Remonstrantie 9.9

9.9

it is a kos in circuit, and from a distance is very picturesque. It enjoys a much better and more agreeable climate than other towns, chiefly because of its elevation, owing to which it escapes all dangerous vapours; and further the well-known river Narbada, here a fine and broad stream, runs under the walls. This river flows past the fort of Handia, beyond Burhanpur, and separates Hindustan from the Deccan. The town depends on the weaving industry, and produces the best-known fine baftas; all other sorts of cloth, for Mocha, Mozambique, and the South [Java, etc.], are also woven there, as well as in Baroda, and other neighbouring places. Consequently a factory is badly required there for purchases for the South, but nothing can be sold, for the people are mostly poor, or artisans. Tolls are levied here on goods, whether brought here for consumption, or merely in transit; the rate is per cent., but it is calculated for all kinds of goods on a valuation made by the Kazi, or lawyer, of the town, and is in fact merely a knavish method of draining poor merchants dry. If for instance cloves are brought there on the way to Ahmadabad or Agra, the toll will be charged on the retail price which a local shop-keeper would charge for a pice-weight or ounce, without allowing for the heavy expense required to bring the goods into the shop, or for the seller’s profit.