A General History And Collection Of Voyages And Travels - Volume 9 - By Robert Kerr












































 -  From Surat to
Burhanpoor is a pleasant champain country, well watered with rivers,
brooks, and springs. Between Burhanpoor and Agra - Page 60
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From Surat To Burhanpoor Is A Pleasant Champain Country, Well Watered With Rivers, Brooks, And Springs.

Between Burhanpoor and Agra the country is very mountainous, not passable with a coach, and scarcely to be travelled on camels.

The nearest way is by Mando, passing many towns and cities on every day's journey, with many high hills and strong castles, the whole country being well inhabited, very peaceable, and clear of thieves.

Agra is a very large town, its wall being two coss in circuit, the fairest and highest I ever saw, and well replenished with ordnance; the rest of the city being ruinous, except the houses of the nobles, which are pleasantly situated on the river. The ancient royal seat was Fatipoor, twelve coss from Agra, but is now fallen into decay. Between these two is the sepulchre of the king's father, to which nothing I ever saw is comparable: yet the church or mosque of Fatipoor comes near it, both being built according to the rules of architecture. In Agra the Jesuits have a house and a handsome church, built by the Great Mogul, who allows their chief seven rupees a-day, and all the rest three, with licence to convert as many as they can: But alas! these converts were only for the sake of money; for when, by order of the Portuguese, the new converts were deprived of their pay, they brought back their beads again, saying they had been long without pay, and would be Christians no longer. In consequence of the Portuguese refusing to deliver back the goods taken at Surat, the king ordered the church doors to be locked up and they have so continued ever since; so the padres make a church of one of their chambers, where they celebrate mass twice a day, and preach every Sunday, first in Persian to the Armenians and Moors, and afterwards in Portuguese for themselves, the Italians, and Greeks.

By them I was informed of the particulars of Mildenhall's goods, who had given them all to a French protestant, though himself a papist, that he might marry a bastard daughter he had left in Persia, and bring up another. The Frenchman refusing to make restitution, was thrown into prison and after four months all was delivered up.

Between Agumere and Agra, at every ten coss, being an ordinary day's journey, there is a Serai or lodging house for men and horses, with hostesses to dress your victuals if you please, paying a matter of three-pence for dressing provisions both for man and horse. And between these two places, which are 120 coss distant, there is a pillar erected at every coss, and a fair house every ten coss, built by Akbar, on occasion of making a pilgrimage on foot from Agra to Agimere, saying his prayers at the end of every coss. These houses serve for accommodating the king and his women, no one else being allowed to use them. The king resides at Agimere on occasion of wars with Rabna, a rajput chief, who has now done homage, so that there is peace between them. I made an excursion to the Ganges, which is two days journey from Agra. The Banians carry the water of the Ganges to the distance of many hundred miles, affirming that it never corrupts, though kept for any length of time. A large river, called the Geminie [Jumna], passes by Agra.

On the 24th of May, 1616, while on our voyage home to England, we went into Suldunha bay, where were several English ships outwards bound, namely, the Charles, Unicorn, Janus, Globe, and Swan, the general being Mr Benjamin Joseph. We arrived safe at Dover on the 15th September, 1616.

* * * * *

John Mildenhall, mentioned in the foregoing article, left England on the 12th February, 1600, and went by Constantinople, Scanderoon, Aleppo, Bir, Caracmit, Bitelis, Cashbin, Ispahan, Yezd, Kerman, and Sigistan, to Candhar; and thence to Lahore, where he arrived in 1603. He appears to have carried letters from Queen Elizabeth to the Great Mogul, by whom he was well received, and procured from him letters of privilege for trade in the Mogul dominions. He thence returned into Persia, whence he wrote to one Mr Richard Staper from Cashbin, on the 3d October, 1606, giving some account of his travels, and of his negociations at the court of the Mogul. This letter, and a short recital of the first two years of his peregrinations, are published in the Pilgrims, vol. I. pp. 114 - 116, but have not been deemed of sufficient importance for insertion in this collection. - E.

SECTION XIX.

Eleventh Voyage of the East India Company, in 1612, in the Salomon.[103]

We sailed from Gravesend on the 1st February, 1611, according to the computation of the church of England, or 1612 as reckoned by others. We were four ships in company, which were counted as three separate voyages, because directed to several parts of India: The James, which was reckoned the ninth voyage, the Dragon and Hosiander the tenth, and our ship, the Salomon, as the eleventh.

[Footnote 103: Purch. Pilgr. I. 486. This unimportant voyage is only preserved, for the sake of continuing the regular series of voyages which contributed to the establishment of the East India Company. We learn from Purchas that it was written by Ralph Wilson, one of the mates in the Salomon, who never mentions the name of his captain. This voyage, as given by Purchas, contains very little information, and is therefore here abridged, though not extending to two folio pages in the Pilgrims. - E.]

I would advise such as go from Saldanha bay with the wind at E. or S.E. to get to a considerable distance from the land before standing southwards, as otherwise the high lands at the Cape will take the wind from them; and if becalmed, one may be much troubled, as there is commonly in these parts a heavy sea coming from the west. Likewise, the current sets in for the shore, if the wind has been at N.N.W. or W. or S.S.W. And also the shore is so bold that no anchorage can be had.

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