Cambay

“ Since I have spoken of the idols, it may please your illustrious Highness to have an account of the ceremony with which, in this island, they bless the pig. They begin by sounding some great drums (tamburi) , they then bring three large dishes, two are filled with cakes of rice and cooked millet rolled up in leaves, and roast fish, in the third are Cambay clothes, and two strips of palm cloth. A cloth of Cambay is spread out on the ground: then two old women come, each of whom has in her hand a reed trumpet. ”

“ Cambay is on the coast of a gulf of the same name, encompassed by a strong brick wall, having high and handsome houses, forming straight paved streets, each of which has a gate at either end. It has an excellent bazar, abounding in cloth of all kinds, and valuable drugs, and is so much frequented by the Portuguese, that there are often 200 frigates or grabs riding there. The gulf or bay is eight coss over, and is exceedingly dangerous to navigate on account of the great bore, which drowns many, so that it requires skilful pilots well acquainted with the tides. ”

“ Cambay is still a feudatory State under a Nawab. The place is in decay, owing partly to the shoals, and the extraordinary rise and fall of the tides in the Gulf, impeding navigation. [See Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. i. 313 seqq.] .
c. 951.—"From Kambáya to the sea about 2 parasangs. From Kambáya to Súrabáya (?) about 4 days."—Istakhri, in Elliot, i. 30. 1298.—"Cambaet is a great kingdom.... There is a great deal of trade.... Merchants come here with many ships and cargoes...."—Marco Polo, Bk. iii. ch. 28. ”

“ The young moon shed her silvery light o'er lake and mountain, the atmosphere was no longer influenced by the stifling heat of the scorching sun; a deliciously cool breeze wafted from the ocean that rolled into the Gulf of Cambay, and washed the shores of the Goozeratte, played and rustled among the leaves of the trees and flowers, imparting to the senses a delicious feeling of relief and delight.
In a broad and spacious verandah of the cavalry mess house were assembled a group of officers of different corps. Some stretched at full length on ottomans, enjoying the music of an excellent band ”

“ Our author is describing a sailing-course which is obvious by referring to the map. The straight course before the trade-wind, from Hisn Ghorab to the Gulf of Cambay or the mouth of the Indus, would carry a vessel along the Arabian shore as far as Ras Fartak, beyond which the coast gradually recedes, so that the vessel would stand out to sea without changing its course. A vessel bound for the Malabar ports and sailing before the wind, with the type of rigging then in use, would have required steering off her course the whole time, thus describing a wide curve before making the Indian coast. ”

“ During the same campaign he drove the Gohil chief Mokheráji out of his stronghold on Piram Island near Gogha on the Gulf of Cambay, and then, landing his forces, after a stubborn conflict, defeated the Gohils, killing Mokheráji and capturing Gogha. Afterwards Muhammad Tughlak left for Daulatábád in the Dakhan, and in his absence the chiefs and nobles under Malik Túghán, a leader of the Amíráni Sadah, again rebelled, and, obtaining possession of Pátan, imprisoned Muîzz-ud-dín the viceroy. The insurgents then plundered Cambay, and afterwards laid siege to Broach. ”

“ They may marry as many as they like and are able to maintain, to honour the sect of Mahomed; and so there are many of them who have three or four or five wives, and of all of them they have sons and daughters. And these Moors of Cambay speak many languages, that is to say, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, [129] and Guzaraty. They eat wheaten bread, rice, meat of all kinds, leaving aside pork, which is against their law. They are luxurious people, who live well and spend much money. They always go with their heads shaved, and the women with very fine hair. ”

“ The inhabitants of Cambay alone use paper; all other Indians write on the leaves of trees. They have a vast number of slaves, and, the debtor who is insolvent is everywhere adjudged to be the property of his creditor. ”

“ Everywhere are remnants of many cities and many kinds and styles of architecture, built one above the other.
The travellers' bungalow here comprises the upper stories of a spacious stone building, once the English factory. It overlooks the entire city, which is built on an eminence, with its old walls perforated with holes for musketry, its fifty-two towers and ten gates guarded by soldiers, and also looks out upon the great Gulf of Cambay, than which I know nothing more formidable in nature. ”

“ And it also contains many other kingdoms of Gentiles in the interior of the country. In some parts of this island there grows much benjuy, pepper, and long pepper, camphor, and some ginger, and wax. Many ships sail to this island for these goods. Cloths and goods from Cambay are worth a good deal in it, and so also coral, quicksilver, rose-water, dried fish from Maldiu. These Moors are very disloyal, and often kill their kings and set up others who are more powerful. The King of Portugal has a fortress in this island, and trade. ”

“ Patenixi (Pátan-Somnáth, now Verával) , very rich and of great trade; Surati-Mangalor (Mangrul) , a town of commerce, and Diu. On the shores of the gulf of Cambay four: Gogari (Gogha) , a large town; Barbesy (Broach) ; Guandári or Gandar (Gandhár) , a very good town; and Cambay. On the western coast five: Ravel (Ránder) , a rich place; Surat, a city of very great trade; Denvy (Gandevi) , a place of great trade; Baxay (Bassein) , a good seaport in which much goods are exchanged; and Tanamayambu (Thána-Máhim) , a town of great Moorish mosques, but of little trade. (Stanley’s Barbosa, 59–68) . ”

“ The Guzerati women are handsome, well-formed, and remarkably industrious; many of them do all their weaving and spinning at home. Their chief food consists of eggs, fowls, milk, cream, and cheese: some of the Guzerat Brahmans will eat fowl and even game. The men are [Pg 297] well-formed, athletic, and of fairer complexion than the natives of Southern India.
Cambay is a city of great antiquity and well known to early European travellers. In 1543, Queen Elizabeth of England sent a mission to Khambayat, with instructions to proceed thence to China. ”

“ And in the said Benamatapa, which is a very large town, the king is used to make his longest residence; and it is thence that the merchants bring to Sofala the gold which they sell to the Moors without weighing it, for coloured stuffs and beads of Cambay, which are much used and valued amongst them ”

“ They are very feeble people, with very few and despicable weapons. In these islands they live in great luxury, and abundance; they dress in very good cloths of silk and cotton, which they buy in Mombaza of the merchants from Cambay, who reside there. Their wives adorn themselves with many jewels of gold from Sofala, and silver, in chains, ear-rings, bracelets, and ankle rings, and are dressed in silk stuffs: and they have many mosques, and hold the Alcoran of Mahomed. ”

“ We left Malindi on Tuesday, the 24th of the month [of April] for a city called Qualecut [Calecut] , with the pilot whom the king had given us. The coast there runs north and south, and the land encloses a huge bay with a strait. 47In this bay,136 we were told, were to be found many large cities of Christians and Moors, including one called Quambay [Cambay] , as also six-hundred known islands, and within it the Red Sea and the “house” [Kaabah] of Mecca. ”

“ To a merchant familiar with the all but tideless waters of the Red Sea, it must indeed have been a wonder of nature. The same thing occurs in many places where a strong tide is forced into a narrow, shallow and curving estuary, as in Burma, the Bay of Fundy, the Bay of Panama, and elsewhere. According to the Imperial Gazetteer of India , IX, 297, high spring tides in the Gulf of Cambay rise and fall as much as 33 feet, and run at a velocity of 6 to 7 knots an hour. ”

“ When we arrived at the city, we were obliged to wait about two hours in the prahu, until there came thither two elephants covered with silk, and twelve men, each of whom carried a porcelain vase covered with silk, for conveying and wrapping up our presents. We mounted the elephants, and those twelve men preceded us, carrying the vases with our presents. We went as far as the house of the governor, who gave us supper with many sorts of viands. There we slept through the night, on mattresses filled with cotton, and covered with silk, with sheets of Cambay stuff. ”

“ The north and north-east portions are dotted with patches of rich rice-land, broken by untilled tracts of low brushwood. The centre of the district is very fertile and highly cultivated; the luxuriant fields are surrounded by high hedges, and the whole country is clothed with clusters of shapely trees. To the west this belt of rich vegetation passes into a bare though well-cultivated tract of rice-land, growing more barren and open till it reaches the maritime belt, whitened by a salt-like crust, along the Gulf of Cambay. ”

“ He sent spies to ascertain the strength of the garrison and set about making allies of the chief men in the province and enlisting troops. About this time Rághoji, the Marátha deputy, was assassinated by a Rohilla. As soon as Momín Khán heard of Rághoji’s death he sent his nephew, Muhammad Zamán Khán, with some men in advance, and afterwards himself at the close of the year, a.d. 1756, marched from Cambay and camped on the Vátrak. From this camp they moved to Kaira, and from Kaira to Áhmedábád. ”

“ Twelve leagues further on the coast turns to the north, the country is called Cholmender, [279] and it extends seventy or eighty leagues along the coast. In it there are many Gentile cities, towns and villages, and it belongs to the King of Narsinga; it is a land abounding in rice, meat and wheat, and all sorts of vegetables, because it is a country which has very beautiful plains. And many ships of Malabar come here to load rice, and they bring goods from Cambay to this country, that is to say, copper, quicksilver, vermilion, pepper and other goods. ”

“ The kingdom of Guzerat, commonly called Cambaya from the name of its metropolis, extends from Cape Jaquet or Jigat in the west, to the river Nagotana near Chaul, within which limits there is a large and deep bay or gulf having the same name with the capital, in which bay the sea ebbs and flows with wonderful rapidity, insomuch that any ship that is caught in this tremendous bore certainly perishes. To avoid this danger, there is always a man stationed on an eminence, who gives notice with a horn when he sees the approach of this torrent. ”

“ The fort of Basseen with all its dependencies was ceded to the crown of Portugal: All ships bound from the kingdom of Cambaya for the Red Sea, were to come in the first place to Basseen, and to touch there on their return, paying certain duties to the crown of Portugal: No ships belonging to Cambaya were to trade to any other parts without licence from the Portuguese government: No ships of war were to be built in any of the ports belonging to Cambaya: The king of Cambaya was on no account to give any assistance to the Rumes or Turks. ”

“ During my residence at Cambaya, I did not observe that there was any particular judge or tribunal established there for settling differences, such as Mungo Park has described in treating of the Gambia; disputes indeed often arose, but they were settled by the elders of the village. They do not even go before the chief unless when the complaint is of a serious nature, and in that case they often refer it to the decision of the almamy of Timbo, which is two days’ journey to the W. S. W. of Cambaya.
Every married Mandingo is in his own family a respected chief. ”

“ Another confirmation is drawn from the position of Cambaya, in respect to Timbo, which latter, according to the natives, bears W. S. W. at two days’ journey from Cambaya. Here, then, are five points well connected together, Teléouel, Labé, Dité, Timbo, and Cambaya, forming a whole, the main support of which rests upon Timbo [52] . From the nature of these data I have had no hesitation in subjecting the route from Kakondy to them; and the result has been that the hour’s march proves to be a trifle more than three English miles, which, for the commencement of the journey, is not extraordinary. ”

“ It was still the hot season of the year, and we were to travel through that country, over which the horrid wind I have before mentioned sweeps its consuming blasts: it is called by the Turks Samiel, is mentioned by holy Job under the name of the East Wind, and extends its ravages all the way from the extreme end of the Gulph of Cambaya up to Mosul; it carries along with it fleaks of fire, like threads of silk; instantly strikes dead those that breathe it, and consumes them inwardly to ashes; the flesh soon becoming black as a coal, and dropping off from the bones. ”

“ On his return to Cochin, as his successor was not yet arrived, Sampayo went back to Cananor, whence he dispatched his nephew Simon de Melo against Marabia and Mount Dely, both of which places were taken, plundered, and, destroyed, with many piratical paraos. About this time, the king of Cambaya fitted out a fleet of eighty barks, under the command of a valiant Moor named Alexiath, who did much injury to the subjects of Nizam-al-mulk, and to the Portuguese trade at Chaul, in consequence of which aid was demanded from Sampayo by both. ”