NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

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curacies which have been obferved in the relation of histravels, may be accounted for, by attending to one cir-cuniftance , that ic was not publifhed from a regular journal,which, perhaps, the vicifikudes in his fituation, duringfuch a long feries of adventures , did not permit him tokeep, or to preferve. It was compofed after his return tohis native country, and chiefly from recollection. Butnotwithstanding this difadvantage, his account of thoferegions of the Eaft, towards which my inquiries have beendirected, contains information with refpeCt to feveralparticulars, altogether unknown in Europe at that time,the accuracy of which is now fully confirmed. I fhallmention fome of thefe, which, though they relate tomatters of no great confequence, afford the belt proof ofhis having vifited thefe countries, and of his havingobferved the manners and cuftoms of the people witliattention. He gives a diftinCt account of the nature andpreparation of Sago, the principal article of fubfiftenceamong all the nations of Malayan race, and he broughtthe firft fpecimen of this Angular production to Venice ,Lib. ii. c. 16. He takes notice, likewife, of the generalcultom of chewing Betel, and his defcription of the modeof preparing it, is the fame with that ftill in ufe. Ramuf.Viaggj, i. p. 55. D. s< 5 . B. He even defcends into fuchdetail as to mention the peculiar manner of feeding horfesin India , which ftill continues. Ramuf. p. s}. F. "Whatis of more importance, we learn from him, that thetrade with Alexandria continued when he travelled throughIndia , to be carried on in the fame manner as I conjectur-ed it to have been in ancient times. 1 he commoditiesof the Eaft were ftill brought to the Malabar coaft byveffels of the country , and conveyed thence, togetherwith pepper, and other productions peculiar to that partof India , by fhips which arrived from the Red Sea . Lib.iii. c. 27. This, perhaps, may account for the fuperiorquality which Sanudo afcribes to the goods brought to thecoaft of Syria from the Perfian Gulf, above thofe importedinto Egypt by the Red Sea . The former, were chofen