Book I. 



Travels ill India. 



portunity ere they can di (patch their mifchiefj and that they cannot conveniently 

 meet the pt ;fon to be murther'd, in the Fields or in the City, they are no fuch 

 Saints, but they will kill him at the very Altar, while he is at his devotions ; of 

 l • which I faw two fatal prefidents, the one at Goa, the other at Daman. At Daman 

 three or four of thefe black Slaves perceiving fome perfons whom they were to 

 murther, at Mafs in the Church, dhcharg'd their Muskets at them through the 

 windows, never confidering what other mifchief they might do to any other 

 perfons, againft whom they had no quarrel or defign. The fame thing happen'd 

 at Goa, where feven men were kilfd clofe by the Altar, and the Prieit that faid 

 Mafs was dangeroufly wounded at the fame time. Nor do their Courts of Juftice 

 take any cognizance of thefe crimes, for generally the guilty perfons are the 

 chiefeft of the Countrey. As for their Suits of Law, there is no end of them, 

 for they are manag'd by the Canarins, who are Natives of the Countrey, whofe 

 bufinefs it is to follow the Law 3 the molt fubtil and crafty fort of people in the 

 World. 



To return to the ancient Power of the Portugais in India, moft certain it is, 

 that if the Hollanders had never come among them, you fhould not have fèen a 

 bit of Iron in any Portugal Merchant's Houfe ; but all Gol4 or Silver j for they 

 needed no more than to make three or four Voyages to Japan, the Philippin, or 

 Molucca Iflands, or to China to enrich themfeîves ; gaining at their return above 

 live or fix for one upon rich Merchandizes. The very Souldiers as well as the 

 Captains and Governors enrich'd themfelves by Trade. There was not any per- 

 fbn, unlefs it be the Governor, who was not a Trader ; or if he does Trade, it is 

 in another man's name, for he has Revenue enough without it. Formerly it was 

 one of the faireft employments of the World to be Vice-Roy of Goa : and there 

 are but few Monarchs, that have Governments at their difpofal which are equal 

 in value to fome of thole which depend upon this Vic -Roy. The chief Command 

 is that of Mozambique for three years. In thofe three years the Governor gets 

 above four or five-hurder'd-thoiifand Crowns, and fometimes more, if in all that 

 time they receive no lofles from the Cafres. Thefe Cafres are people that bring 

 Gold for the Com-nodities which they carry away ; and if any one of them, 

 happen to dve, going or coming, whatever you trufted them withall is loft with- 

 out redemption. The Governour of Mozambique trades aîfo with the Negro's 

 that inhabit all along the Coaft of Melinda; and they ordinarily pay for the 

 goods they buy, either in Elephants Teeth, or Ambergreefe. When I was laft 

 in Goa, the Governour of Mozambique, who return'd to Goa after he had been 

 three years in his Command, had by him only in Ambergreefe, two hundred 

 thoufand Crowns, not reckoning his Gold, and his Elephants Teethe which a- 

 mounted to a far larger fum. 



The fécond Government was that of Malaca, by reafon of the Cuftom which 

 was there to be paid. For it is a Streight through which all Veffels that are 

 bound from Goa, for Japon, China, Cochinchina, fava, Macajfar, the Phillippin 

 Iflands, and many other places, muft of necefTity pafs. They may fail another 

 way by the Ifland of Sumatra, toward the Weft, and fo through the Streight 

 of Sonde, or elle leave the Ifland of Java to the North ; but when the Ships 

 return to Goa, they muft fhew a difcharge from the Cuftom-Houfè of Malaca t 

 which obliges them to go that way. 



The third Government is that of Ormus, by reafon of the great Trade which 

 is there, and the Cuftom which all Ships are to pay that are bound in and 

 out of the Perfian Golf. The Governour of Ormus exacted great Tolls from 

 thofe that went to the Ifland of Bakren to fifh for Pearls, for if they did not 

 take a Licence from him, he would fink their Vefiels. The Perfians at prefent 

 exaft this Cuftom from the EngUJh, who have a fmall (hare in that Trade, as 

 I have related in my Perfian Voyages. But though they are fevere enough to the 

 Merchants, their Cuftoms amount to nothing near fo much as what the Portu- 

 gueses made of it. The Hollanders are in the fame condition at Malaca, not re- 

 ceiving hardly fufficient to pay their Garrifon which they keep there. 



The fourth Government is that of Mofiate, the revenue whereof was very 

 great. For all Veffels that are bound from India, from the Perfian Golf, from 

 the Red Sea 5 and from the Coaft of Melinda, muft come under the Point of 



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