Page:History of India Vol 9.djvu/349

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE BENGALESE 291 Portuguese merchants of Goa and Cochin. Under the government of this king are men of many religions, Jews, Mohammedans, and Gentiles, or pagans, these lat- ter showing as great a diversity of ceremonies as of countries and provinces. The great king is a pagan; he of Chartican, whom I saw, was a Mohammedan. The Gentile people of this Bengal country have for their pagoda, or idol, a white elephant; it is but rarely met with, and is deemed sacred. The kings worship it, and even go to war to get it from their neighbours, not having one themselves, and sometimes grand battles are fought on this score. As for dress, the men attire themselves bravely with very large cotton shirts, which fall to the ground; over it is worn a silk mantle, and on the head a turban of very fine linen. The women wear little chemisettes of cotton or silk, reaching to the waist; round the rest of the body is thrown a cloth or taffetas; when they go abroad, they wear about that a large piece of silk, with one end brought over the head. They are disorderly and very barbarous in their eating and drinking; they have many servants, and have each three or four wives, very richly adorned with gold chains and pearls. They make wines of sugar and other materials, and get drunk therewith. A large number of Portuguese dwell in freedom at the ports on this coast of Bengal; they are also very free in their lives, being like exiles. They do only traffic, without any fort, order, or police, and live like natives of the country; they durst not return to India, for certain misdeeds they have committed, and