Description of Cochin and Calicut—Conduct of the English there:
I must now give you a description of Cochin,* the place where I am settled. It was wrested, as you are no doubt aware, together with other forts, from the Portuguese, by the arms of our East India Company. During the war with that nation, in the year 1662, the Admiral Ryklof van Reede was despatched from Batavia with a fleet to besiege this town; but the Governor defended it with so much resolution that the attempts of the Admiral were foiled, and the mortality among his men compelled him to retreat. The courage of the gallant sailor was not cooled by this failure. At the close of the same year he returned with a fleet, and after some conflicts a captain named Pierre du Pont succeeded in making himself master of one of the gates; upon which the Governor Ignatio Sarmento capitulated, being allowed to march out with his troops and baggage, and with all the Portuguese inhabitants with their false gods and images. This conquest took place on the 8th of January 1663; and the anniversary is still celebrated by a sermon in the morning, and in the evening by the display of banners and discharge of guns from the walls.
The principal founders of Cochin† were Francisco and Alphonso Albuquerque, who visited this country in 1504, in the reign of King Emanuel of Portugal. It was afterwards much enlarged and beautified under Vasco, so that it became one of the wealthiest commercial towns in the Indies, and was erected into an Episcopal See by the Roman Pontiff. The Portuguese have still a titular Bishop of Cochin, whose residence is at Goa or near Quilon; but he does not possess the slightest authority here. This town formerly contained handsome churches, but they have been either demolished, or converted into magazines. The Church of St. Francisco alone remains, and is used for our reformed service; while the Roman Catholics perform their services outside the city, having several churches scattered over the country. Before it fell into the hands of the East India Company, Cochin must have been a considerable town, as is proved by the remains of buildings which are everywhere to be seen; but, since that time, it has become much less prosperous, in consequence of the restrictions imposed by the Company upon its commerce, which, under the Portuguese, had been entirely free, with the exception of the titles due to the Rajah. The town is situated at the mouth of a noble river abounding in fish, with pleasant well wooded banks, and studded with many islets which are planted with cocoanut palms. If wealthy persons ever settled here, as they do in Batavia, they might lay out very pretty villa residences and gardens upon these shores.
As regards the fortifications, they are sufficient to protect the town against the natives, who do not understand the science of besieging, the methods of bombarding, &c.; but they would not be strong enough to resist a large European force, especially as the garrison, consisting of only 300 men, is inadequate to man the walls.
The circumference of the town is tolerably extensive. It would take a man a good half hour to walk round the walls; but the space enclosed by them contains several unoccupied portions. The streets are regular enough, but the houses are quaint, and built after the old Portuguese fashion. Each apartment has a separate roof. The dwelling rooms are not level with the ground, but you mount several steps to reach the hall, which is the first apartment of the house: underneath are empty chambers, in which probably the Portuguese lodged their slaves, or stowed away their goods. Most of the rooms in the common houses are plastered, after the Hindoo custom, with cow dung, which serves for paving, and is renewed every week. They say here that such floors are much more wholesome than stone ones; it is certain at least that they retain the dampness in the rainy season.
The town of Cochin is inhabited by Christians, for the Heathens are not allowed by their own laws to dwell in it. The inhabitants comprise, however, different classes: there are the native Christians, the Topasses, and the Europeans; the last, who form the most considerable portion of them, comprising also the mixed race, sprung from European fathers and native mothers. This is the class chiefly employed in the service of the East India Company, though they seldom rise to higher offices than that of book-keeper.
There is a very commodious roadstead at Cochin, in which several ships from all parts of the world annually cast anchor; as Malabar, situated as it were in the centre of the East Indies, is a convenient station for vessels to refit and take in water, fuel, and provisions (which articles are good and plentiful here) before continuing their voyage, vessels from Batavia to Mocha, or from Persia and Surat to Batavia, touch here, as well as French and English ships on their way to and from their Indian settlements. It is also frequented by Moorish vessels. It is true that none but small craft can enter the river, on account of the sandbanks, above which there are not more than eleven or twelve feet of water; and, in the rainy season, large ships cannot remain in the roadstead; but, about four leagues from Cochin is a bay called Muddy Bay,* where they may lie securely in the mud.
Next to Cochin I shall place the capital of Malabar, Calicut,† which has been made famous by Portuguese books of travels, and also by its being the seat of Government of the Zamorin. This town is called by the natives Karrekoure, which signifies hencoop. The reason they give for this name is that when Cheramperumàl divided his kingdom, he gave to the Zamorin for his share only so much land as the sound of a cock crowing from its perch could be heard over. You must not suppose that this town is in any way to be compared with those of Europe, or that it comes up to the exaggerated descriptions of the old Portuguese travellers. It possesses neither walls nor fortifications of any sort, but is built irregularly along the shore. In the bazaar or market place alone is there any order in the arrangement of the houses. These, which are mostly built of stone and covered with the dried leaves of the palmyra tree, are of so miserable a description that they can be compared to nothing one sees anywhere else. Being a free port, Calicut is frequented by various races. Among the Europeans, the English and French have factories there, the former being the most influential. The Moors also are in great force, and form the majority of the inhabitants. They are not very favourable to the English, whom the fear of the Zamorin alone prevents them from attempting to expel from the city. Mr. Adams, the head of the English in these parts, never ventures into the streets unarmed, which is a plain proof of the fear he entertains of the inhabitants. The English, depending on the favour of the Zamorin, do not refrain from injuring the Mahometans in underhand ways. They will inform the bandits who lurk in the vicinity, some seven or eight leagues from the town, when the Moorish Almades (or small vessels used for trading along the coast) are about to depart with merchandize, so that they may take the opportunity to pillage them.
Calicut, though still a commercial town, is falling into decay. Many ships, both English, French and Moorish, however, keep up their trade with it, because there are no restrictions on commerce, with the exception of a duty of 5 per cent. paid to the Zamorin on all imports, to enforce which he keeps officers stationed here. As the English have the largest business they are the most favoured by the Zamorin, whom also they often supply with money when he is in want of it.
Mr. Adams, the head of the English in this place, was brought up there from a child, and having, from his youth, traded with the people of Malabar, he acquired a familiarity with their language which gained for him much influence among them. In consequence of this advantage, he was chosen by the English as their Governor. Being an enemy to our Company he incited the Zamorin to the late war, himself lending, in order to promote it, 100,000 rix dollars, with which that Prince defrayed the expenses of the war:—we have no reason to doubt this story, since he even sent English officers to assist the Zamorin, to defend Fort Paponette against our arms. Nay more, when Chetwa was conquered by the Zamorin, and our people expelled, the English immediately erected a factory there, in order to secure the pepper-trade; this factory was destroyed when the fort was re-taken. From all this, it is evident that the Dutch have but little good to expect from the English, and that they cannot prevent that people from playing their game slyly whenever it is in their power. The English cannot but look with envious eyes upon the great influence our Com-pany possesses in India, and the confidence they inspire among the nations with whom they trade. It would be better if our neighbours would examine more closely into their own behaviour, and see whether their arrogance is not the cause of the mistrust and dislike with which they are regarded.
I will relate an instance of this sort of conduct which took place at Calicut in the year 1720. The English officer, second in command there, went out one day to drive in his carriage. It happened to be a day when the great national assembly of the Malabars was collected in the open air to deliberate on the affairs of the State. The Englishman, in order to shew his contempt for them, instead of making a circuit, drove right through the multitude, in spite of their entreaties that he should desist from such unbecoming conduct, which threw the whole assembly into the utmost confusion. On the following day, when the assembly met again at the same place, the Englishman chose to shew his courage by driving through it again with some ladies who were in his carriage. This time the people were so incensed at the repetition of the outrage, that they struck their hands to their weapons and cut the carriage to pieces, and the hero and his amazons had to escape wounded to their homes. Though this was no more than the miscreant deserved, yet Mr. Adams, declaring that the conduct of the natives was cruel and inhuman, left Calicut and threatened to set the bazaar on fire. The Zamorin, who reaped so much profit from the English trade, managed to pacify him and to recall him to Calicut, but as the bad feeling of the natives towards the English still exists, he distrusts them and spends most of his time at Tellicherry.
FOOTNOTES
threw up the small island of Vaipeen on the north side of Cochin. The waters breaking through the banks of the river Cocci, swept away the village, and formed a large river and back-water, and so spacious a harbour, that large ships can lie safely at anchor in the river on the North-east side of the town of Cochin. Vaipeen is thirteen miles long, and one broad. The natives date their era, from the period of its origin. It is called the Poodooveypa: from two Malayalum words poodeo, new, and veypa, foundation.
Bartolomeo says, “Cochin is a beautiful city, built by the Portuguese, in the tenth year after the arrival of Vasco-de-Gama at Calicut. In 1663, it was besieged by a Dutch fleet under the command of Peter Van Bitter, and C. Valkenberg, who made themselves masters of it, and who carried off from it a great deal of riches. After that period the beautiful cathedral was converted into a warehouse for the Duch East India Company. It is intersected by beautiful streets: the arsenal is well provided with all kinds of military stores, and the citadel is strongly fortified. The latter in the year 1778, was supplied with new ditches, bridges, batteries and bastions, under the direction of the Governor Adrien Moens.”
This Adrien Van Moens has left a MS. account of Cochin including its history, trade, manufactures, the customs and religion of the people, &c. It forms a large volume and is now among the Government Records of Malabar, and is undoubtedly, a document full of interest and information.—H. D.