Now truly this prospect was in no way displeasant to me, but I little dreamed that I should ever make a voyage eastwards (though never such a short one) with Captain Freeman. And having now sailed northwards for a great while, and passed, at an inconvenient distance, that fair island called Ceilon,[17] the which I had a great desire to see, we come near to our port. And to me, who had thought Surat to be on the sea-shore, ’twas a most monstrous surprise to find that we must needs cast anchor in Swally[18] Road, and from thence find means to get ourselves conveyed to the town, the which stands at some small distance up the river Taptee. But this delay was by no means displeasing to us, for there was many strange things and persons to be seen, such as we admired mightily. And we reaching the shore in the master’s boat, and paying the tax of half a rupee that was demanded from each passenger, found there Mr Spender’s cousin, the Secretary, that was come to fetch him in an _hackery_, which is an Indian coach drawn by two white oxen. But since Mr Spender made no offer to present me to Mr Secretary, and I cared little to force myself upon this gentleman’s notice, I was left desolate, defending my trunks against a rout of swarthy rascals, both Moors and Gentues,[19] that fought with one another, and would have carried off my baggage before my eyes, had I so suffered it. But at last Captain Freeman, coming on shore and finding me contending with these fellows at great odds, from my having no knowledge of the Indostan tongue, and much incommoded with the great heat of the sun, was very wroth against Mr Spender, and made haste to call to my help a gentleman that was walking to the landing-place, bearing a great white _umbrello_ over his head for to shield him from the sun. And by great good fortune, who should this gentleman be but Mr Martin, one of the Company’s senior factors, to whom I had a letter wrote from Dr Ruthven? He received me with great kindness, and made haste to hire certain of the troublesome rogues for to carry my trunks to his hackery, and bade me take my place therein, and so carried me to the city, after bidding farewell to my good friend Captain Freeman. Dr Ruthven had assured me that I should be much pleased with Mr Martin, and in truth, in that short space of our journey together I did discover him to be a person of most varied and ingenious learning, and so full of proverbs and wise sayings as I had never imagined could be. Coming, then, to the gate of Surat, we must needs pass through the Custom-house, where the customers[20] are so strict that they must perforce search in all my pockets as well as my trunks and mails. And this done, we went on into the city, Mr Martin displaying to me divers strange sights, until we come to the Factory, which is a large and fair house, builded after the Moorish fashion, and well defended by great walls.