[340] This information was apparently never asked for. The “strangers” were undoubtedly Chinese. Marco Polo (_Yule_, I, p. lxvi, and II, pp. 197, 327) already mentions their four-masted vessels. In his time, Chinese vessels regularly visited the west coast of India. The vizor in the guise of a mask, distinctly points to the Chinese, and the sword attached to a spear is a Chinese weapon. Up to the introduction of pig-tails by the Manju, in 1644, the Chinese wore their hair long. A punitive fleet of sixty-two Chinese vessels was sent to Ceylon in 1401. In 1417 an embassy was sent from Mu-ku-tu-su (Magadoxo) to China (Bretschneider, _On the Knowledge possessed by the Ancient Chinese of the Arabs_, London, 1871), and in 1431 Chinese junks might be seen at Jedda (Hirth, _Verhandlungen_, Berlin Geographical Society, 1889, p. 46). During the second half of the fifteenth century the intercourse between China and Malabar seems to have become rare, until at last it ceased altogether (Richthofen, _China_, I, p. 10, 5). Ramusio contemptuously suppresses the writer’s speculations about these curious strangers being Germans or Russians. [341] Less than a penny. [342] “di mezo sapore”. Ramusio has “tutte dolci”. [343] “Poponi”: Ramusio says “pomi”, apples. [344] Or rather Buddha. [345] Ramusio has suppressed this passage. [346] Ramusio adds: “And bread made of corn and other things of the kind”. [347] Professor Dalla Vedova suggests that the “pescotto” of the original may be the “Pesce persico” (_Perca fluviatilis_), or perch. Ramusio, in his edition of 1563, however, has “pescietti”, which means “small fishes” (sardines). [348] Lenguazzi: perhaps the modern “linguattole”, or sole. [349] Bisuccho, in Portuguese Besugo, the sea-bream (_Sparus cantabricus_). [350] The words within brackets are only to be found in the _Paesi_. [351] Ramusio adds: “There are also horses as with us, and they are highly valued by Christians and Moors alike”. Peutinger and the _Paesi_ say the same. [352] Ramusio says: “silk-stuffs and bocassins”. He does not mention the colours. [353] Peutinger adds: “They are decent, quiet (fromm) people at his court, and dress according to their condition and rank (adel)”. [354] _Jubbi_ (Arabic) is a long coat or caftan; the _balandrau_ (Portuguese) is a surtout worn by the Brothers of Mercy in Portugal. Ramusio calls the latter garments _palascani_. [355] The actual distance is about 10,500 nautical miles, or 3,060 Portuguese leagues. [356] In his second letter the writer recurs to this subject. [357] These are the Laccadive islands, fourteen in number: but, as their name implies (Laksha Dwipa = the Hundred Thousand Islands), supposed to be much more numerous. Mr. Sneyd’s _Codex_ says there were 11,000 of these islands. The Maldives were known as Narikela Dwipa. [358] That is the West Indies! [359] Ramusio adds: “through vessels which go to Mecca”. [360] Ramusio adds: “benzoin”. [361] It should be 160.