Next morning I continued my journey, and passing through _Vepur_, _Tengacetti_, and other places of little importance, arrived in the evening at _Sadras_. This beautiful town, at which there is a castle, belongs to the Dutch, who manufacture here cotton goods of a superior quality, which they send to Europe. Their so called _Gingams_ are highly esteemed. This populous place is chiefly inhabited by people employed in carding, preparing and dyeing cotton. One part of it is occupied by Brahmans, whose sole business is commerce. Among the latter seldom can there be found a man who possesses knowledge, and who at the same time will be so candid as to communicate it to strangers. It is of no use, therefore, to enter into conversation with these people, or to request information from them respecting the religion of the Indians. The English, however, do so; for they always boast of having obtained their knowledge immediately from Brahmans appointed to the service of some temple, as if it were not well known that these priests seldom converse with Europeans. At _Sadras_ there is a Christian congregation, which consists of two thousand souls. Most of the members are natural children of the Dutch and other Europeans. I baptised there some new-born infants; and as I was inserting their names in the church register, I everywhere found in the book _Filho de fulano, Filho de fulano_. As I could not conceive it possible that a father should have so many children, I asked the sexton the meaning of the word _fulano_: he replied that it signified a person whose name was unknown; and that when the father of a child could not be with certainty discovered, they generally put in the register _Filho de fulano_. I now knew who the supposed _Mr. Fulano_ was. As the officiating clergyman, a priest from _Goa_, was at that time absent, I read mass in the church, and pursued my journey. On the third day after, having visited _Canatur_, _Tirupatur_, and _Tirupalur_, I arrived about noon at _Covalam_, which is inhabited by a few Christians, and for that reason by a much greater number of Mahometans. The Imperial East India Company at Ostend had here formerly a strong fortress, close to the sea-shore; but which, lying too near the English, was on that account dismantled. Charles VI. who established that company at Ostend, found himself obliged to abolish it, in order to avoid a war with the English and French, who were then contending for the possession of _Carnada_. _Covalam_ produces nothing but millet and salt, the latter of which may be collected by the Christians as well as the Pagans. A great number of the most beautiful shells are cast on shore here by the sea. The ruins of the fortress, which formerly belonged to the Imperial East India Company, afford a retreat to a multitude of snakes. Here I saw, for the first time, the operations of an Indian snake-conjuror, who by music and various processes attracted one of these animals, a circumstance