DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.634#0149
124
A Descriftion os Surat,
Letter III. Who understanding my Business, desired the favour of me to visit
yy>>*J hitn, and there (hould attend on me some of his Friends that were
i&eerionM ^iseased > * easlly condefcended, thinking to procure my Dispatch
g^m. with more speed ; which succeeded alike, I receiving his Cbitty or
Pass, with two Guides to direct us through the Country.
Early therefore the next Morning I lelt the most Glorious Ruins
the Mahometans \x\Duccan ever had occasion to deplore: For this City,
once the chief Empory, excelled not only in Trade, but the genera!
consequent, Sumptuousness, if the Reliques of the Stately Fa bricks
may add Credit to such a belief; which Reliques,not withstanding the
Fury of the Portugals, afterward of thcMcgul, sinceof SevaGi,and
now lately again of the Mogul, (whole Flames were hardly extinguish-
ed at my being here, and the Governor and People on that /core being
prepared more for Flight than Defence at present) are shll the extant
Marks of its pristine Height : The remaining Buildings having
many Stories of square facing Stones, and the Mosques, which are
numerous, of the same, abating little of their ancient Lustre, being
all watered with delicate Tanks; about which are coslly Tombs
with their distincl Chappels or Mosques, where formerly the Mul-
lahs had fat Pensions to pray for the departed Souls, which is main-
tained by them as efficacious s wherefore they covet Funerals in the
most conspicuous Places, which the Pleasant Summer houfes hanging
over here,cause these Places to be; the unemploy'd People- of theTown
daily walling their time in these inviting Varieties; which is the on-
ly thing pleads for their continuance, Seva Gi as a Gentu being other-
wise inclinable to raze them; yet purposely to pervert them from
theuseof the Donors, and Intention of the Founders, orders them
to be converted into Granaries, especially thole within the City.
The Houses the present Inhabitants kennel in are mean, the Peo-
ple beggarly, by reason of these Hostile Incursions.
By Twelve at Noon having journey'd over Rocky, Barren, and
Parched Ways, I came to Intivally, Three £ourse, or Seven Mile and
an half; the Season of the Year (the Heats being now most vio-
lent) aswel! as the Time of the Day not permitting us any longer
to endure their Extremity, I never staid forLicense, but (haded my
sclf under a Wooden Mosque, the only Structure (landing in the
Town, it Sussering the same Fate with Gu//ean,znd was then reaking in
its Ashes,the Moguls Army laying waste all in their Road,both Villages,
Fodder, and Corn ; .and for their Gittel they drive them along with
them, and take them, their Wives and Children for Slaves; lb that
none escape, except those that can ssy fastest,or hide themselves in the
Woods, which they also set on fire, to leave them destitute of those
Recesses. This Gom or Town flood in a large Grove of Mangnes, on
the Bank of a detp Creek, which though at this time fordable, yet I
believe the Rains may swell into a Torrent.
Having refressied my self and Coolies, I hired an Ox, they com-
plaining they had too much Burthen, travelling more advisedly by
Moonlhine, ( through a better Soil, and more exchange, as Arable
Ground, Heaths, Forests, and Woods, some of which were on Fire
two or three Miles together) from Six till Twelve, when we took
up our Rest at a poor Village called Moorbart sixCourse from
Intwally:
Set sorward to
Ir.twaliy, the
Country all
burnt and de-
stroyed.
A Descriftion os Surat,
Letter III. Who understanding my Business, desired the favour of me to visit
yy>>*J hitn, and there (hould attend on me some of his Friends that were
i&eerionM ^iseased > * easlly condefcended, thinking to procure my Dispatch
g^m. with more speed ; which succeeded alike, I receiving his Cbitty or
Pass, with two Guides to direct us through the Country.
Early therefore the next Morning I lelt the most Glorious Ruins
the Mahometans \x\Duccan ever had occasion to deplore: For this City,
once the chief Empory, excelled not only in Trade, but the genera!
consequent, Sumptuousness, if the Reliques of the Stately Fa bricks
may add Credit to such a belief; which Reliques,not withstanding the
Fury of the Portugals, afterward of thcMcgul, sinceof SevaGi,and
now lately again of the Mogul, (whole Flames were hardly extinguish-
ed at my being here, and the Governor and People on that /core being
prepared more for Flight than Defence at present) are shll the extant
Marks of its pristine Height : The remaining Buildings having
many Stories of square facing Stones, and the Mosques, which are
numerous, of the same, abating little of their ancient Lustre, being
all watered with delicate Tanks; about which are coslly Tombs
with their distincl Chappels or Mosques, where formerly the Mul-
lahs had fat Pensions to pray for the departed Souls, which is main-
tained by them as efficacious s wherefore they covet Funerals in the
most conspicuous Places, which the Pleasant Summer houfes hanging
over here,cause these Places to be; the unemploy'd People- of theTown
daily walling their time in these inviting Varieties; which is the on-
ly thing pleads for their continuance, Seva Gi as a Gentu being other-
wise inclinable to raze them; yet purposely to pervert them from
theuseof the Donors, and Intention of the Founders, orders them
to be converted into Granaries, especially thole within the City.
The Houses the present Inhabitants kennel in are mean, the Peo-
ple beggarly, by reason of these Hostile Incursions.
By Twelve at Noon having journey'd over Rocky, Barren, and
Parched Ways, I came to Intivally, Three £ourse, or Seven Mile and
an half; the Season of the Year (the Heats being now most vio-
lent) aswel! as the Time of the Day not permitting us any longer
to endure their Extremity, I never staid forLicense, but (haded my
sclf under a Wooden Mosque, the only Structure (landing in the
Town, it Sussering the same Fate with Gu//ean,znd was then reaking in
its Ashes,the Moguls Army laying waste all in their Road,both Villages,
Fodder, and Corn ; .and for their Gittel they drive them along with
them, and take them, their Wives and Children for Slaves; lb that
none escape, except those that can ssy fastest,or hide themselves in the
Woods, which they also set on fire, to leave them destitute of those
Recesses. This Gom or Town flood in a large Grove of Mangnes, on
the Bank of a detp Creek, which though at this time fordable, yet I
believe the Rains may swell into a Torrent.
Having refressied my self and Coolies, I hired an Ox, they com-
plaining they had too much Burthen, travelling more advisedly by
Moonlhine, ( through a better Soil, and more exchange, as Arable
Ground, Heaths, Forests, and Woods, some of which were on Fire
two or three Miles together) from Six till Twelve, when we took
up our Rest at a poor Village called Moorbart sixCourse from
Intwally:
Set sorward to
Ir.twaliy, the
Country all
burnt and de-
stroyed.