Note 1 — CHAP. IV.

: Among the writers on India in the 14th century, A.D. 1323, was the Dominican missionary JOURDAIN CATALANI, or "Jordan de Severac," regarding whose title of Bishop of Colombo, "Episcopus Columbensis," it is somewhat uncertain whether his see was in Ceylon, or at Coulam (Quilon), on the Malabar coast. The probability in favour of the latter is sustained by the fact of the very limited accounts of the island contained in his Mirabilia, a work in which he has recorded his observations on the Dekkan. Cinnamon he describes as a production of Malabar, and Ceylon he extols only for its gems, pre-eminent among which were two rubies, one worn by the king, suspended round his neck, and the other which, when grasped in the hand could not be covered, by the fingers, "Non credo mundum habere universum tales duo lapides, nec tanti pretii." The MS. of Fra. JORDANUS'S Mirabilia has been printed in the Recueil des Voyages of the Société Géogr. of Paris, vol. i. p. 49. GIOVANNI DE MARIGNOLA, a Florentine and Legate of Clement VI., landed in Ceylon in 1349 A.D., at which time the legitimate king was driven away and the supreme power left in the hands of a eunuch whom he calls Coja-Joan, "pessimus Saracenus." The legate's attention was chiefly directed to "the mountain opposite Paradise."—DOBNER, Monum. Histor. Boemiæ. Pragæ, 1764-85.

JOHN OF HESSE in his "Itinerary" (in which occurs the date A.D. 1398) says, "Adsunt et in quâdam insulâ nomine Taprobanes viri crudelissimi et moribus asperi: permagnas habent aures, et illas plurimis gemmis ornare dicuntur. Hi carnes humanas pro summis deliciis comedunt."—JOHANNIS DE HESSE, Presbyteri Itinerarium, etc.

2: De Varietate Fortunæ, Basil, 1538. An admirable translation of the narrative of DI CONTI has recently been made by R.H. Major, Esq., for the Hakluyt Society. London, 1857.