Our Broker Also Told Mr Needham, That It Was Not Becoming To
Go Up And Down The Streets With A Sword And Buckler; And Indeed His
Whole Conduct And Behaviour More Resembled Those We Call
Roaring-Boys,[182] Than What Became The Character Of A Merchant.
For
my admonitions, he requited me with ill language, disgracing himself and
injuring the affairs of the company.
[Footnote 181: This term is obviously Portuguese, and cannot be the
proper appellation for a judge on the Malabar coast. - E.]
[Footnote 182: This character is now only to be met with in some of our
old plays such as Captain Bobadil in Every Man in his Humour. - E.]
A Dutch ship, which had been trading in the Red Sea, arrived here on the
23d of September, with the intention of settling a factory, and they
were referred by the governor to the Zamorin, promising to carry a
letter for us, but went without it; so that our delays continued. Mr
Needham went himself to the Zamorin on the 4th November, and returned on
the 25th, having got a present of a gold chain, a jewel, and a gold
armlet, with orders also from the king to further our purposes; but the
performance was as slow as before. The 20th December, a Malabar captain
brought in a prize he had taken from the Portuguese, and would have
traded with us; but we could not get in any of our money, due long
before. We also heard that day of four English ships being at Surat. The
governor and people continued their wonted perfidiousness; the former
being more careful in taking, and the latter in giving bribes, than in
paying our debts. We used a strange contrivance of policy to get in some
of these; for, when we went to their houses, demanding payment, and
could get none, we threatened not to leave their house till they paid
us. We had heard it reported, that, according to their customs, they
could neither eat nor wash while we were in their houses; and by this
device we sometimes got fifty fanos from one, and an hundred from
another. They would on no account permit us to sleep in their houses,
except one person, with whom we remained three days and nights, with
three or four nayres. They were paid for watching him, but we got
nothing. The nayre, who had been appointed by the king to gather in our
debts, came to demand a gratuity from us, though he had not recovered
any of our money. He would go to the debtor's houses, taking three or
four fanos, and then depart without any of our money.
On the 9th of January, 1616, Mr Needham went to demand payment of a
debt, and being refused permission to pass by a nayre who struck him, as
he says, he gave the nayre a dangerous wound in the head with his sword,
of which it is thought he cannot recover, and others of the natives were
hurt in the fray. Word was presently brought to us to shut up our doors,
lest the nayres should assemble to do us some mischief, as feuds or
kindred-quarrels and murders are common among them, having no other law
or means of vengeance. Our nayre with his kindred, to the number of
thirty or more, with pikes, swords, and bucklers, guarded Mr Needham
home, on which occasion we had to give a gratuity. Our house had to be
guarded for three or four days and nights, none of us daring to go out
into the streets for money or other business for a week, though before
we used to go about in safety. After that, our broker advised us never
to go out, unless attended by a nayre, as they had sworn to put one of
us to death, in revenge for him who was slain.
The 20th, the Portuguese armado of thirty-four sail, passed by from the
south, of which fourteen were ships, and the rest frigates or grabs.
They put into the harbour, in which three Malabar frigates lay at
anchor, and a hot fight ensued, in which the Portuguese were forced to
retreat with disgrace, having only cut the hawser of one of the
frigates, which drove on shore and was stove in pieces. This belonged to
the governor, who was well served, for he remained like a coward in the
country, keeping four or five great guns that were in the town locked
up, except one, and for it they had only powder and shot for two
discharges. Before the fight ended, some 4000 nayres were come in from
the country, and several were slain on both sides. Nine or ten
Portuguese were driven ashore, and two or three of the chiefs of these
were immediately hung up by the heels, and being taken down after two
days, were thrown to be devoured by wild beasts.
On the 28th of January, we were told by a Pattemar, that the governor
was only our friend outwardly, wishing rather to have the Portuguese in
our room, as we did no good in the country, bringing only goods to sell,
whereas the Portuguese did good by making purchases. The 8th of February
we had letters from Surat; and on the 4th of March, the Zamorin wrote to
us, that if our ships came, he wished them to come to Paniany, and that
we need not be anxious for our money, as he would pay us, even if he
were forced to sell his rings.
SECTION VI.
Journal of Sir Thomas Roe, Ambassador from King James I, to Shah
Jehanguiro, Mogul Emperor of Hindoostan.[183]
INTRODUCTION.
There are two editions of this journal in our older Collections of
Voyages and Travels, but both exceeding defective and imperfect. The
first of these is in the Pilgrims of Purchas, which is said to have
been "Collected out of the Journal of Sir Thomas Roe, Knight, Lord
Ambassador from his Majesty of Great Britain, to the Great Mogul." It is
evidently to be considered as an abridgement made by Purchas, which,
indeed, he fully acknowledges in a postscript, in the following
terms:
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