CHAPTER VII - Of the Exercises and Games of the Portuguese, Metifs, and other Christians at Goa, their Dress and Manner of living, and of their Wives

Summary

The exercises of the Portuguese, as well at Goa as at other places in the Indies, consist in the first place in the use of arms and riding, and in making, on Sundays and holidays, a thousand passades and careers on their horses, during which they throw oranges, canes, and reeds, all being equipped and arrayed in their best. No feast day passes, but they have some amusement to which all the people go, ranging themselves in procession. All the ceremonies and solemnities of the feast become there like fairs, with banquets and music of all sorts of instruments; thus do they mingle their pleasures with their devotions. They delight much in going on the river in their Manchoües, built in the form of Galiots, where they are under cover with music, in these they go from the town to places belonging to them or their friends; these places are pleasure houses with gardens and orchards, which they call hortas, containing groves of coco-trees, called by them Palmeiro, there also are many reservoirs and streams of clear and fresh water, wherein they bathe, and taking their collations and other refreshment in the shade.

As for cards, dice, and other games of chance, they are allowed there, and certain houses are set apart for the purpose, the keepers of which pay a rent to the king, and none durst play elsewhere under pain of a heavy fine.