When the king or zamorin dies, his male children, if any, or his brothers by the fathers side, or the sons of these brothers, do not succeed in the kingdom: For, by ancient law or custom, the succession belongs to the sons of the kings sisters; and if there be none such, it goes to the nearest male relation through the female blood. The reason of this strange law of succession is, that when the king takes a wife, she is always in the first place deflowered by the chief bramin, for which he is paid fifty-pieces of gold. When the king goes abroad, either in war or a-hunting, the queen is left in charge of the priests, who keep company with her till his return; wherefore the king may well think that her children may not be his; and for this reason the children of his sisters by the same mother are considered as his nearest in blood, and the right inheritors of the throne. When the king dies, all his subjects express their mourning by cutting their beards and shaving their heads; and during the celebration of his funerals, those who live by fishing abstain from their employment during eight days. Similar rules are observed upon the death of any of the kings wives. Sometimes the king abstains from the company of women for the space of a year, when likewise he forbears to chew _betel_ and _areka_, which are reckoned provocatives.
The gentlemen and merchants of Calicut, when they wish to show great friendship to each other, sometimes exchange wives, but on these occasions the children remain with their reputed fathers. It is likewise customary among these idolaters, for one woman to have seven husbands at the same time, each of whom has his appointed night to sleep with her; and when she has a child, she fathers it upon any of the husbands she pleases. The people of this country, when at their meals, lie upon the ground, and eat their meat from copper trays, using certain leaves instead of spoons; their food consisting for the most part of rice and fish seasoned with spices, and of the ordinary fruits of the country. The lowest people eat in a filthy manner, putting their dirty hands into the dish, and thrusting their food by handfuls into their mouths. The punishment of murder is by impalement; but those who wound or hurt any one have to pay a fine to the king. When any one is in debt, and refuses to pay, the creditor goes to the judges, of whom there are said to be a hundred, and having made due proof of the debt, he receives a certain stick or branch of a tree, with authority to arrest his debtor, to whom, when he is able to find him, he uses these words: "I charge you by the heads of the Bramins, and by the head of the king, that you stir not from the spot on which you stand till you pay me what you owe." The debtor has now no resource but to pay immediately, or to lose his life: for, if he escape after this ceremony, he is adjudged a rebel, and it is lawful for any man to kill him.