405 



on more moderate terms. The captain with whom we embarked 

 for England received upwards of eighty thousand rupees, or ten 

 thousand pounds sterling, for his homeward-bound passengers. 

 One gentleman, distinguished for his liberality, gave five thou- 

 sand guineas for the accommodation of his wife and family in 

 this ship, besides an ample supply of Madeira wine, provisions, 

 and delicacies for the table. This will be deemed a handsome 

 compensation for five or six months board and lodging in any part 

 of the world. 



A great change had taken place at Surat during the last ten . 

 years. The splendour formerly kept up in the nabob's durbar, 

 and the style of Mogul magnificence in which the principal Maho- 

 medans lived on my first visit, seemed almost annihilated. Neither 

 Hindoo nor Mahomedan pageantry now enlivened the public 

 streets, and the war which had so long raged in Europe and India, 

 affected the Asiatic commerce in general, but was most sensibly 

 felt at Surat. Her dock-yards, storehouses, and bazars, indicated 

 little of that life and spirit, formerly likened to the glowing picture 

 of ancient Tyre; all was now comparatively silent and forsaken. 

 The usual calamities of war had been heightened by the dreadful 

 storm, which happened a year before on the western shores of 

 India. The effects of its ravages at Baroche have been mentioned ; 

 at Surat it was still more tremendous. The tottering mansions of 

 the Moguls, long out of repair, the slighter Hindoo houses, and the 

 mud-built cottages of the lower classes, alike gave way, and buried 

 many of their inhabitants in the ruin. Extensive parts of the 

 outer walls and towers of the fortifications, long in a dilapidated 

 state, fell down; and the w r hole city exhibited a scene of desolation. 



