COVILHAM. Pedro da Covilham and Alfonso de Payva were sent es merchants in 1494, via Genoa, Alexandria, Cairo, and tho Red Sea, to Aden, where they separated, agreeing to meet again at Cairo, Payva to search for Prester John in Abyssinia, whom he heard of as reigning there over a highly-cultivated people, but he died before reaching Abyssinia. Covilham went on to India, where he made drawinga of cities and harbours, especially Goa and Galicia. Thence ho returned along the coast of Persia to Cape Gnardafui, and continued south to Mozambique and Zofala, where he ascertained that that land joined the Cape of Good Hope. From Zofala he returned to Abys sinia, and sent his diary, charts, and drawings to Genoa by some Portuguese merchants who were trading to Memphis. On receipt of the,se, King Emanuel, in 1495, sent four ships under Vasco da Gama, Nvho visited Natal and Mozambique. In 1498 he was at Calcutta, and in 1499 back at Lisbon. See Portuguese.
COW.
FR Gow , Lrrr Kuh, GER Chuo, ChUOVii, OLD HIGH BORS, 110e8, . . . GR. GERMAN.
Gu, IIIND., PERS., ZEND. Go (Gous, pl.), . SANSK. Ngau, Gao, Gai, „ „ „ Coo, . . . . &tacit.
VaCCS, . . . . . IT. VELCA, SP A good milch cow should have a good-looking udder, fine skin, and fine tail. The herdsmen of Indian villages take out cows daily to gmze, re ceiving 2 to 8 annas a month. In ancient Egypt the cow was a sacred animal, as also were the bulls Apis and Mneves. At present the cow is worshipped amongst all Hindus ; and the Banjara are perhaps the only race in British India who apply the cow to labour. But the Vedm do not enjoin reverence to tho cow ; and in the Ifindu marriage ceremony, where a inilk cow, Surabhi, is released on the intercession of a barber, suffi cient remains to show that tho sacrificial rite of killing a cow was formerly practised at marriages, for tho sake of hospitality.
Two Hindu traditions seem to indicate the domestication of the cow. In Hindu mythology, the Cow of Plenty, called Kamadhenu, Surabhi, Savala, granting all desires, is fabled to have been produced by the Sura and Arrant, at the churning of the ocean after the deluge, for the recovery or production of the Chaoda-ratna or fourteen sacred things ; another fabulous cow, the cow of five colours, or Panch-warna, was given by Indra to the parents of Rama. It is common for Brahmans aud others to feed a cow before they take their own breakfast, ejaculating as they present their food, Daughter of Surabhi, framed of five elements, suspicious, pure, holy, sprung from the sun, accept this food by me ; salutation unto thee!' Or if he conduct the kiue to grass, May cows, Nvho are mothers of the three worlds and daughters of Surabhi, and who are beneficent, pure, and holy, accept the food given- by me ' (Colebrooke, As. Res. vii. p. 276). In marriage
ceremonies the hospitable rites are conducted by letting loose a cow, at the intercession of the guest, a barber, who attends for that purpose and ex claims, The cow ! the cow I' upon whichithe guest pronounces this text, Release the cow from the fetters of Varuna. May she subdue my foe I may she destroy the enemies of both him (the host) and me ! Dismiss the cow, that she may eat the grass and drink water.' When the cow has been released, the oest thus addresses her : I have earnestly entreated this prudent person, saying, Kill not the innocent, harmless cow, who is mother of the Rudra, daughter of the Vasu, sister of the Aditya, is the source of ambrosia,' etc. (ibid. p. 293). In the Hitopadesa (p. 110), the earth is called Surabhi, and the learned translator (Wilkins) notes the same to be not usually so applied, although the earth may well be called the cow of plenty.
The cow with the female buffalo furnish most of the milk used by the people of India, and there are several breeds of cows famed for the large quantities they yield ; one of these, from Aden in Arabia, is much praised.
The custom in India, of" using cow-dung for smearing floors and walls, is practised by all sects as well as Hindus as the most cool and cleanly appliance. Cow-dung is plastered over the cook ing-place before the meal of a person of a, high class is cooked ; in camps, or on journeys, a space of 10 or 12 square feet is so purified, but is easily polluted by the approach of impure persons or things, in .which vexatious case the food be comes unclean. The ashes of cow-dung, vibudi, are also of a very purifying nature ; and Hindus of almosl all ranks and degrees, men and women, occasionally or frequently/use them, mixed some times with other in,gredients, to mark their foreheads, necks,, arms, etc. Sometimes men, especially religious rnendicants, or penitents, or those having some claims to sanctity, are rubbed all over with these ashy mixtures, and pre,sent a curious sky-blue appearance. Amongst Hindus, the greatest of all purifiers is the urine of a cow. Hindu spirits of impurity abhor this sin-expelling, sanctifying liquid. Images are sprinkled with it ; no man of any pretensions to piety or cleanliness would pass a cow in the act of staling without receiving the holy stream in his palm, sipping a few drops, and with his bedewed fingers marking and crossing his forehead, shoulders, and breasts. —Moor's Pantheon, p. 143 ; Williams' Nala, p. 136 ; Kennedy WI Languages, p. 43 ; Wilford ; Colebrooke, p. 276 ; Coleman, p. 293.