This City Has A Vast Trade For All Kinds Of Spices, Drugs,
Silk, Cloth Of Silk, Brocades, And Various Kinds Of Merchandise From
Persia.
The trade in horses is very great, being transported from hence
to India.
The island has a Mahometan or Moorish king of the Persian
race, who is created and set up by the Portuguese commander in the name
of the king of Portugal. Being present on one of these occasions, I
shall set down the ceremonies as I saw them.
The old king being dead, the Portuguese commander proceeds with much
pomp and ceremony to elect a new one in the castle; and when he is
chosen from the blood-royal, the new king is sworn to be true and
faithful to the king of Portugal, as his lord-paramount, after which the
captain presents him with the royal sceptre. The newly elected king is
then conducted in great pomp to the royal palace, amid great feasts and
rejoicings, and attended by a numerous and splendid retinue. The king
keeps a good train of attendants, and has sufficient revenues to
maintain his state and dignity, with very little of the cares of
royalty, as the captain of the castle defends the kingdom. When the king
and captain ride out together, the king is treated with much ceremony
and respect, yet cannot ride abroad with his train without having first
received permission of the captain, which precaution is necessary
because of the great trade carried on at this place. The native language
in this island is the Persian. I embarked at Ormuz for Goa in India, in
a ship on board of which were fourscore horses. All merchants proceeding
from Ormuz for Goa ought to go in ships carrying horses, because every
ship carrying twenty horses or upwards is privileged from the payment of
customs on all their other goods, whereas all ships having no horses
have to pay eight per centum on their goods and commodities.
SECTION V.
_Of Goa, Diu, and Cambaya._
Goa is the chief city of the Portuguese in India, in which reside the
viceroy and his court, being many officers of the crown of Portugal.
From Ormuz it is 990 miles to Goa, on which passage the first city you
come to in India is Diu, situated in a small island of the kingdom of
Cambaia; and, though a small city, is the strongest fortified of any of
those possessed by the Portuguese in India, having great trade, and
loading many great ships with merchandise for Ormuz and the Red Sea.
These ships belong both to Moors and Christians; but the Moors can
neither trade nor navigate in these seas, unless they have a pass or
licence from the Portuguese viceroy, without which they we liable to be
captured. The merchandise loaded at Diu comes from _Cambaietta_, a port
in the kingdom of Cambaia, about 180 miles up a strait or gulf called
_Macareo_, which signifies _a race of the tide_, because the water runs
there with immense rapidity, such as is not to be seen anywhere else,
except in the kingdom of Pegu, where there is another _Macareo_ or race
of the tide still more violent.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 127 of 441
Words from 66027 to 66561
of 230997
