CITY OF SURAT. 195 



distance, but as we approached the walls age and decay 

 were strikingly evident. This city is situated on the 

 Taptee, about twenty miles from the point where the 

 mouth, or bay, empties into the gulf of Cambay. It is 

 about six miles in circumference, and shaped like a bow, 

 the cord being the Taptee, having near its centre, a small 

 castle garrisoned bya few sepoys and Europeans. On other 

 sides, the town is surrounded by a wall, flanked with semi- 

 circular towers. Without the walls we found some good 

 European houses, formerly occupied by the French, but 

 now, the residence of English officers; but the houses 

 within the town were very inferior, consisting only of 

 timber frames filled up with bricks, their upper stories 

 projecting over each other. The streets were narrow and 

 irregular. Only small boats, called ketches, can ascend 

 the river to Surat yet the city once had a very extensive 

 commerce. 



We remained three days in JSurat. During this period, 

 Mr. Barrill made some valuable acquaintance among the 

 English, and purchased some small articles which he 

 deemed necessary for our comfort. We found that nearly 

 all the business of the city was carried on by the Parsees 

 the Hindoos being generally as indolent - as they were 

 superstitious. The English and the Mahommedans made 

 up the remainder of the population. I was not sorry when 

 the time came for leaving this ancient city, for life there 



