1 6 An hiflorkal Account of the Intercourfe Book I. 
ject the Governor and Company of Merchants of England 
trading to the Levant- Seas, to any Penalties and Forfeitures 
thereby enabled, in refpedt to their Trade in thofe Seas 
and nothing herein fhall reftrain or prejudice fuch Trade or 
Navigation within any of the Limits of the Eafi-India 
Company, as the South-Sea Company are any ways entit- 
led unto. 
With this Aft I lhall conclude the hiftorical Part of 
this SeCtion, having, as I promifed, deduced the Trans- 
actions of the Eaft-India Company, and with them the 
Commerce of the Britijh Nation to the Indies , from the 
earl iell Accounts we have of their trading to this Part of 
the World, and from their firft Eftablifhment in the 
Reign of Queen Elizabeth , down to the prefent Time ; 
in which Series of Faffs, we hope the Reader will find 
a greater Satisfaction, fince it exhibits to him in one 
View, and ccnfidering the vaft Variety of Matter in a 
very narrowCompafs, a regular Chain of Events, which de- 
monftrates the vaft Importance of this Commerce to the 
Nation, the Means by which it was at firft acquired, the 
Progrefs made therein, the Difficulties and Obftruffions 
it has met with, the Methods by which they have been 
overcome, and the Manner in which the Company has 
at laft acquired a happy and fecure Eftablifhment, which 
we have Reafon to hope will laft as long as our prefent 
excellent Conftitution, fince it is founded on the fame Ba- 
fts, and is fortified by the ftrongeft Authority that the 
Laws of this Country can afford. 
It remains, in order to conclude the Plan laid down at 
the Beginning of this Seftion, that we fhould prefent the 
Reader with a clear and fuccinCt View of the Poffeffions of 
the Company in the Indies , and the State of their Com- 
merce in thofe Parts, as it ftands at prefent, which we 
fhall do with all the Brevity poffible, and in that Order 
which feems molt natural, both with regard to the Situa- 
tion of Places, and the avoiding unneceffary Repetitions, 
having nothing more in View than to ftate every thing as 
clearly as it is poffible, and to confine ourfelves within as 
little Room as the Purfuit of that Defign will allow. 
17. We fhall begin then with the Port oi Gambron, or, 
as fome write it. Gombroon , on the Coaft of Perjia , which 
became famous after the DeftruCtion of the Ifland of Or- 
muz , and the Ruin of the Portugueze Power in the Indies. 
The City was built by the Great Shah Abas, from whence 
it is called by the Perfians Pander- Abajfi , that is the Court 
of Abas . It ftands in the Lat. of 27 0 40' North, and 
and is looked upon as a Port of the greateft Trade in 
this Part of the World. We have elfewhere given a 
large Account of the Situation, Climate, and Condition 
of the Country in the Neighbourhood of this celebrated 
Mart, and fhall here therefore confine ourfelves ftriCtly to 
-what concerns the Commerce of the Englifh. 
Our firft Eftablifhment was about the Year 1613, and 
the Great Shah Abas having, at that Time, Occafton for 
our Afiiftance againft the Portugueze , granted us by Trea- 
ties, in Conftderation of our Services in that War, half the 
Cuftoms of this Port, which were duly received for a con- 
siderable Time ; but, at length, under various Pretences, 
were reduced to one thoufand Tomans a Year, which 
amounts to Three thoufand, three hundred thirty-three 
Pounds, fix Shillings and Eight-pence of our Money; 
and even this, for forty Years paft, has been but very in- 
differently paid ; and at prefent, as I conceive, we have 
the Right only, and not the Poffeffion. But the Eaft- 
India Company ftill maintains a noble Factory here, by 
which it manages the whole Trade of the Empire of Per- 
jia , and exports thither a vaft Quantity of European Goods. 
In the Year 1720, the FaCtory buffered feverely, and the 
Confuftons induced by repeated Rebellions in Perjia ; but 
as the Affairs of that Empire are now pretty well fettled, 
there is no doubt that thofe of the Company will be alfo 
reftored, and that we fhall regain that important Com- 
merce which has been fo long carried on here. 
The City of Mocha ftands at the Entrance of the Red 
Sea , in the Latitude of 13 0 . ii ; . W. and is a Place of 
very great Trade, as we have fhewn in the former Part of 
this Work. The Englijh are likewife well received here ; 
carry on a great Commerce in Coffee and other Commodi- 
ties, as well as in all the adjacent Ports of Arabia , as has 
been already fhewn in the foregoing Sections. It is true, 
that we have been fome Times expofed to the Injuft ice of 
the Arabian Princes, and to the Depredations of Pirates 
in thofe Parts ; but in this we have only fhared the fame 
Fate with other Nations, and perhaps have efcaped rather 
better than they. 
We fhall next proceed to the Indian Coaft, where we 
have either Factories or Forts, and Settlements, at the 
following Places, viz. Baroach , Swalley , Swat , Bombay , 
Babul, Car war, Tellechery, Anjengo , Fort Si. David, 
Gonymere , all along the Malabar Coaft, and turning up 
to thofe of Coromandel, where we come next to what may 
be called the Capital of our PofTeffions in the Indies, I 
mean Fort St. George. We have in the Courfe of this 
W ork, and particularly in this Section, given a large Account 
of moft ol the Places before-mentioned ; which is the 
Reafon that we have not dwelt upon them here; but as for 
Fort St. George, which ftands in the Latitude of 13° 20' 
North, it requires a more particular Difcription for many 
Reafons; and therefore, I have thought fit to infert a large 
Hiftorical Account thereof, as well as a clear and circum- 
ftantial Defcription, written by one who was perfectly ac- 
quainted therewith, as well as with all the TranfaCtions that 
occur in his curious Relation, which will contribute to ren- 
der the Hiftory of this Part of our Indian Settlements com- 
pleat, by furnifhing as exaCt an Account of this, as we 
have here, before given of other Places ; and therefore 
cannot but afford the Reader an agreeable Entertain- 
ment. 
Fort St. George or Maderafs, or as the Natives call 
it China Patam , is a Colony and City belonging to the 
Englijh Eaft-India Company, fituated in one of the moft 
incommodious Places I ever faw: It fronts the Sea, which 
continually rolls impetuoufly on its Shore more here, than 
in any other Place on the Coaft of Coromandel : The 
Foundation is on Sand, with a Salt-Water River on its 
Bdckfide, which obftruCts all Springs of frefh Water from 
coming near the Town ; fo that they have no drinkable 
Water within a Mile of them, the Sea often threatening 
DeftruCtion on one Side, and the River, in the rainy Sea- 
fon, Inundations on the other. The Sun from April to 
September fcorching hot ; and if the Sea-Breezes did not 
moiften and cool the Air, when they blow, the Place 
could not poffibly be inhabited. The Reafon why a Fort 
was built on that Place, is not well accounted for ; but 
Tradition fays, that the Gentleman who received his Or- 
ders to build a Fort on that Coaft, about the Beginning 
of King Charles the Second’s Reign, after his Jleftora- 
tion, for protecting the Company’s Trade, chofe that 
Place to ruin the Portuguese Trade at St. Thomas's ; others 
again alledge, and with more Probability, that the Gen- 
tleman aforefaid, which I take to be Sir William Lang- 
horn, had a Miftrefs at St. Thomas's, of whom he was Id 
enamoured, that it made him build there, that their In- 
terviews might be the more frequent and uninterrupted ; 
but whatever his Reafons were, it is very ill fituated. 
The Soil about the City is fo dry and fandy, that it 
bears no Corn, and what Fruits, Roots, and Herbage they 
have, are brought to Maturity by great Pains and much 
Trouble. If it be true, that the Company gave hirr* 
Power to fettle a Colony in any Part of that Coaft that 
pleafed him belt, I wonder that he chofe not Cabelon , 
about fix Leagues to the Southward, where the Ground is 
fertile, and the Water good, with the Conveniency of 
a Point of Rocks to facilitate Boats landing ; or why he 
did not go nine Leagues farther northerly, and fettle at 
Policat , on the Banks of a good River, as the Butch have 
done fince, where the Road for Shipping is made eafy by 
fome Sand-Banks that reach three Leagues off Shore, and 
make the high turbulent Billows that come rolling from 
the Sea, fpend their Force on thofe Banks, before they 
can reach the Shore. The Soil is good, and the River 
commodious, and convenient in all Seafons : Now, whe- 
ther one of thefe Places had not been more eligible, I 
leave to the ingenious, and thofe concerned, to con- 
fider. 
However, the War carried on at Bengal and Bombay , 
by the Englijh, againft the Moguls Subjects, from 1685, 
to 1689, made Fort St. George put on a better Drefs than 
o he 
