[Footnote 418:  Aracan is certainly here meant by Recon; of Rame nothing can be made, unless Brama, or Birmah be meant.—­E.]

[Footnote 419:  Bottanter almost certainly means Bootan.  Of Bottia we know nothing, but it is probably meant to indicate the capital. Dermain may possibly be some corruption of Deb raja, the title of the sovereign.  It is obvious from this passage, that Couche must have been to the south of Bootan, and was perhaps Coch-beyhar, a town and district in the north-east of Bengal, near the Bootan frontier.—­E.]

[Footnote 420:  The saffon of Persia of the text may perhaps mean turmeric.  The cambals may possibly mean camblets.—­E.]

[Footnote 421:  These seem to be the mountains of Imaus, called Cumao by the natives.—­Hakluyt.

The Himmaleh mountains, dividing Bootan from Thibet, said to be visible from the plains of Bengal at the distance of 150 miles.—­E.]

From Chittigong in Bengal, I went to Bacola[422], the king of which country is a Gentile of an excellent disposition, who is particularly fond of shooting with a gun.  His country is large and fertile, having great abundance of rice, and manufactures much silk, and cloths of cotton.  The houses of this city are good and well built, with large streets.  The people go naked, except a cloth round their waists, and the women wear many silver hoops about their necks and arms, and rings of silver, copper, and ivory about their legs.  From thence I went to Serrepore upon the Ganges, the king or rajah of which is called Chondery.  They are all hereabouts in rebellion against the great Mogul, for there are so many rivers and islands that they escape from one to another, so that his horsemen cannot prevail against them.  Great store of cotton cloth is made here. 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.]