"I had been astonished, since I left Bicholim [eight miles north of Goa], to find the roads crowded with troops of people, carrying such heavy burdens on their heads that I could not look on them without deep compassion. I asked my servants why these poor folk carried such heavy weights over the difficult mountain roads, which we, even without loads, could scarcely surmount. I was told that these people were of the same cooly caste as the carriers of my palanquin and my baggage; that they had no other occupation but that of carrying heavy burdens; and that they dwelt on the coast near Goa, and gained their living by taking dried fish, coconuts, arrack, and other comestibles, to sell in Bijapur. They were paid 2½ ecus a load, however great the weight. I marvelled how these poor creatures could earn enough to live on, and stand such heavy fatigue for the twenty-five to thirty days that each trip lasted. I might certainly have been told that it was scarcely enough for their food and upkeep in so long a journey and might well have believed it, had not my daily experience led me to know otherwise. These people did not spend their small wages, but kept them for their families on their return. I had eight of these coolies, six for my palanquin and two for my luggage. I gave each three rupees, which is 1½ ecus, to take me to Bijapur, without being obliged to give them any food. I found that they provided themselves, before starting, with a little rice and dried fish, which cost them hardly anything in their own country. This lasted all the journey, with what they find in the villages, where they are given fruit and milk, and some millet, from which they make flour. This is soaked in cold water and made into flat cakes, which are baked over a fire on iron plates supported by three stones. In certain places they find caste-fellows, who kindly cook them some herbs in oil or butter, which they eat with these pancakes. Their greatest support, however, is tobacco, which they are always smoking, so that they devoured more smoke than anything else. Besides water, they drink toddy, conjee [kanji], and arrack. Toddy is a kind of wine, which they extract from palm-trees. It is the colour of milk, has a pleasant taste, rather like white wine, and is very refreshing. Conjee is only boiled water with a little rice in it, which is given them on arrival in any village. There is always a house which keeps this drink ready on the fire for passers-by who, in the heat and sweat they are in, would probably die if they drank cold water. Arrack is a spirit made out of toddy, which they distil, as we do brandy. They mix with it a red root called canja [ganja, the hemp plant]; the infusion intoxicates them so much that they become like lunatics and out of their senses, when they drink it to excess, though it gives them strength and vigour, if taken in moderation and only as a refreshment."