Our author on concluding his account of Nelkunda interrupts his narrative to relate the incidents of the important discovery of the monsoon made by that Columbus of antiquity Hippalus. This account, Vincent remarks, naturally excites a curiosity in the mind to enquire how it should happen that the monsoon should have been noticed by Nearkhos, and that from the time of his voyage for 300 years no one should have attempted a direct course till Hippalus ventured to commit himself to the ocean. He is of opinion that there was a direct passage by the monsoons both in going to and coming from India in use among the Arabians before the Greeks adopted it, and that Hippalus frequenting these seas as a pilot or merchant, had met with Indian or Arabian traders who made their voyages in a more compendious manner than the Greeks, and that he collected information from them which he had both the prudence and courage to adopt, just as Columbus, while owing much to his own nautical experience and fortitude was still under obligations to the Portuguese, who had been resolving the great problems in the art of navigation for almost a century previous to his expedition. 55. At the very mouth of this river lies another village, +Bakare+, to which the ships despatched from Nelkunda come down _empty_ and ride at anchor off shore while taking in cargo: for the river, it may be noted, has sunken reefs and shallows which make its navigation difficult. The sign by which those who come hither by sea know they are nearing land is their meeting with snakes, which are here of a black colour, not so long as those already mentioned, like serpents about the head, and with eyes the colour of blood. (55) +Nelkunda+ appears to have been the limit of our author’s voyage along the coast of India, for in the sequel of his narrative he defines but vaguely the situation of the places which he notices, while his details are scanty, and sometimes grossly inaccurate. Thus he makes the Malabar Coast extend southwards beyond Cape Comorin as far at least as Kolkhoi (near Tutikorin) on the Coromandel coast, and like many ancient writers, represents Ceylon as stretching westward almost as far as Africa. 56. The ships which frequent these ports are of a large size, on account of the great amount and bulkiness of the pepper and betel of which their lading consists. The imports here are principally— Χρήματα πλεῖ στα—Great quantities of specie. Χρυσόλιθα—(Topaz?) Gold-stone, Chrysolite. Ἰματισμὸς ἁπλοὸς οὐ πολὺς—A small assortment of plain cloth. Πολύμιτα—Flowered robes. Στίμμι, κοράλλιον—Stibium, a pigment for the eyes, coral. ὕαλος ἀργὴ χαλκὸς—White glass, copper or brass. Κασσίτερος, μόλυβδος—Tin, lead. Οἵνος οὐ πολύς, ὡσεὶ δὲ τοσοῦτον ὅσον ἐν Βαρυγάζοις—Wine but not much, but about as much as at Barugaza. Σανδαράκη—Sandarach (_Sindûrâ_). Ἀρσενικὸν—Arsenic (Orpiment), yellow sulphuret of arsenic.