_Cranganore_, a little to the north of Cochin, stands upon a river about a league from the sea, and at this place the Dutch have a fort. This place is remarkable for having formerly been the seat of a _Jewish government_, and that nation was once so numerous here as to consist of 40,000 families, though now reduced to 4000. They have a synagogue about two miles from the city of Cochin, not far from the palace of the rajah, and in it they carefully preserve their records, engraven upon plates of copper in the Hebrew language; and when any of the characters decay, they are cut anew, so that they still possess their history down from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar to the present day. About the year 1695, _Mynheer van Reede_ had an abstract of this history translated from Hebrew into the Dutch language. They assert themselves to be of the tribe of Manasseh, a part of which was sent by Nebuchadnezzar to the most easterly province of his large empire, which is alleged to have reached Cape Comorin. Twenty thousand of them travelled from Babylon to this place in three years, and were civilly and hospitably treated by the inhabitants of Malabar, who allowed them liberty of conscience in religion, and the free exercise of their reason and industry in the management of their secular affairs. Having increased in numbers and riches, they at length, by policy or wealth, became masters of the small kingdom of Cranganore: And a particular family among them being much esteemed for wisdom and riches, two of that family were chosen by their elders and senators to govern the commonwealth, and to reign jointly over them. At length one of the brothers invited his colleague to a feast, at which he basely killed him, thinking to reign alone; but a son of the deceased slew the fratricide, after which the state fell into a democracy, which still continues among the Jews here. Their lands have, however, reverted for many years into the hands of the Malabars, and poverty and oppression have occasioned many of them to apostatise.