WESTERN H I N D O O S T A N. >5 



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. Tliofe from Swalley are carried by 

 land, and wafted over oppofite to the city. 



The Taptee arifes far remote, near Maltoy, in Lat. 21° 45', in The Taptee. 

 the RajaJJjip of Goondivaneb. 



The city of Surat ftands in N. Lat. 21° 11'. The Abbe Surat. 

 Rayno.l fpeaks of it as a paltry fifliing 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 

 Fortuguefe polTeffed Surat foon after their arrival in India. 

 The firft ioxx. was built in 1524, but its increafe and great prof- 

 perity arofe from the fcttlements made there in 1603, by the 

 EjigliJJj and Dutch. The Fortuguefe gave them every oppofition 

 pofiible. They once made a vigorous attack on the Engl[flji 

 but were defeated with prodigious llaughter on their part, and 

 a very trifling lofs on that of our countrymen. It became the 

 firft trading city in India, and, in confequence 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 fubjeds of the Mogul 

 embarked, on their pilgrimage to Mecca, for vvhich reafon, in 

 the archives of the empire, Surat is called the Port of Mecca *. PortofMesca. 

 A lhip,one of the two which annually fail from Surat to Arabia, 



* Orme's Fragments, p. i6, 



L 2 filled 



