Page:Indian Shipping, a history of the sea-borne trade and maritime activity of the Indians from the earliest times.djvu/48

 di Santo Stefano, who are also valuable sources of information regarding the shipping and trade of the period. In the earlier part of the 16th century, when the Portuguese first appear as a factor in Indian politics, details regarding Indian maritime activity are derivable from Portuguese annals like De Coutto, utilized in some of the standard works on the history of the Portuguese power in India. About the same time the foreign traveller Varthema has left a very interesting account of shipbuilding in Calicut.

7. The Period of Mogul Monarchy, from the 16th century to the 18th, i.e. from the reign of Akbar to that of Aurangzeb.—The evidence for the reign of Akbar is derived, firstly, from that mine of information, Abul-Fazl's Ayeen-i-Akbari, which gives a very valuable account of Akbar's Admiralty; and, secondly, from the abstract of Ausil Toomar Jumma given in Grant's Analysis of the Finances of Bengal in the Fifth Report, in which are contained many interesting details regarding the organization and progress of the Imperial Nowwara or shipping stationed at Dacca, the sources of revenue for its maintenance, the materials for ship-building, and the like. The Chach-nāma in Elliot, vol. i., and Abul-Fazl's Ayeen-i-Akbari give some details about the shipping and ports of Sindh. Some details regarding Hindu maritime activity, commerce, and shipping in Bengal are also derived