[Footnote 187: Though not so expressed in the Annals, this appears to have been a fortified house; as, on an occasion, when Surat was taken and plundered by an armed force belonging to Sevagee, the first sovereign of the Mahrattas, the English were able to defend their factory from injury.--E.]
"During his residence in India, Sir Thomas Roe had likewise used his best endeavours to promote the trade of the English with the ports of Persia, in which considerable opposition was experienced from the Portuguese, who tried every expedient to engross the Persian trade to themselves, and to exclude the English from any participation. In this opposition Sir Robert Shirley had been implicated, who had gone to Europe in 1615, on a mission from the king of Persia, to form a contract with the king of Spain, then sovereign of Portugal, not only to sell to his subjects the whole of the Persian silk, but to grant them licence to fortify the sea-ports of Persia for the protection of their shipping and factories. Mr Connock, the English agent in Persia, under these circumstances, recommended the necessity of applying to king James, and submitting to his consideration the danger of allowing the Portuguese to enjoy the exclusive possession of that trade, which would render them the most powerful European nation in the East Indies. In the mean time, he represented to the king of Persia the necessity of seizing the island of Ormus from the Portuguese, under the protection of which the Persian dominions could be supplied by the English with all kinds of Indian commodities.
"In this critical situation of the company's agents at Ispahan, an ambassador arrived from the king of Spain, in June 1617, authorised to adjust and settle the contract which Sir Robert Shirley had projected. The English agent, in consequence, urged the factory at Surat to dispatch the whole of the company's ships to Jasques for the defence of that port, as the Portuguese fleet had rendezvoused at Muscat, and had determined to blockade the passage into the Persian gulf against the English trade. These events induced Sir Thomas Roe to grant a commission, and to give instructions to the company's agent at Ispahan, authorising him to treat with the king of Persia, in the name of the king of England.
"In 1618, Captain Shillings, of the company's ship Ann, went to Mokha, and obtained a phirmaund from the governor, by which the English were allowed free trade, and protection to their persons and property, on condition of paying three per cent. on merchandize, and three per cent. on the prices of all goods exported by them from Mokha. On receiving information of this event, Sir Thomas Roe addressed a letter to the governor of Mokha, requesting that these privileges might be confirmed by the Grand Signior, and promising, on the part of the English, that all kinds of European goods should be regularly brought to Mokha, and that the English should defend that port against all enemies, and particularly against the Portuguese.
"This appears to have been the last transaction of Sir Thomas Roe in the East Indies. In his voyage home he touched at Saldanha bay [Table bay] in May, 1619, where he met, and held a conference with the Dutch admiral Hoffman, who commanded the outward-bound fleet from Holland of that season. From this officer he learned that the respective governments in Europe, alarmed at the commercial jealousies and animosities between their subjects in the East Indies, had appointed commissioners to take that subject into consideration. It was therefore, with a becoming sense of duty, agreed between them that each should address a letter to the chiefs of their respective factories in India, recommending to them to abstain from any opposition or violence against each other, till each had received specific instructions from their superiors, or should be informed of the result of the conferences between the commissioners of the two nations in Europe."
S.1. Journey from Surat to the Court of the Mogul, and Entertainment there, with some Account of the Customs of the Country.
I landed at Surat on the 26th September, 1615, and was received in an open tent by the chief officers of the town, well attended. On this occasion I was accompanied by the general, and principal merchants, Captain Harris being sent to make me a court of guard with an hundred shot, and the ships, all dressed out to the best advantage, saluted me with their ordnance as I passed. There was much controversy about searching my servants, but at length they passed free to the city, where we had a house provided for us. We continued there to the 30th October, suffering much vexation from the governor, who forcibly caused search many of our chests and trunks, taking away what he thought fit.
The 30th October I departed from Surat, and that day travelled only four coss to Sumaria.[188] The 1st November I went eleven miles to a village. The 2d, to Biarat, twenty-one miles, where there is a castle, this town being on the borders of the kingdom of Guzerat, subject to the Mogul, and belonging to Abraham Khan. The 3d I entered the kingdom of Pardaff shah,[189] a pagan lord of the hills, who is subject to nobody; and at the end of fifteen miles we lodged in the fields, beside a city of note, called Mugher. The 4th we travelled nine miles by a rocky way, and lay in the fields, beside a village called Narampore. The 5th, fifteen miles, and lay in the fields. The 6th, twenty miles, to a city called Nundabar, in the kingdom of Brampore, [Burhanpoor] which is subject to the Mogul. At this place we first procured bread, after leaving Surat, as the Banians, who inhabit all the country through which we had travelled, make only cakes instead of bread. The country peculiarly abounds in cattle, as the Banians never kill any, neither do they sell any for being slaughtered. One day I met at least 10,000 bullocks loaded with grain, in one drove, and most other days I saw smaller parcels.
[Footnote 188: In this journal the names of places are exceedingly corrupted, and often unintelligible. Such as admitted of being corrected, from the excellent map of Hindoostan, by Arrowsmith, have their proper names placed within brackets.--E.]
[Footnote 189: In the miserable map of Hindoostan, accompanying this journal in the Pilgrims, this prince is called Partap-sha.--E.]