The 10th September We Had
Quails, Herons, And Other Land-Birds Blown From The Land, And Unable To
Return.
The 14th we had sight of Diu, and the 16th of Damaun, both
inhabited by the Portuguese, and strongly fortified.
On the 18th we
passed the bar of Surat, and came to anchor in the road of Swally. Next
day we sent a messenger on shore, and our boat returned the same night,
bringing off Mr William Bidulph, who told us of all the affairs of the
country, and that Zulphecar Khan[168] was now governor of Surat. At
this place we bought sheep for half a dollar each, and got twenty hens
for a dollar. On the 22d Mr Barker and other merchants were sent to
Surat to provide furniture for a house to accommodate the lord
ambassador, Sir Thomas Roe. They were searched most narrowly, even their
pockets, and the most secret parts of their dress, according to the base
manner of this country, in which a man has to pay custom for a single
dollar in his purse, or a good knife in his pocket; and if one has any
thing rare, it is sure to be taken away by the governor, under pretence
of purchase.
[Footnote 168: In the Pilgrims this person is named Zuipher-Car-Chan,
but we believe the orthography in the text is more correct. - E.]
The lord ambassador landed on the 25th, accompanied by our general, all
the captains and merchants, and eighty men under arms, part pikes, and
part muskets. Forty-eight guns were fired off from the ships, which were
all dressed out with colours and streamers, flags and pendants. On
landing, he was received in a splendid tent by the chief men of Surat,
who welcomed him to India. There was much to do about their barbarous
search, which they would have executed on all his attendants, which he
strenuously resisted, and at length he and three or four of his
principal followers were exempted, while the rest were only slightly
handled for fashion-sake. A great deal passed on this occasion between
the governor and the ambassador, about these rude and barbarous
exactions, Sir Thomas justly contending for the honour and immunity of
an ambassador from an independent king; while they insisted to make no
difference between him and others of similar rank in those parts, and of
our own likewise, who had formerly assumed the name of ambassadors.
Their barbarous usage not only perplexed him there, and detained him
long till an order came from court, but gave him much plague all the
time he remained in the country, as will appear afterwards from his own
journal. They could not easily be persuaded to allow of any difference
between him and Mr Edwards, who had been considered by them in the same
light with Sir Thomas.
Mr Barwick's man, who had been inveigled to run away by a deserter from
Captain Best who had turned Mahomedan, was brought back from Surat on
the 1st of October. Others afterwards ran away to Damaun, and wrote to
their comrades to induce them to do the same. The 2d, two Hollanders
came on board, who had travelled by land from Petapulli, on the
Coromandel coast. On the 10th, the governor's brother came on board,
making many fair speeches, and had a present given him. The governor
impudently urged us to give him presents, though he had already received
three, but found fault with them, and even named what he would have
given him, being beggar and chooser both at once. We had this day news
of Mr Aldworth's death; and on the 5th November we received intelligence
of the lord ambassador having fallen sick at Burhanpoor, and that Mr
Boughton was dead.
The most current coin at Surat is rials of eight, or Spanish dollars, of
which the old with the plain cross passes for five mahmoodies each. The
new dollars, having flower-de-luces at the ends of the cross, if not
light, are worth four 3/4 mahmoodies. The mahmoody is a coarse silver
coin, containing thirty pice, and twelve drams make a pice. The
English shilling, if full weight, will yield thirty 1/2 pice. Larines
are worth much the same with mahmoodies.[169] There are sundry kinds of
rupees, some of which are worth half a dollar, and others less, by which
one may be easily deceived. The trade at Surat is conducted by brokers,
who are very subtle, and deceive both buyer and seller, if not carefully
looked after. In weights, each city of India differs from another. The
commodities are infinite, indigos being the chief, those of Lahore the
best, and those from Sarkess inferior. Great quantities of cloths made
of cotton, as white and coloured calicoes, containing fourteen yards the
book or piece, from 100 to 200 mahmoodies each. Pintadoes, chintzes,
chadors, sashes, girdles, cannakens, trekannies, serrabafs, aleias,
patollas, sellas, quilts, carpets, green ginger, suckets or confections,
lignum aloes, opium, sal amoniac, and abundance of other drugs. Vendible
commodities are knives, mirrors, pictures, and such like toys; English
cloth, China wares, silk, and porcelain, and all kinds of spices. The
Guzerates load their great ships, of nine, twelve, or fifteen hundred
tons, at Gogo, and steal out unknown to the Portuguese.
[Footnote 169: From this explanation, the mahmoody and larine may be
assumed as worth one shilling; the pice as equal to a farthing and a
half, and the dram at about 1-10th of a farthing. - E.]
The chief places for trade on the river Sinde, or Indus, are Tatta,
Diul-sinde, Mooltan, and Lahore. The Expedition, on her former voyage,
had landed the Persian ambassador, Sir Robert Shirley, at Diul-sinde;
and of him I have thought it right to give the following particulars, as
an appendix to my former voyage, having learnt them from some of his
followers at Agra. Being weary of Diul-sinde, through the evil conduct
of the governor, and the attempts of the Portuguese to molest him, who
even used their endeavours to cut him off, for which purpose twelve of
them had gone there from Ormus, he asked leave to proceed to Tatta; but,
being refused permission, he went without leave, and having by the way
to pass a river where none durst ferry him over, because prohibited by
the governor on pain of death, he constructed a raft of timber and
boards, on which he and Nazerbeg embarked.
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