Hamilton’s account of the east indies,

5 2 7

Chap. XVI.— Treats of the Cities and Towns on the Sea-coaft, belonging to the Crown

of Portugal, from Damaan to Bombay.

DAMAAN was, in former times, a place of good trade, but at prefent reduced topoverty. It Hands at the mouth of a river on the fea-fhore, and is naturally very ftrong,by a deep marfh that almoft l'urrounds it. The town is about half a mile long, andnear as broad, walled with a good Hone wall, as the reft of the buildings of the cityare built of; and it has a large cathedral to adorn it, that is confpicuous a long way atfea. There are two or three other churches, and a convent, a monaftery, a nunnery,and an hofpital, and there is a caftle Hands on the oppofite fide of the river, chriftenedby the name of St. Salvadore, and it is well fecured by the morafs as well as thetown. It has been for a long time a great eye-fore to the governors of Surat ,who have often picked quarrels with the Portugueze, and laid fiege to Damaan,but without fuccefs.

From Damaan to Baffaim is about eighteen leagues along the fea-fhore. There are'feveral rivers and villages by the way, viz. Danaw, Tarrapore, Mahim, Kellem, and thaifland Vaccas, but they are all of fmall account in the table of trade.

Baffaim is a fortified city belonging to the crown of Portugal . It Hands on a littleifland feparated from the continent by a fmall rivulet. Its walls are pretty high, andabout two miles in circumference around the city, which has a little citadel in the-middle of it. It contains three or four churches, and fome convents and monafteries,with a college and hofpital.

It is a place of fmall trade,, becaufe moft of its riches lie dead and buried in theirchurches, or in the hands of indolent, lazy country gentlemen,, who loiter away theirdays in eafe, luxury, and pride, without having the leaft fenfe of the poverty and ca-lamity of their country. The town is about half a league diftant from the ifland ofSalfet, which inlet ferves it for an harbour for fmall fhipping, but there is not waterenough to accommodate great fhips. The governor is Hiled by the Portugueze, Ge-neral of the North, having Diu, Damaan, and Chaul, with all their territories, fubor-dinate to him, but the church luperintends, which makes his government both uneafyand precarious.

Salfet is an ifland about twenty-five miles long, and, in fome places, ten miles broad.It is fruitful in roots and< fruits, but not in. corn.. It is Hocked with villages andchurches, but has no city on it, but an old one, called Canra, hewn out of the fide ofa rock, but by whom I never could learn. It is near a-mile in length, and many an-tique figures and columns curioufly carved in the rock, and has feveral good fprings ofWater to accommodate it. At prefent it is inhabited only with wild beafts, and birds ofPrey. The ifland is almoft cut in two by a narrow river that bifefts it at a tovvn called;^erfua, which lies on the fea-fhore, and has a little narrow harbour, deep enough toreceive fhips of the greateft burden, and is fecured by a fmall fort Handing on then orth fide, but the town is on the fouth fide of the river. It drives a fmall trade in dryfilh, made here, and tranfported to the inland countries and villages, that want the be-nefit of fifhing. The fifhers here catch their fifh in long nets, faftened to Hakes placedm the fea, the outwardmoft of which are driven in the bottom on nine fathoms water ;? n d they appear to ftrangers like a wood in the fea. There are feveral tillages ftand-ln g between Verfua and Bombay, on the fea-fhore, but Bandara is the moft confpi-CU 0US, which fronts Mahim on Bombay, about a mile diftant. The Portugueze have