184 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
CHAPTER XIV. 
THE ANGRIAS. 
About the middle of the seventeenth century, Can- 
ojee Angria was made Governor of Severndroog. He 
was originally a private Mahratta soldier, and had 
raised himself to the highest offices by his valour 
and conduct. He served under the Rajah both as 
admiral and general. When he became Governor 
of Severndroog, he assumed the authority of an in- 
dependent sovereign, and upon the first opportunity 
seizing several of the vessels which he had formerly 
commanded, officered them with persons whom he 
had attached to his cause, and began to commit acts 
of piracy. He at first confined himself to the neigh- 
bourhood of the island under his dominion, until, by 
repeated successes, he had rendered himself sufficient- 
ly formidable to extend his depredations. He then 
soon possessed himself of nearly the whole of the Mah- 
ratta fleet. 
Alarmed at the successes of this daring adventurer, 
the Mahrattas built three forts upon the main 
land, within point-blank shot of his little territory, 
a small rocky island, well fortified and difficult of 
access. He, however, baffled all their precautions 
and continued his depredations, making himself mas- 
