ACCOUNT OF THE ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS.

The next English settlement to Surat, on the coast of the peninsula, is Bombay, in the kingdom of Decan, a small island, with a very convenient harbour, above five-and-forty leagues to the south of Surat. The town is very populous; but the soil is barren, and the climate unhealthy; and the commerce was rendered very precarious by the neighbourhood of the famous corsair Angria, until his port of Geria was taken, and his fortifications demolished. The English company likewise carry on some traffic at Dabul, about forty leagues further to the south, in the province of Cuncan. In the same southerly progression, towards the point of the peninsula, we arrive at Carwar, in the latitude of fifteen degrees, where there is a small fort and factory belonging to the company, standing on the south side of a bay, with a river capable of receiving ships of pretty large burden. The climate here is remarkably salubrious; the country abounds with provisions of all sorts, and the best pepper of India grows in this neighbourhood. The next English settlement we find at Tilli-cherry, where the company has erected a fort, to defend their commerce of pepper and cardamomoms from the insults of the rajah, who governs this part of Malabar. Hither the English trade was removed from Calicut, a large town that stands fifteen leagues to the southward of Tillicherry, and was as well frequented as any port on the coast of the Indian peninsula. The most southerly settlement which the English possess on the Malabar coast, is that of Anjengo, between the eighth and ninth degrees of latitude. It is defended by a regular fort, situated on a broad river, which falls into the sea, and would be very commodious for trade, were not the water on the bar too shallow to admit ships of considerable burden. Then turning the Cape, and passing through the strait of Chilao, formed by the island of Ceylon, we arrive on the coast of Côromandel, which forms the eastern side of the isthmus. Prosecuting our course in a northern direction, the first English factory we reach is that of Fort St. David’s, formerly called Tegapatan, situated in the latitude of eleven degrees forty minutes north, within the kingdom of Gingi. It was, about six and-twenty years ago, sold by a Mahratta prince to the East India company, and, next to Bombay, is the most considerable settlement we have yet mentioned.*

* The trade consists of long cloths of different colours,
sallampores, morees, dimities, ginghams, and succations.

Its territory extends about eight miles along the coast, and half that space up to the country, which is delightfully watered by a variety of rivers; the soil is fertile, and the climate healthy. The fort is regular, well provided with cannon, ammunition, and a numerous garrison, which is the more necessary, on account of the neighbourhood of the French settlement at Pon-dicherry. But the chief settlement belonging to the company on this coast is that of Madras, or Fort St. George, standing farther to the northward, between the thirteenth and fourteenth degrees of latitude, and not a great way from the diamond mines of Golconda. It is seated on a flat, barren, scorching sand, so near the sea, that in bad weather the walls are endangered by the mighty surges rolled in from the ocean. As the soil is barren, the climate is so intensely hot that it would be altogether uninhabitable, were not the heat mitigated by the sea breezes. On the land side it is defended by a salt water river, which, while it contributes to the security of the place, robs the inhabitants of one great comfort, by obstructing the springs of fresh water. The fort is a regular square, the town surrounded with walls well mounted with artillery, and the place, including the Black Town, is very populous. Madras, with several villages in the neighbourhood, was purchased of the king of Golconda, before the mogul became sovereign of this country. The governor of this place is not only president of Fort St. George, but also of all the other settlements on the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, as far as the island of Sumatra. He lives in great pomp, having inferior judges, who pass sentence of death occasionally on malefactors of any nation, except the subjects of Great Britain. All the company’s affairs are directed by him and his council, who are invested with the power of inflicting corporal punishment, short of life and member, upon such Europeans as are in the service, and dispose of all places of trust and profit. By virtue of an act passed in the course of this very session, the military officers belonging to the company were permitted to hold courts-martial, and punish their soldiers according to the degree of their delinquency. In a word, Madras is of the utmost importance to the company for its strength, wealth, and the great returns it makes in calicoes and muslins. Towards the latter end of the last century, the English company had a flourishing factory at Masulipatam, standing on the north side of the river Nagundi, which separates the provinces of Golconda and Bisnagar, in the latitude of sixteen degrees and thirty minutes; but now there is no European settlement here, except a Dutch factory, maintained for carrying on the chintz commerce. At Visgapatam, situated still farther to the northward, the English possess a factory regularly fortified on the side of the river, which, however, a dangerous bar has rendered unfit for navigation. The adjacent country affords cotton cloths, and the best stripped muslins of India. It is chiefly for the use of this settlement that the company maintains a factory at Ganjam, the most eastern town in the province or kingdom of Golconda, situated in a country abounding with rice and sugar-canes. Still farther to the north coast, in the latitude of twenty-two degrees, the company maintains a factory at Balasore, which was formerly very considerable; but hath been of very little consequence since the navigation of the river Huguely Avas improved. At this place every European ship bound for Bengal and the Ganges takes in a pilot. The climate is not counted very salubrious; but the adjacent country is fruitful to admiration, and here are considerable manufacture of cotton and silk. Without skilful pilots, the English would find it very difficult to navigate the different channels through which the river Ganges discharges itself into the sea at the bottom of the bay of Bengal. On the southern branch is a town called Pepely, where there was formerly an English factory, but this was removed to Huguely, one hundred and sixty miles farther up the river; a place which, together with the company’s settlement at Calcutta, were the emporiums of their commerce for the whole kingdom of Bengal. Indeed Huguely is now abandoned by the English, and their whole trade centers at Calcutta or Fort William, which is a regular fortification, containing lodgings for the factors and writers, store-houses for the company’s merchandise, and magazines for their ammunition. As for the governor’s house, which likewise stands within the fort, it is one of the most regular structures in all India. Besides these settlements along the sea-coast of the peninsula, and on the banks of the Ganges, the English East India company possess certain inland fac tories and posts for the convenience and defence of their commerce, either purchased of the nabobs and rajahs, or conquered in the course of the war. As the operations we propose to record were confined to the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, or the interior countries which form the peninsula intra Gangem, it will be unnecessary to describe the factory at Bencoolen, on the island of Sumatra, or any settlement which the English possess in other parts of the East Indies.

GEORGE II. 1727-1760