A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 08Kerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 08
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
I told him that the purpose of my coming to Surat was to establish a
factory there, and that I had a letter from the king of England to his
sovereign for that effect, my sovereign being desirous to form a treaty
of peace and amity with his; so that the English might freely come and
go, and make sales and purchases, according to the usage of all nations;
and finally, that my ship was laden with commodities from our country,
which, according to the intelligence of former travellers, were there in
request. To this he answered, that he would immediately dispatch an
express to his master at Cambaya, as he could do nothing of himself in
the premises without his orders. So, taking my leave, I departed to the
lodging appointed for me, which was at the custom-house. Next morning I
went to visit the governor of the city, to whom I made a present, and
who received me with much gravity and outward show of kindness, bidding
me heartily welcome, and saying that the country was at my command.
After compliments on both sides, I entered upon my main business, when
he told me that my affairs were not in his department, as all sea-faring
or commercial matters belonged to Mucrob-Khan, to whom at Cambaya he
promised to dispatch a _footman_, and would write a letter in my behalf
both for the unloading of my ship and the establishment of a factory. In
the meantime he appointed me to lodge with a merchant who understood
_Turkish_, who was my _trucheman_, or interpreter, being the captain of
that ship which was taken by Sir Edward Michelburn.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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