WESTERN HINDOOSTAN. 79 



Mr. Terry mentions his having been frequently terrified by 

 them, in his travels throvigh the vaft woods and wilderneffes of 

 the country* ; whether they exift at prefent is doubtful, being 

 animals at left very rare at this time. But to return. 



SuRAT is a city of toleration, all fects are indulged in the 

 free exercife of their religion. Fanaticifm,^ in all its extrava- 

 gance, reigns here, amidft the various cafts of Hindoos ; and 

 here are prailifcd all the dreadful aufterities, and ftrange atti- 

 tvides of the felf-tor,"neiitors we have fo often read of. Here 

 the Ferfecs exert their zealous worfliip to the pure element of The Persees. 

 fire, according to the doctrine of their great founder. Near the 

 city they have their rep'ofitories for the dead. They admit 

 not of interment ; they place the corpfes on a platform, on the 

 fummit of a circular building, expofed to birds of prey. The 

 friends watch the bodies, and wait with eagernefs till one of the 

 eyes is plucked out. If the right is plucked out, they go away, 

 fecure of the happinefs of the departed fpirit ; if the left, they 

 dejilore its eternal mifery. 



I SHALL not attempt to enumerate the articles of commerce 

 of Surat. In its moil profperous ftate it was the emporium of 

 all the produce of India and Arabia, and of all the produce of 

 Europe and Africa^ wanted by the luxurious Afiatics, A Maho- Great Mer- 

 metan merchant, living in 1690, had at once twenty large lliips, 

 from 300 to 800 tons ; none freighted at lefs expence than ten 

 thoufand pounds, many as high as twenty-five thoufimd. The 

 extent of the Indian or country trade is evident here, by the 

 numerous fleets which frequently turn in. Niebubr, who was 

 at Surat in 1764, fpeaks in high terms of its flourifliing ftate, 



* Memoirs of Jehanglr, p. 43..— Terry's Voy. p. 194, 196. 



which 



