A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 07Kerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 07
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
We arrived in India at a certain port named _Cheo_[59], past which flows
the great river Indus, not far from the city of _Cambay_. It is
situated[60] three miles within the land, so that brigantines and foists
can have no access to it except when the tide rises higher than
ordinary, when it sometimes overflows the land for the space of four
miles. At this place the tides increase differently from what they do
with us, as they increase with the wane of the moon, whereas with us
while the moon waxes towards full. This city is walled after our manner,
and abounds in all kinds of necessaries, especially wheat and all manner
of wholesome and pleasant fruits. It has also abundance of _gosampine_
or _bombassine_ (cotton) and some kinds of spices of which I do not know
the names. Merchants bring here such quantities of cotton and silk, that
sometimes forty or fifty vessels are loaded with these commodities for
other countries. In this region there is a mountain in which the _onyx_
commonly called _carneola_ is found, and not far from thence another
mountain which produces _calecdony_ and diamonds. While I was there, the
sultan of Cambay was named Mahomet, and had reigned forty years after
having expelled the king of Guzerat. The natives are not Mahometans,
neither are they idolaters, wherefore I believe if they were only
baptised they would not be far from the way of salvation, for they
observe the pure rule of justice, doing unto others as they would be
done by. They deem it unlawful to deprive any living creature of its
life, and never eat flesh. Some of them go entirely naked, or only cover
the parts of shame, wearing fillets of a purple colour round their
heads. Their complexion is a dark yellow, commonly called a _leonell_
colour.
[Footnote 59: This name is inexplicably corrupted; and nothing more can
be said of it than is contained in the text, which indeed is very
vague.--E.]
[Footnote 60: Verthema appears at this place to make an abrupt
transition to the city of Cambay, taking no farther notice of Cheo.--E.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account