The kings and nobles of Malabar are of a brown complexion, and go naked from the waist upwards, all the under parts of their bodies being clothed in silk or cotton Vestments; yet they sometimes wear short gowns on their upper parts, called basus, of rich silk, or cloth of gold, or of scarlet, splendidly ornamented with precious stones, of all which the zamorin hath great store.  They shave their beards, leaving only the hair on their upper lips, and do not shave the head like the Turks.  In general, the natives of this country, even of the higher ranks, use little state in their households, and are very sparing in their diet; but the zamorin is served with considerable splendour.  These kings or nobles never marry; but every one has a mistress of the Nayre cast, which, among the Malabars, are considered as the gentry; even the zamorin has only a mistress, who has a house of her own near the palace, and a liberal allowance for the charges of her household and maintenance at her own disposal.  Upon any dislike or difference, he may always leave her for another.  The children are only considered as the offspring of the mother, and have no right or title to inherit the kingdom, or any thing else belonging to the father; and when grown up, are only held in that rank or estimation which belongs to the blood or parentage of their mother.  Brothers succeed to brothers; and in lack of these, the sons of their sisters, who do not marry, and have no certainty respecting the fathers of their children; as they are very free and dissolute in their manners, choosing paramours as they please.

These sisters of the zamorin, and other kings of Malabar, have handsome allowances to live upon; and when any of them reaches the age of ten, their kindred send for a young man of the Nayre cast, out of the kingdom, and give him great presents to induce him to initiate the young virgin; after which he hangs a jewel round her neck, which she wears all the rest of her life, as a token that she is now at liberty to dispose of herself to any one she pleases as long as she lives.

When these kings are at war with each other, they often go personally into the field, and even join personally in fight upon occasion.  When one of them dies, the body is carried out into the fields, and burned on a pile of sanders, and of another sweet smelling wood called aguila, all his brothers and kindred, and all the nobles of the country being present at the ceremony; which is uniformly postponed to the third day after death, that all may have time to gather from a distance, and may have an opportunity of being assured whether his death was natural, or caused by violence:  Since, if he died by the hand of any one, all are bound to prosecute revenge.  After the body is burnt, and the ashes buried, the whole company shaves every part of their bodies, even to the youngest child of these idolaters.  This is their token of mourning; and during the ensuing thirteen days, they all refrain from chewing betel,