urs of every day to
prayer. After the expiry of the year, he uses a certain ceremony for the
soul of the king his predecessor, much like our solemn dirge; at which
100,000 persons are often assembled, among whom he distributes large alms.
When this ceremony is ended, the prince is confirmed as inheritor of the
kingdom, and all the people depart.

The zamorin of Calicut, and the other kings of Malabar, have each one
especial officer, to whom the administration of justice is confided, and
whose authority in all matters of government is as ample as that of the
king himself. The soldiers employed by these kings are called _Nayres_,
who are all gentlemen, and who follow no other office or employ but that
of fighting when needed. They are all idolaters, armed with bows, arrows,
spears, daggers of a hooked form, and targets, and they march in a very
regular and warlike manner; but they go entirely naked and barefooted,
wearing only a piece of painted cotton cloth, which reaches from the
girdle to the knees, and a cloth or kerchief on their heads. All these
men live continually at the charge of the king and nobles of the country,
from whom they have small stipends for their maintenance; and they esteem
themselves so highly on account of their gentility of blood, that they
will not touch an husbandman, nor allow any such to enter into their
dwellings. When any husbandman goes through the streets they must
continually call out aloud _hoo hoo_; for if commanded by a nayre to make
way, they may be slain if they refuse. The king cannot raise any one to
the rank of a _nayre_, who are all such by descent. These _nayres_ serve
very faithfully under those who give them their wages, not sparing by day
or night to use their best endeavours to serve their chiefs, nor making
any account of want of food or sleep, or of fatigue, when their service
is required or may be effectual. Their expences are so small, that on
half-a-crown, which is their only monthly pay, they can sufficiently
maintain themselves and a boy, whom each has as a servant.

By the laws of this country, these nayres cannot marry, so that no one
has any certain or acknowledged son or father; all their children being
born of mistresses, with each of whom three or four nayres cohabit by
agreement among themselves. Each one of this confraternity dwells a day
in his turn with the joint mistress, counting from noon of one day to the
same time of the next, after which he departs, a