[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Travellers (1500–1858)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel) › [Les six voyages de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier) › [Travels in India (Ball)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball) › 31.1 # Travels in India (Tavernier) 31.1 Travels in India (Ball) 31.1 - **Language:** English ### [31.1.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.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. ### [31.1.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.31.1.2) As for confectionery, they have many kinds, and eat a large quantity. Before the Dutch had beaten down the power of the Portuguese in India, one saw at Goa nothing but magnificence and wealth, but since these late comers have deprived them of their trade in all directions, they have lost the sources of their gold and silver, and are altogether come down from their former splendour. On my first journey to Goa I saw people who had property yielding up to 2000 écus of income, who on my second journey came secretly in the evening to ask alms of me without abating anything of their pride, especially the women, who, coming in pallankeens, remained at the door of the house, whilst a boy, who attended them, came to present their compliments. You sent them then what you wished, or you took it yourself when you were curious to see their faces; this happened rarely, because they cover all the head with a veil. Otherwise when one goes in person to give them charity at the door, they generally offer a letter from some religious person who recommends them, and makes mention of the wealth which the person formerly had, and the poverty into which she has fallen. Thus you generally enter into conversation with the fair one, and in honour bound invite her in to partake of refreshment, which lasts sometimes till the following day. ### [31.1.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.31.1.3) If the Portuguese had not been so much occupied with guarding so many fortresses on land, and if, in the contempt they had for the Dutch at first, they had not neglected their affairs, they would not be to-day reduced to so low a condition. The Portuguese who go to India have no sooner passed the Cape of Good Hope than they all become Fidalgos or gentlemen, and add Dom to the simple name of Pedro or Jeronimo which they carried when they embarked ; this is the reason why they are commonly called in derision “ Fidalgos of the Cape of Good Hope.” As they change in their status so also they change in their nature, and it may be said that the Portuguese dwelling in India are the most vindictive and the most jealous of their women of all the people in the world. As soon as they entertain the least suspicion about their women they will, without scruple, make away with them by poison or the dagger. When they have an enemy they never forgive him. If they are of equal strength and dare not come to a struggle, they have black slaves, who will blindly obey their master’s order to go and kill any one ; and this is done generally with a stroke of a dagger, or the shot of a blunderbuss, or by felling the man with a large stick of the length of a short pike which they are accustomed to carry. ### [31.1.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.31.1.4) If it should happen that they spend too long a time in finding the man whom they wish to murder, and are unable to meet with him in the fields or in the town, then without the slightest regard for sacred things they slay him at the altar; and I have myself seen two examples of this — one at Damān, and the other at Goa. Three or four of these black slaves having perceived some persons whose lives they wanted to take, and who were attending mass in a church, discharged blunderbusses at them through the windows, without reflecting whether they might not wound others who had no part in the quarrel. It happened so at Goa, and there were seven men slain near the altar, the priest who was saying mass having been seriously wounded. The law takes no cognisance of these crimes, because generally their authors are the first in the land. As for trials, they never come to an end. They are in the hands of the Kanarins who are natives of the country, who practice the professions of solicitors and procurators, and there are no people in the world more cunning and subtle. To return to the ancient power of the Portuguese in India, it is certain that if the Dutch had never come to India you would not have found to-day a scrap of iron in the majority of the houses of the Portuguese; ### [31.1.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.31.1.5) all would have been gold or silver, for it required them to make but two or three voyages to Japan, to the Philippines, to the Moluccas, or to China, to acquire riches, and to gain on their return five or six fold, and even up to tenfold on the more important articles. Private soldiers as well as governors and captains acquired great wealth by trade. It is only the Viceroy who does not trade, or if he does, it is under the name of another; and, moreover, he has a sufficient income without it. It was formerly one of the most splendid posts in the world for a noble to be Viceroy of Goa, and there are few monarchs who are able to bestow governments worth so much as are those which depend upon this Viceroy. The first of these Governments is that of Mozambique, and the appointment is for three years. In these three years the Governor makes a profit of 400,000 or 500,000 crowns, and sometimes more, if during the time they have no losses with the Cafres. These Cafres are the black people who come from many quarters of Africa to obtain cotton goods and hardware from the Commandant, who dwells on the Rio de Saine, and who is merely the agent of the Governor of Mozambique. These Cafres bring gold for the goods which they carry away, but if one of them happens to die when going or returning, what has been entrusted to him is lost beyond remedy. ### [31.1.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.31.1.6) The Governor of Mozambique trades also with the Negroes who inhabit the length of the coast of Melinda, and they generally pay for the goods which they take with ivory or with ambergris. On my last voyage to India the Governor of Mozambique, who returned to Goa after having completed the three years of his government, had a parcel of ambergris which was alone worth about 200,000 écus, without counting the gold and ivory, which amounted to a larger sum. The second Government was formerly that of Malacca, on account of the dues which had to be paid there. For it is a strait where all the vessels which leave Goa for Japan, China, Cochinchina, Java, Macassar, the Philippines, and other places must pass. They are indeed able to pursue another route along the western coast of the island of Sumatra, and either traverse the Strait of Sonde, or leave the island of Java to the north; but when the vessels return to Goa they are required to show the free pass of the Malacca custom-house — this compels them to follow that route. ### [31.1.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.31.1.7) The third Government was that of Hormuz, on account of its great trade, and of the dues which all vessels had to pay, whether entering or leaving the Persian Gulf. The Governor of Hormuz also levied considerable dues from those who were going to the island of Bahrein to the pearl fishery, and if they did not obtain a passport from him he sent their vessels to the bottom by means of his galeasses. The Persians receive this tax at present with the English, who share a small part of it, as I have said in my accounts of Persia; but although they treat the merchants roughly, nevertheless they do not derive from this revenue nearly as much as the Portuguese did. It is the same with the Dutch at Malacca, who experience difficulty in raising sufficient to pay for the garrison which they keep there. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.31.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.31.1) · Pramāṇa