Page:History of India Vol 9.djvu/280

 234 ALBUQUERQUE ON GOA AND MALABAR by the great Kingdom of Narsinga; and all along this land there runs a very lofty mountain range which divides the province of Malabar from the kingdom of Narsinga. The greatest breadth of this land from the seacoast up to the range is about fifteen leagues. These ranges of mountains are so lofty that the natives of Narsinga say that in their country the east winds never blow, because they are prevented from passing over from the other side by reason of the great height. The length of the coast-line of this province would be about a hundred and thirty leagues. In it there are many kings, and all the people are heathens. The sons of the kings do not inherit, but their nephews, sons of their sisters, not the sons of their brothers, for they hold it to be a very doubtful matter whether their sons are their own. Wherefore, if they have a sister, they give her to a Brahman, who keeps her as his mistress, and the sons of this sister inherit the kingdom. And if they can get Brahman Patamares (messengers, or runners, among the Canarese), who come from the kingdom of Cambaya (and are held in these parts as a more noble race than any other), to them they give their sisters to take them from their earliest girlhood, and with this charge they give the Brahmans large sums of money that they may be will- ing to take this trouble, which they perform very rig- orously, and the sons of these sisters inherit the king- dom. These Brahmans are a set of religious men (just as our priests among us here), who take care of their