Travels in India (Tavernier) 31.1.1

31.1.1

Goa is situated in latitude 15° 32", in an island of six or seven leagues circuit, upon the river Mandavi, which two leagues farther down discharges itself into the sea. The island abounds in corn and rice, and produces numerous fruits, as mangues, ananas, figues d'Adam, and cocos; but certainly a good pippin is worth more than all these fruits. All those who have seen both Europe and Asia thoroughly agree with me that the port of Goa, that of Constantinople, and that of Toulon, are the three finest ports of our great Continent. The town is very large, and its walls are of fine stone. The houses, for the most part, are superbly built, and this is particularly the case with the palace of the Viceroy. It has numerous rooms, and in some of the halls and chambers, which are very large, you see many pictures representing separately the vessels which come from Lisbon to Goa, and those which leave Goa for Lisbon, each with the name of the vessel and that of the captain, and the number of guns with which it is armed. If the town were not so shut in by the mountains which surround it, it would without doubt be more numerously inhabited, and residence there would be more healthy. But these mountains prevent the winds from refreshing it; this is the cause of great heat. Beef and pork afford the ordinary food of the inhabitants of Goa. They have also fowls, but few pigeons, and although they are close to the sea fish is scarce.