Commander
at Surat asked me to go to Goa, and ascertain what the Portuguese had
learnt from these two negroes ; but a French engineer named Saint Amand,1
who had the supervision of the forts at Goa, told me that they had hot
been able to teach them a single word of the language, and had only
guessed from their signs that they knew ambergris and elephant's tusks.
The Portuguese, nevertheless, did not doubt that they would find gold
if they were able to trade with the interior. The revolution in
Portugal and the wars with Spain 2 have prevented them from
examining this coast more particularly, and it would be well that the
Company should examine it carefully without giving offence to the
Dutch, or allowing them to suspect its object.
Moreover,
it is necessary that the Company should have a port near Surat to lay
by and refit its vessels, when delayed by the rainy season. The reason
is, that during this bad weather, when it is almost impossible to
withstand the violence of the sea, the Mogul, for fear of danger to his
fortress at Surat, does not allow any foreign vessel into the river,
where otherwise, when unladen, they might remain protected from the
destructive storms which last for nearly five months.3
The
only place suitable for harbouring the vessels of the Company is the
town of Diu,* which belongs to the Portuguese. The advantages of its
position are considerable for many reasons. The area of the town
includes nearly 400 houses, and is capable of affording dwellings
sufficiently numerous, where the crews of the vessels would find all
they required. It is situated on the coast of Gujarat, at the point of
the Gulf of Cambay, facing towards the south-east. Its shape is nearly
circular, and more than half the circle is surrounded by the sea. It is
not commanded by any heights, and the Portuguese have built some
fortifications on the land side which might be easily completed. It has
numerous wells of good water, and also a river which falls into the sea
near the town, the water
1 Called St. Amant in vol. i, p. 164, and elsewhere.
2 1640-88.
3 Auiangzeb specially favoured local Musalman interests, because he regarded Surat as the Gate of Mecca (Bombay Gazetteer, ii. 88).
* Diu, see vol. i, p. 5.
