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Updated: June 13, 2025
In DE BRY'S splendid collection of travels, however, there is included "The voyage of a Certain Englishman to Cambay;" in which the author asserts that at Agra, in the year 1607, he was present at a spectacle given by the Viceregent of the great Mogul, in the course of which he saw an elephant destroy two horses, by seizing them in its trunk, and crushing them under foot.
In a geographical point of view the range of hills between Burdwan and the Soave is interesting, as being the north-east continuation of a chain which crosses the broadest part of the peninsula of India, from the Gulf of Cambay to the junction of the Ganges and Hoogly at Rajmahal.
Upon this the King became very thoughtful, and talked of this frequently with his people, who very much contradicted what the diviners said, and they told him not to believe them, for in this they never hit upon the truth, because at the time that our ships arrived more than four hundred years had elapsed since in one year more than eight hundred sail of large and small ships had come to India from the ports of Malacca and China and the Lequeos, with people of many nations, and all laden with merchandise of great value, which they brought for sale; and they had come to Calicut, and had run along the coast and had gone to Cambay; and they were so numerous that they had filled the country, and had settled as dwellers in all the towns of the sea-coast, where they were received and welcomed like merchants, which they were.
The valley of Cashmere, in particular, affords ample matter for their panegyrics. The towns of Guzerat, Cambay, and Narwhorra are described: in the last resided the most powerful king of India; his kingdom extended from Guzerat and Concan to the Ganges.
They sailed from Zaiton, a seaport of China, and passing along the shores of Tonquin, Java, and farther India, made their way from port to port, through the Bay of Bengal to Ceylon, then to the Malabar coast of India, along which they passed to Cambay, and thence through the Red Sea to Cairo, and so to Venice.
They consider it a great sin to bury dead bodies, as they would engender many worms and other vermin, and when the bodies were consumed these worms would lack sustenance; wherefore they burn their dead. In all Guzerat they kill nothing; and in the town of Cambay they have hospitals for lame dogs and cats, and for birds, and they even provide food for the ants.
The trade with Cambay, Malabar, Ceylon, Koromandel, and Queda, had scarcely begun, yet was already most promising. Should the Hollanders only obtain a footing in China, they felt confident of making their way through the South Seas and across the pole to India.
Twelve years before my coming, the great Mogul, who is the Mahometan king of Delhi and Agra, 40 days journey inland from Amedabad, reduced all the provinces of Guzerat under his authority without resistance, his power being so great that none of the usurpers dared to oppose him. While I dwelt in Cambay, I saw many curious things.
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.
At the end of six months the siege of Goa was raised, and as jewels rose materially in their price, I began to work ; and as before I had only sold a small quantity of inferior rubies to serve my necessities, I now determined to sell all the jewels I had, and to make another voyage to Pegu; and as opium was in great request at Pegu when I was there before, I went from Goa to Cambay, where I laid out 2100 ducats in the purchase of 60 parcels of opium, the ducat being worth 4s. 2d.
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