Cranganore is a large city in the province of Malabar on the mainland, standing near the mouth of a river, by which likewise it is encompassed, inhabited both by idolaters and Christians, and by some Jews who are held in small esteem.  It is much frequented by strangers, among whom are merchants from Syria, Egypt, Persia, and Arabia, who come thither to purchase pepper, a great deal of which commodity is gathered in its territories.  It has a king of its own, to whom all the Christian inhabitants pay a certain tribute, and have a quarter of their own in the city, where they have a church resembling ours, in which there were crosses, but no images of the saints, and no bells, being summoned to prayers by the priests as in the Greek church.  These Christians hail their popes, with twelve cardinals, two patriarchs, and many bishops and archbishops, all of whom reside in Armenia, to which country their bishops always went for consecration.  He had been there himself along with a bishop, where he was ordained a priest.  That this rule was observed by all the clergy of the Indies and of Cathay, who have to go to the pope or Catholicos of Armenia for consecration.  Of their two patriarchs, one resides in the Indies, and the other in Cathay[31], their bishops residing in different cities as it may seem convenient.  Their tonsure is made in form of a cross.

The cause of their having a pope is said to have been on the following account:  ’When St Peter was residing at Antioch, there happened a great schism, occasioned by Simon Magus, on which Peter was called to Rome to assist the Christians in overthrowing that heresy; and, that he might not leave the eastern church without a shepherd, he appointed a vicar to govern at Antioch, who should become pope after the death of Peter, and should always assist the pope of Armenia.  But, after the Moors entered into Syria and Asia Minor, as Armenia remained always in the Christian faith, they came to be governed by twelve cardinals.  Marco Polo, in writing concerning Armenia, mentions this pope or Catholicos, and says there are two sects of Christians, the Nestorians and Jacobites, their pope being named Jacobus, whom this Joseph named their Catholicos.  The priests of Cranganore are not shaven in the same manner with ours, but shave the whole head, leaving a few hairs on the crown and they have both deacons and subdeacons.  In consecrating the elements, they use leavened bread and wine made of raisins, having no other in the country.  Their children are not baptized till they are eleven days old, unless they happen to be sickly.  They confess as we do, and bury their dead after a similar manner.  They do not use the holy oil to the dying, but only bless them; and when any one dies, they gather a large company and feast for eight days, after which the obsequies are celebrated.  If any person dies without making a testament, their lands and goods go to the nearest heir; but the widow is entitled to her dower if she remain a year unmarried.  On