As soon as we made our appearance before the gate of the castle, the guard presented his arms, and the minister sent a guide to conduct the persons who bore our palanquin to the door of the palm-garden in which the king resided. Here our coolies, or palanquin-bearers, were obliged to remain behind us, lest, being people of the lowest cast, they might contaminate the royal palace. At this door we were received by the king’s commander in chief, who conducted us through the palm-garden to a second door, where the king was waiting for us. He received us standing, and surrounded by a great number of princes and officers. Near him stood his son, with a drawn sabre in his hand; and, in a shady place were three chairs, one of which was destined for the king, and the other two for me and my colleague. When we had all three taken our seats, the attendants formed a circle around us. I then produced the pope’s letter, which I had hitherto carried in a pocket-book richly embroidered according to the eastern manner; raised it aloft; applied it to my forehead in order to shew my respect for the personage in whose name I presented it; and then delivered it to _Sampradi Keshavapulla_, the secretary of state. The latter handed it to the king, who also raised it up, and held it to his forehead as a token of respect for his holiness. At the moment when the pope’s letter was delivered there was a general discharge of the cannon of the castle. After the king had asked us some common questions respecting the naval war between the English and the French he enquired of me, in particular, how long I had been in Malabar; and how I had learned to speak the language of the country with so much fluency. “I have often observed,” added he, “that other Europeans are either unacquainted with it, or, for want of the proper pronunciation, express themselves so badly that they can scarcely be understood.” I immediately replied, that I had carefully studied the Brahman book _Amarasinha_. The king, on this answer, seemed highly pleased. “What!” said he, “do you read our books?”--This is the real and principal cause why the king, during the whole time of my residence in Malabar, behaved to me with so much kindness. He entertained the utmost reverence for the writings and religion of his people; and as he saw that they were studied by the Europeans, this paved the way for my obtaining from him afterwards many favours, which were of the greatest benefit to the Christian religion.