DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.643#0095
WESTERN HINDOOSTAN. 75
mouth and channels of the river are intricate and dangerous;
the goods which are brought are conveyed to Surat in hoys,
yatchs, and country boats. Thofe from Swalley are carried by
land, and wafted over oppofite to the city.
The 'Taptee arifes far remote, near Ma/toy, in Lat. 210 45', in The Taptee.
the Raja/bip of Goondwaneb.
The city of Surat flands in N. Lat. ai° n'. The Abbe Surat.
Raynal fpeaks of it as a paltry filhing village, in the thirteenth
century. I fufpect it to have been of far earlier origin, and
am confirmed in my opinion by the Ayeen Akberry, ii. 79, which
informs us, that in antient times it had been a large city.
Raneer, on the oppofite fide, is a port dependent on Surat. The
Portuguefe poffefTed Surat foon after their arrival in India.
The firft fort was built in 1524, but its increafe and great pros-
perity arofe from the fettlements made there in 1603, by the
Englifh and Dutch. The Portuguefe gave them every oppofition
poffible. They once made a vigorous attack on the Ettglijb,
but were defeated with prodigious flanghter on their part, and
a very trifling lofs on that of our countrymen. It became the
firft trading city in India, and, in confequenee of wealth, the
firft in luxury. In the latter end of the laft century, the in-
habitants were computed at two hundred thoufand.
Besides the greatnefs of its commerce, it was celebrated for
being the place at which the Mahometan fubjedts of the Mogul
embarked, on their pilgrimage to Mecca, for which reafon, in
the archives of the empire, Surat is called the Port of Mecca *. Port of Mecca.
A fhip, one of the two which annually fail from Surat to Arabia,
* Orme's Fragments, p. 16.
L 2 filled
mouth and channels of the river are intricate and dangerous;
the goods which are brought are conveyed to Surat in hoys,
yatchs, and country boats. Thofe from Swalley are carried by
land, and wafted over oppofite to the city.
The 'Taptee arifes far remote, near Ma/toy, in Lat. 210 45', in The Taptee.
the Raja/bip of Goondwaneb.
The city of Surat flands in N. Lat. ai° n'. The Abbe Surat.
Raynal fpeaks of it as a paltry filhing village, in the thirteenth
century. I fufpect it to have been of far earlier origin, and
am confirmed in my opinion by the Ayeen Akberry, ii. 79, which
informs us, that in antient times it had been a large city.
Raneer, on the oppofite fide, is a port dependent on Surat. The
Portuguefe poffefTed Surat foon after their arrival in India.
The firft fort was built in 1524, but its increafe and great pros-
perity arofe from the fettlements made there in 1603, by the
Englifh and Dutch. The Portuguefe gave them every oppofition
poffible. They once made a vigorous attack on the Ettglijb,
but were defeated with prodigious flanghter on their part, and
a very trifling lofs on that of our countrymen. It became the
firft trading city in India, and, in confequenee of wealth, the
firft in luxury. In the latter end of the laft century, the in-
habitants were computed at two hundred thoufand.
Besides the greatnefs of its commerce, it was celebrated for
being the place at which the Mahometan fubjedts of the Mogul
embarked, on their pilgrimage to Mecca, for which reafon, in
the archives of the empire, Surat is called the Port of Mecca *. Port of Mecca.
A fhip, one of the two which annually fail from Surat to Arabia,
* Orme's Fragments, p. 16.
L 2 filled