‘The travels of Ludovico di Varthema in Egypt, Syria, Arabia Deserta and Arabia Felix, in Persia, India, and Ethiopia, A.D. 1503 to 1508’ [‎93] (258/492)

LUDOVICO DI VARTHEMA.
93
days' journey. This Goa is a district of large extent and
great traffic, and is fat and wealthy. The inhabitants, how
ever, are all Muhammedans. We quitted Goa and went to
another district called Guilfar, which is most excellent and
abounding in everything 1 There is a good seaport there,
from which port setting sail with propitious winds we arrived
at another port which is called Meschet. 2
portion of every Indian crew that sails the sea under the flag of Eng
land. On the south-west corner of the town, and outside the circuit of
the present wall, may, however, be observed the site of the ancient
citadel...The situation was admirably selected for defensive purposes,
being the highest in the neighbourhood, and commanding an extensive
view of the gulf and the island of Perumbh, or Peerum, on the one side,
and on the other of the whole country as far as the foot of the Khokura
hills." (RAs Mdld, vol. i. p. 318.) In Hamilton's time (1688-1723) Gogo
was " governed by an officer from the Great Mogul." It was taken from
the Mahrattas by the British in 1805, and now forms part of the district
of Ahmedabad.
1 From Gogo, Varthema must have crossed the Indian Sea and
entered the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , for Julfar is situated within the Gulf, on the
western side of Mussendom, about twenty miles to the south of that
cape. It is one of five towns belonging to the Shihiyyin Arabs, and its
inhabitants form the more stationary and civilized portion of that tribe,
being engaged chiefly in pearl-fishing, trade, and agriculture. Their
food consists of dates, wheat, barley, meat, and fish in abundance. The
remainder of the tribe is occupied in gaining a precarious livelihood by
fishing in the small bays on the coast, or in wandering over the arid rocks
of the interior, which supply a scanty vegetation for their flocks. The
male adults of the tribe are said to amount to 14,000.
Julfar was captured by the Portuguese in the early part of the six
teenth century. They maintained an establishment there, protected by
a fort, for the purpose of pearl-fishing, until their expulsion from the
gulf, when it reverted to the Arabs. In 1819 the town and fort were
destroyed by a combined British and Maskat expedition, in retaliation
for several acts of piracy committed by vessels belonging to the tribe.
2 Maskat (Muscat), the principal seaport town of the province of
Oman, or, more correctly, 'Amman. As that place is situated on the
north-east coast of Arabia, bordering the Indian Sea, in lat. 23° 28' N.,
long. 59° 19' E., a retrograde voyage was made of two hundred miles.
The native vessel, however, does not appear to have had a fixed
course, although her destination on leaving Aden was the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ;
but the Arab skipper was probably guided in his movements by the