Voyage to the East IndiesPaulinus, a S. Bartholomaeo
History
Voyage to the East Indies
Paulinus, a S. Bartholomaeo
India -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800
1. _Dangàgi_, which contains four _Nàgi_ or _Nali_.
2. _Nàgi_, or _Nali_, which is equal to one pint.
3. _Ciòdana_, which contains thirty-two _Nàgi_.
4. _Araciòdana_, equal to sixteen _Nàgi_ or pints.
5. _Codam_, which contains five _Ciòdanas_.
6. _Uszakada_, the quarter of a pint.
7. _Aszaca_, the eighth part of a pint.
8. _Uri_, half a pint.
9. _Muszaca_, three quarters of a pint.
III. The Indian measures of length, &c. are:
1. _Cora_, the eighth part of an inch.
2. _Virel_, an inch.
3. _Col_, a foot in length, containing twenty-four
_Virel_.
4. _Mulam_, an ell, the length of one’s arm; called
by the Portuguese, _Covodo_; and by the
French, _Coudée_.
5. _Ciana_, a palm.
6. _Tumà_, a square foot.
7. _Candi_, a cubic foot.
All these weights and measures have been introduced at Madraspatnam,
Puduceri, Paliacate, Nagapatnam, and on the coast of Malabar; at
Cochin and Calicut, as also at Collam and Angiutenga near Cape Comari.
A _Candil_ of Teka wood, which is the best in all the Asiatic
countries for being manufactured, cost at Cochin, in my time, eight
rupees; but as soon as it was carried to Madraspatnam, where none
of it grows, it could be sold for sixteen or eighteen rupees. White
cotton cloth is sold by the _Mulam_, or ell. Some pieces contain
thirty-two _Mulam_, and others sixty-four. A piece of the former kind
is worth from ten to fifteen rupees: one of the latter twice as much.
For ten rupees, therefore, you may purchase sometimes in India eight
or ten cotton shirts, which in Europe could scarcely be procured for
twenty Roman _Scudi_.
A _Dangàgi_ of raw white rice, called _Arri_, was worth at Cochin,
in my time, four _Panam_ or _Fanon_ of that place. If this sum be
reduced to Roman money, a _Nagi_ or pint would cost about two and
a half Roman _Bajocchi_. A _Ciòdana_ of coco-nut oil was sold,
at Cochin, for thirty-two and thirty-three or at most thirty-six
_Panam_; but at Madraspatnam, on the coast of Ciòlamandala, where
there are few coco-nut trees, this oil was much dearer.
A hundred weight of dry clean pepper is worth, at Allapushe,
Porrocàda and Collam, on the coast of Malabar, between 60 and 70
rupees; but on the coast of Ciòlamandala it costs from 90 to 100.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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