Page:Madras in the olden time Volume 1.djvu/37

 golden footstool, and long ere the stern old Romans had built their rocky nest on the Palatine hill. For countless ages the coasting trade had been carried on over the Erythræan; and now when the adventurous Portuguese had opened the route round the Cape, the "white faces" were bearing away the gold, the pearls, the diamonds, and the ambergris, the silks, the cottons, the fragrant woods, and the brilliant dyes, —just as had been done by the Phoenicians of olden time. The gems which would have sparkled on the necks of Solomon's queens, were now lighting up every court in Europe; the incense which would have been offered on the altar of Jehovah, or on the shrines of Zeus or Apollo, was now being burnt in the censers of Christendom, and stimulating the devotions of every people who acknowledged the authority of the Holy See.

In 1612 the English first obtained a settlement in Surat; but they only succeeded after some desperate conflicts with the Portuguese; just as the Portuguese themselves had fought their way against the Arab merchants, who had previously monopolised the Red Sea trade, and carried Indian goods to Alexandria for the Venetians to bear away to the west. The successes of the English over the Portuguese, excited the admiration, the respect, and even the gratitude of the Native authorities; and an imperial firmaun was actually obtained from the Great Mogul, authorising the English to establish a factory on payment of a duty on all goods of $3 1⁄2$ per cent.

Thus the "English House," as it was called, was opened at Surat. The native Surat merchants