Note {3} — Chapter XVII

Note 3.—The word is printed in Ramusio Pacauca, but no doubt Pacauta is the true reading. Dr. Caldwell has favoured me with a note on this: “The word ... was probably Bagavâ or Pagavâ, the Tamil form of the vocative of Bhagavata, ‘Lord,’ pronounced in the Tamil manner. This word is frequently repeated by Hindus of all sects in the utterance of their sacred formulæ, especially by Vaishnava devotees, some of whom go about repeating this one word alone. When I mentioned Marco Polo’s word to two learned Hindus at different times, they said, ‘No doubt he meant Bagava.’[3] The Saiva Rosary contains 32 beads; the doubled form of the same, sometimes used, contains 64; the Vaishnava Rosary contains 108. Possibly the latter may have been meant by Marco.” [Captain Gill (River of Golden Sand, II. p. 341) at Yung-Ch’ang, speaking of the beads of a necklace, writes: “One hundred and eight is the regulation number, no one venturing to wear a necklace, with one bead more or less.”]