Page:History of India Vol 7.djvu/275

 COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE OF MASULIPATAM 223 11 Eliza " (more strictly " Elizabeth " Sclater, or Mrs. Draper), who here solaced an uncongenial Indian mar- riage by a sentimental correspondence with the author of " Tristram Shandy.' ' The tree itself was washed away by the cyclone wave of 1864. On August 31, 1611, Captain Hippon and his Dutch lieutenant, Peter Moris, cast anchor at Masulipatam, loaded up The Globe with the local calicoes, and sailed eastwards to exchange them for spices at Bantam and the rich products of Siam. They left behind a few Englishmen to collect more " white cloths " pending their return. From that date an English trade went on; at first between Masulipatam and Sumatra or Java, but gradually throwing out offshoots along the Bay of Bengal, and eventually doing business with Surat and direct with England. Masulipatam was the chief sea- port of the Moslem kings of Golkonda, who were not subdued by the Moghul Empire until 1687. It formed the outlet for the Golkonda diamonds and rubies, for the marvels of textile industry which had developed under the fostering care of that luxurious inland court, and for the commoner " white cloths " woven on the coast. The profits from their barter for the gold, cam- phor, benzoin (" benjamin "), and spices of the East- ern Archipelago and Siam were immense. In 1627 our council at Batavia recommended their Honourable Mas- ters in London to send out each year £67,500 in specie to Masulipatam to be invested in country cloths, which would be exchanged in Batavia for spices at a profit of £135,000.