounced in the Tamil manner.  This word is frequently repeated by Hindus of all sects in the utterance of their sacred formulae, especially by Vaishnava devotees, some of whom go about repeating this one word alone.  When I mentioned Marco Polo’s word to two learned Hindus at different times, they said, ’No doubt he meant Bagava.’[3] The Saiva Rosary contains 32 beads; the doubled form of the same, sometimes used, contains 64; the Vaishnava Rosary contains 108.  Possibly the latter may have been meant by Marco.” [Captain Gill (River of Golden Sand, II. p. 341) at Yung-Ch’ang, speaking of the beads of a necklace, writes:  “One hundred and eight is the regulation number, no one venturing to wear a necklace, with one bead more or less.”]

Ward says:  “The Hindus believe the repetition of the name of God is an act of adoration.... Japa (as this act is called) makes an essential part of the daily worship....  The worshipper, taking a string of beads, repeats the name of his guardian deity, or that of any other god, counting by his beads 10, 28, 108, 208, adding to every 108 not less than 100 more.”  (Madras ed. 1863, pp. 217-218.)