_Kollam_ might naturally be a derivation of this word; and
in confirmation I find that other residences of Malabar kings were
also called Kollam, e.g. Kodungalur or Cranganore. (2) From _Kolu_,
the same word, but with the meaning 'a height' or 'high-ground'. Hence
_Kollei_, a very common word in Tamil for a 'dry grain field, a
back-yard'. _Kolli_ is also, in the Tamil poets, said to be the name of
a hill in the Chera country, i.e. the Malabar coast. _Kolam_ in
Tamil has not the meaning of pepper; it means 'beauty', and it is said
also to mean the fruit of the jujuba. (3) It might possibly be derived
from _Kol_, to slay;--_Kollam_, slaughter, or a place where some
slaughter happened ... in the absence, however, of any tradition to
this effect, this derivation seems improbable."

[A] see II. 387.

[3] Burnell.

[4] The translated passage about _'Apuhota_ is a little obscure. The
name looks like _Kapukada_, which was the site of a palace north
of _Calicut_ (not in Kaulam), the _Capucate_ of the
Portuguese.

[5] _Dr. Caldwell_.

[6] Indeed, Humboldt speaks of Brazil Isle as appearing to the west of
Ireland in a modern English map-_Purdy's_; but I do not know its
date. (See _Examen_, etc., II. 244-245)

CHAPTER XXIII.

OF THE COUNTRY CALLED COMARI

Comari is a country belonging to India, and there you can see something of
the North Star, which we had not been able to see from the Lesser Java
thus far. In order to see it you must go some 30 miles out to sea, and
then you see it about a cubit above the water.[NOTE 1]

This is a very wild country, and there are beasts of all kinds there,
especially monkeys of such peculiar fashion that you would take them for
men! There are also _gatpauls_[NOTE 2] in wonderful diversity, with
bears, lions, and leopards, in abundance.

NOTE 1.--_Kumari_ is in some versions of the Hindu cosmography the most
southerly of the nine divisions of Jambodvipa, the Indian world. Polo's
Comari can only be the country about Cape COMORIN, the [Greek:
komaria akron] of Ptolemy, a name derived from the Sanskrit _Kumari_, "a
Virgin," an appellation of the goddess Durga. The monthly bathing in her
honour, spoken of by the author of the _Periplus_, is still continued,
though now the pilgrims are few. Abulfeda speaks of _Ras Kumhari_ as the
limit between Malabar and Ma'bar. _Kumari_ is the Tamul pronunciation of
the Sa