Chap. II. from J. B. T aternie k. 82 j 
prevent all Diforders, and if he finds any Man abroad at 
unfeafonable Times, he commits him to prifon, and rarely 
difmifies him without being baftonadoed, or whipped. 
This Officer is to anfwer for all the Robberies commit- 
ted in the Town.; but by their Cunning they dually evade 
it. When any one is robbed, this Officer apprehends all 
the People of the Houfe, both young and old, where the 
Robbery has been committed, and caufes them to be beaten 
feverely. They are ftretched out upon their Bellies, and 
and two Men laih the Patient with long Whips, till he has 
received two or three hundred Ladies, and is all in a Gore 
Blood. If at firft he confefles not the Faft, they whip him 
the next Day, and fo for feveral Days, till he confefies all, 
or the Thing ftolen be recovered again ; but he never learches 
the Houfes, or Goods of Robbers. 
There is alfo a fourfedar , or Provoft , who is bound to 
fecure the Country round about the Town, and to anfwer 
for all the Robberies committed there. The Burying-places 
of Surat are without the Town, about forty-three Paces 
from the Baroch Gate. The Catholicks have theirs apart, 
and fo have the Englijh and Dutch, as well as fome religious 
Indians. The Englijh and Dutch adorn their Graves with 
Pyramids of Brick, whitened over with Lime. The reli- 
gious Gentiles make their Tombs fquare, and of Plaifter, 
covered, fome with a Dome, and others with a Pyramid, a 
little more than three Foot high. The Banjans burn their 
dead Bodies by the River Side, and leave the Allies there 
to be waihed away by it, becaufe they account it facred. 
They believe that it contributes much to the Soul’s Eafe of 
the deceafed, to burn his Body immediately after his Death, 
becaufe they fay his Soul fuffers after the Separation from 
the Body, unlefs it be burnt ; but they burn not the Bodies 
of Children under two Years old, becaufe they hold them 
innocent ; nor of the Vartia’s, or Jogies, who are a kind 
of Dervifes, becaufe they follow the Right of Madeo , who 
is one of their great Saints, and who ordered their Bodies 
to be interred. 
The Things moft obfervable about Surat are a large 
Wall built by a Banjan , with divers thin Arches over it, 
to which they go down by certain Stairs ; on the Outfide 
is a Figure of a red Face, but the Features are not difcern- 
able. The Gentiles fay, ’tis the Pagod of Madeo , and pay 
a great Devotion to it. Towards Daman-Gate begins the 
lovelieft Walk in all the Country, and by it is a great Refer- 
vatory of Water called the Bank. It has fix Angles, and 
every one of them an hundred Paces long, and it is at leaft 
a Mulket-fhot in Diameter. The Bottom is paved with 
large Free-ftone, and there are Steps all round it in Form 
of an Amphitheatre, from the Brim to the Bottom, of 
lovely Free-ftone, admirably wrought, brought from 
Camhaya. It was made at the Charge of a rich Banjan , 
whofe Name was Copy, to catch the Rain-water to fupply 
the Town, and is certainly a Work worthy of a King, 
being equal to the beft of the Roman Aquaedu&s made for 
publick Ufe. 
About a Quarter of a League from the Refervatory is the 
Princefs’s Garden, fo called, becaufe it belongs to the Great 
Mogul’s Sifter. It is a large Plantation of Trees of feveral 
kinds, as Manguires, Palms, Mirobalans, Warrs, Mafia- 
trees, and many other Plants and Shrubs, fome of them 
are fet in a diredb Line, and it is cut into many long and 
very fair Walks. In the midft is a Building, with four 
Fronts, having each of them a Divan, and a fquare Bafon 
full of Water before it, from whence run feveral little 
Brooks through the Walks, which make it delightful, but 
much fhort of the Royal Gardens in Europe. 
About a hundred and fifty Paces from the Garden is a 
Warr, or Tree, which the Portuguese call the Tree of 
Roots; it is very large, and high, being eighty Paces in 
Diameter; the Branches which have taken Root are fo 
fkilfully cut, that one may walk every- where under it. 
The Indians account it facred, and the Banjans have 
planted Banners on the Top, and higher Branches of it ; 
by it is a Pagod, dedicated to an Idol called Mameva , 
which is thought to be Eve. The Soil about Surat is 
brown, and fo rich, that they never dung it, but fow their 
Corn after the Rains in September , and reap it in February. 
It bears alfo Sugar-Canes, Rice, Manguiers, Palm-trees, 
gild many other forts of Trees, which yield great Profit. 
4 
They water their Gardens, but the great Dews yield Ef- 
ficient Moifture for their Corn-Land. The River Tapty is 
always brackifti at Surat, fo that they ufe it only for 
waftiing their Bodies, which they do every Morning, from 
a Principle of Religion. 
4. In travelling up and down India, there are divers 
forts of Carriages both for Merchandize and Travellers, 
and when you leave Surat , you muft make ufe of thefe. 
For Goods, they make ufe of Oxen, Camels, or Waggons ; 
upon their Oxen they will lay three hundred, or three hun- 
dred and fifty Pounds Weight ; and his no wonderful thing 
to fee ten or twelve thoufand Oxen at a time laden with 
Rice, Corn, and Salt, carrying the Rice to the Place 
where Corn grows, and Corn where the Rice is, and Sale 
to Places where there are none. Thefe numerous Caravans 
are very inconvenient to Travellers, becaufe when they 
meet them, they are forced to flay two or three Days, till 
they pafs by. This is the moft fpeedy Carriage for Mer- 
chants Goods, and they commonly make ufe; of it when 
they are in hafte to Ihip them off at Surat . They that 
drive thofe Oxen follow no other Calling, nor have any 
Houfes, but carry their Wives and Children along with 
them. 
Some of them have an hundred Oxen of their own, and 
they have a Captain of the Caravan, who wears a Chain of 
Pearls about his Neck, and takes as much State upon him 
as a Prince. All that follow this Trade of Carrying, are 
divided into four Tribes, called Manari s, and confift each 
of them of an hundred thoufand Souls. They live always in 
Tents, and are maintained by tranfporting of Merchandize 
from Country to Country. The firft of them carries nothing 
but Corn ; the fecond Rice ; the third Pulfe ; and the 
fourth Salt ; and they are diftinguifhed by certain Marks 
made by the Priefts in the Face of every one of three of 
the Tribes, by a different coloured Gum, and fome Grains 
of the thing they carry pourtrayed in it ; the fourth carries 
a Bag of Salt about their Necks, of eight or ten Pounds, 
and with it they thump their Breafts every Morning before 
they fay their Prayers, in Token of Repentance. They love 
their Oxen and Cattle as tenderly as Children, efpecially if 
they have none. 
Their Women wear only a Piece of Calicut painted, Of 
white, five or fix times double, from their Waift down- 
ward, and upwards they cut their Bodies into feveral Forms 
of Flowers, which they paint in various Colours with 
Grapes. They have Priefts that go along with them, who 
every Morning fets up an Image of a Serpent in Wreaths 
upon a Pole fix or feven Foot high, and when every one 
has paid his Adoration to it, their Women going three 
times about it, they load it upon an Ox appointed for that 
Purpofe for carrying it, and accompany the Caravan ; they 
ufe Camels fometimes, but very rarely, they being ap- 
pointed to carry Luggage of great Perfons. The Caravan, 
or Waggon, feldom exceeds two hundred, and is moft 
commonly not above an hundred. Every Waggon is drawn 
by ten or twelve Oxen, and attended by four Soldiers, 
which the Perfon that owns the Merchandize is obliged to 
pay; two of them march on each Side of the Waggon, 
over which there is two Ropes thrown acrofs, the Ends 
whereof they hold in their Hands, that if the Waggon leans 
too much to either Side in the bad Way, thofe on the con- 
trary Side may keep it from overturning, by pulling the 
Ropes with all their Strength. The Manner of travelling 
in India is upon Oxen inftead of Horl'es, fo that if any 
Merchant carries an Horfe out of Perfia , ’tis only for Shew, 
or to walk in his Hand, or to fell to fome Indian Prince, 
Some of thofe Oxen will pace as eafy as our Nags. 
They manage them as Horfes ; but inftead of a Bit, 
they have a Rope drawn through the mufcelly Part of the 
Nofe, only that in riding them you muft take care that the 
Horns be not above a Foot long ; for if they be longer, 
when the Flies begin to fting, he will chafe, and tofs back 
his Horns, and fometimes ftick them into the Stomach of 
his Rider. They never fhoe them but in rough Places, 
where the Stones and Heat are apt co wafte and chop the 
Hoofs. They ufe alfo little Coaches for travelling, which 
will hold two Perfons ; but generally they ride but one ira 
them, when they carry their neceffary Cloak- Bag and Pro- 
vifion, for which there is a proper Place under the Coach % 
they 
