Hamilton’s account of the east indies.

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Their trade to Perfia mu ft firft come down the famous Ganges , before it can comeinto Fort St. George’s channels to be conveyed to Perfia. They never had any tradeto Mocha in the product and manufactories of Chormondel before the year 1713, andFort St. David fupplies the goods for that port, fo that Fort St. George is an emblemof Holland in fupplying foreign markets with foreign goods.

The colony is well peopled, for there is computed to be 80,000 inhabitantsin the towns and villages ; and there are generally about 4 or 500 Europeansrefiding there, reckoning the gentlemen, merchants, feamen and foldiery. Theirrice is brought, by fea, from Ganjam and Orixa, their wheat from Surat , andBengal, and their fire-wood from the iilands of Diu, a low point of land that liesnear Matchulipatam, fo that any enemy that is fuperior to them in fea forces, mayeafily diftrefs them.

Chap. XXX.— Gives an Account of the Coa/t of Chormondel from Fort St. George toGanjatn, the eajlermojl Town in the ancient Kingdom of Golcondah ; with Obfervationson their Pagan Worjhip , andfome Occurrences that happened to the Englijh Factory atVizagapatam while I was there.

POLICAT is the next place of note to the city and colony of Fort St. George, andas I obferved before, is a town belonging to the Dutch . It is ftrengthened withtwo forts, one contains a few Dutch foldiers for a garrifon, the other is com-manded by an officer belonging to the Mogul. The country affords the famecommodities that Fort St. George doth ; and the people are employed moftly in knit-ting cotton ftockings, which they export for the ufe of all the European factories inIndia .

There are feveral places along the coaft to the northward, which, in former times,had commerce abroad, but now are neglected and unfrequented. Armagun is one, andKifnipatam is another, that brought good ftore of cloth, of feveral forts, to the Englifhfactories. Kifnipatam has the benefit of a good large river, that has a bar of 15 footwater on it. Carrera has the benefit of a large river, that reaches a great way intothe country. Pettipoli had once Englilh and Dutch faftories fettled in it, but they werewithdrawn many years ago, becaufe the inland Rajahs difturbed commerce by theirimpofitions and exactions.

Matchulipatam, being the next place of figure, lies in the way along the fea-coaft.It Hands on the north-eaft fide of Diu point, about five leagues diftant from it. In thelatter part of the laft century this town was one of the moft flourifhing in all India ,and the Englifh company found it to be the moft profitable factory that they had.They had a large factory built of teak timber; but now there are no Englifh there,though the Dutch continue their factory ftill, and keep about a dozen of Hollandersthere to carry on the chintz trade, for that commodity is not, as yet, forbid to appear*n Holland.

The town is but fmall, built on a little iffand, and is much ftronger by nature thanar t. Towards the continent fide, there is a deep morafs, over which is a woodenbridge about half a league long, and on breaking a part of that bridge, the town isfecured from enemies on the land fide.

. The Mogul has his cuftom-houfe here, and the commifiioner of the cuftom-houfeis governor of the town. The country and adjacent iflands are fruitful in grain,hmber for building, and tobacco the beft in India . The iilands of Diu produce the

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