Captain Hawkins Sailed From Delisa In The Hector, For Surat, On
The 4th August, Having Previously Built A Pinnace, And Having Received
From The General, Captain Keeling, A Duplicate Of The Commission Under
The Great Seal." - Purch.
Sec. 1.
Barbarous Usage at Surat by Mucrob Khan; and the treacherous
Procedure of the Portuguese and Jesuits.
Arriving at the bar of Surat on the 24th August, 1608, I immediately
sent Francis Bucke, merchant, and two others, on shore, to make known
that I was sent by the King of England, as his ambassador to the king of
the country, together with a letter and present. In answer, I received a
message from the governor, by three of his servants accompanying those I
sent, saying, he and all that country could afford were at my command,
and that I should be made very welcome if I pleased to come on shore. I
accordingly landed, accompanied by our merchants and others, equipped in
the best manner I could, as befitting the honour of my king and country.
On landing, I was well received after their barbarous manner, and vast
multitudes of the natives followed after me, desirous of seeing a
new-come people whom they had often heard of, but who had never before
visited their country. When I drew near the governor's house, I was told
he was not well, but I rather think he was drunk with affion [or
opium,] being an aged man. I went therefore to the chief customer, being
the only officer to whom sea-faring causes belonged; as the government
of Surat pertained to two great noblemen, one of whom, Khan-Khana, was
viceroy of the Decan,[186] and the other, Mucrob-Khan, was viceroy of
Cambaya or Guzerat, who had no command in Surat except what regarded the
king's customs, and with him only I had to deal.
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