_Of Goa, Diu, and Cambaya._
Goa is the chief city of the Portuguese in India, in which reside the
viceroy and his court, being many officers of the crown of Portugal.
From Ormuz it is 990 miles to Goa, on which passage the first city you
come to in India is Diu, situated in a small island of the kingdom of
Cambaia; and, though a small city, is the strongest fortified of any of
those possessed by the Portuguese in India, having great trade, and
loading many great ships with merchandise for Ormuz and the Red Sea.
These ships belong both to Moors and Christians; but the Moors can
neither trade nor navigate in these seas, unless they have a pass or
licence from the Portuguese viceroy, without which they we liable to be
captured. The merchandise loaded at Diu comes from _Cambaietta_, a port
in the kingdom of Cambaia, about 180 miles up a strait or gulf called
_Macareo_, which signifies _a race of the tide_, because the water runs
there with immense rapidity, such as is not to be seen anywhere else,
except in the kingdom of Pegu, where there is another _Macareo_ or race
of the tide still more violent. On this account, and because no large
vessels can go to _Cambaietta_ or _Cambay_, by reason of the shallowness
of the water in the gulf for 80 or 100 miles, the principal city of
Cambaia or Guzerat is _Amadaver_ or _Amedabad_, a day and a half
journey from Cambay, being a great and populous city, and for a city of
the Gentiles it is well built with handsome houses and wide streets. In
it there is a fine bason or canul, having many ships, so that it
resembles Cairo, but not so large.
Cambay is situated on the sea at the head of the gulf of the same name,
and is a handsome city. While I was there it was suffering great
calamity, owing to a scarcity, insomuch that the Gentiles offered their
sons and daughters for sale to the Portuguese, and I have seen them sold
for 8 or 10 _larines_ each, which is of our money about 10s. or 13s.
4d.[124]. Yet if I had not actually seen it, I could not have believed
that Cambay had so great a trade. Every new and full moon, when the
tides are at the highest, the small barks that come in and go out are
quite innumerable. These barks are laden with all kinds of spices, with
silks of China, sandal-wood, elephants teeth, velvets of _Vercini_,
great quantities of _Pannina_, which comes from Mecca, _chequins_ or
gold coins worth 7s. each sterling, and various other commodities. These
barks carry out an infinite quantity of cloth of all sorts made of
_bumbast_ or cotton, some white, others stamped or painted; large
quantities of indigo, dried and preserved ginger, dry and confected
myrabolans, _boraso_ or borax in paste, vast quantities of sugar,
cotton, opium, asafoetida, _puchio?_ and many other kinds of drugs,
turbans made at Delhi, great quantities of carnelians, garnets, agates,
jaspers, calcedonies, _hematitis_, or bloodstones, and some natural
diamonds.
[Footnote 124: This comparison seems made by the translator between
_larines_ and sterling money.--E.]
It is customary at Cambay, though no one is obliged, to employ brokers,
of whom there are great numbers at this place, all Gentiles and of
great repute, every one of whom keeps fifteen or twenty servants. All
the Portuguese, and more other merchants who frequent this place, employ
these brokers, who purchase and tell for them; and such as come there
for the first time are informed by their friends of this custom, and
what broker they ought to employ. Every fifteen days, when the great
fleet of barks comes into port, these brokers come to the water side,
and the merchants immediately on landing give charge of their cargoes to
the broker who transacts their business, with the marks of all their
bales and packages. After this the merchant carries on shore all the
furniture for his dwelling, it being necessary for every one who trades
to India to carry a sufficient provision of household staff for his use,
as none such are to be procured. Then the broker who takes charge of his
cargo, makes his servants carry the merchant's furniture to some empty
house in the city, every broker having several such for the
accommodation of their merchants, where there are only bedsteads,
tables, chairs, and empty water jars. Then the broker says to the
merchant, go and repose yourself and take your rest in the city. The
broker remains at the water-side in charge of the cargo, causes all the
goods to be discharged from the bark, pays the customs, and causes every
thing to be carried to the house in which the merchant has taken up his
residence, the merchant having no trouble with any thing. After this,
the broker inquires if the merchant is disposed to sell his goods at the
rate then current; and if he desires it, the broker sells the goods
immediately, and informs the merchant how much money comes to him after
payment of all charges. If the merchant is disposed to lay out his money
in the purchase of other commodities, the broker informs him at what
rate the different articles may be put free on board, all charges paid.
Being thus properly instructed, the merchant makes his calculations, and
if he is satisfied to buy or sell at the current prices he directs the
broker accordingly; so that if he have even to the value of 20,000
ducats or more, every thing will be sold off or bartered in fifteen
days, without giving himself any trouble or concern about the matter.
Should the merchant not be disposed to sell the goods at the then
current prices, he may tarry as long as he pleases, but the goods cannot
be sold for him by any other person than the broker who has taken them
in hand, and has paid the duties. Sometimes, by delaying the sale of
their commodities for a time, the merchants make good profit, and at
other times they lose; but those articles which do not ordinarily come
every fifteen days, frequently produce great profit by delaying to sell
till the prices rise.
The barks that lade at Cambay go to Diu to supply the ships at that port
which are taking in goods for the Red Sea and Ormuz, and some go to
Chaul and Goa. These ships are either well armed, or are protected by
Portuguese ships of war, as there are many corsairs or pirates
continually cruizing along that coast, robbing and plundering whatever
they are able to master. The kingdom of Cambaia or Guzerat has great
trade, though it has long been in the hands of tyrants and usurpers,
ever since the lawful sovereign, then 75 years of age, named Sultan
Badur, was slain, at the assault of Diu, at which time four or five
principal officers of his army divided the kingdom among themselves, all
tyrannizing in their several shares as in emulation of each other.
Twelve years before my coming, the great Mogul, who is the Mahometan
king of Delhi and Agra, 40 days journey inland from Amedabad, reduced
all the provinces of Guzerat under his authority without resistance, his
power being so great that none of the usurpers dared to oppose him.
While I dwelt in Cambay, I saw many curious things. There were a
prodigious number of artificers who made ivory bracelets called mannij,
of, various colours, with which the Gentile women are in use to decorate
their arms, some covering their arms entirely over with them. In this
single article there are many thousand crowns expended yearly, owing to
this singular custom, that, when any of their kindred die, they break
all their bracelets in token of grief and mourning, so that they have
immediately to purchase new ones, as they would rather go without meat
as not have these ornaments.