Bombay.
Company's
Naval
Force.
The Company's naval force at Bombay consists of fifteen fighting vessels, besides armed boats, advice-boats, and other craft; and to man this navy, a regular establishment of officers and seamen is maintained. The western coast of India, from the shores of the Persian Gulf to Goa, is infested by swarms of pirates, who are distinguished, particularly those in the northerly tracks, by courage, address, and by habits of extreme ferocity. It is to protect the country trade against the depredations of these banditti, who have haunted those seas since the time of Alexander the Great, that the Company finds it necessary to maintain this naval force. Out of 104 marine covenanted servants of the Company, Bombay employs 93.
Army.
In 1811, the regular army of the Company at Bombay, including all descriptions of force, amounted to 20,988 men. The officers amounted in number to 549, and their pay and allowances to L. 171,430. In the same year, the civil servants of the Company on the Bombay establishment, amounted to 74, and their pay and allowances to L. 174,238.
Productions
of the
Island.
The Island of Bombay scarcely produces any articles of food, which have to be imported from various parts of India, and which are consequently much dearer here than in the other presidencies. Considerable quantities of rice and other grain are annually imported. The prices are continually fluctuating, from the state of the market, which is under the superintendence of the police. Potatoes, which, though recently introduced, are now produced in the greatest abundance in this quarter of India, are brought to the Bombay market from Gujrat, from which also is procured cheese, which is hard and ill-flavoured. The only vegetable for which Bombay is celebrated is the onion, which is esteemed excellent. All other vegetables are scarce and dear.
The Bazar mutton is, when well fed, thought to be as good as the English. Kid is always good, and there is abundance of poultry, which is not good, however, unless it is fed on purpose. The fish are excellent, but those of a larger size are not plentiful. The prawns are uncommonly fine; and though the Island is too small to furnish great abundance of game, the red-legged partridge is not uncommon, and snipes are sometimes seen. The frogs here are large, and are sometimes eaten by the Chinese and Portuguese.
Court of
Justice.
A court of justice is held at Bombay by a single Judge, with the title of Recorder. Its cognizance extends to all British subjects, and generally to all the inhabitants of Bombay. But it is allowed no cognizance over the land revenue. The Judge is directed, in all suits to which the natives are parties, to respect the usages of the country, and in matters of inheritance or contract, the law acknowledged by the respective litigants is to be the rule of decision. Criminal offences are tried by a jury, consisting exclusively of British subjects. The law practitioners of this court are three barristers, and eight attorneys.
Buildings.
The same passion for country-houses prevails at Bombay as at Madras. These houses are generally comfortable and elegant; and if they have not the splendid Grecian porticos of Calcutta and Madras,
they seem to be better adapted to the climate, and have the advantage of the most beautiful and picturesque views; the Island of Bombay being broken by several beautiful hills, either covered with cocoa-nut tree groves, or villas of the inhabitants. The only English church in Bombay is in the fort. There are numbers of Portuguese and Armenian churches both within and without the walls, and there are three or four synagogues, with many temples and mosques.
Bombay, from its situation, might be supposed to be healthy, but this is said not to be the case; the liver complaint being more fatal and frequent here than in any part of India. A land breeze sets in every evening, which is described as being peculiarly noxious, and is frequently followed by a fever, and by a loss of the use of the limbs. This breeze is mentioned by Lord Valentia, to have been chillingly cold at the time he visited Bombay. But he attributes its deleterious effects not merely to this cause, but to the noxious vapours with which it is tainted in its passage over the rank vegetation which springs up in the marshy parts of the bay immediately after the rains. Moderate living affords the best security for health; the extremes of intemperance and over-abstemiousness being equally injurious.
The travelling distance from Bombay to Calcutta is 1300 miles; to Delhi 965; to Hyderabad 480; to Madras 770; to Poonah 98; to Seringapatam 620; and to Surat 177 miles.
Bombay was first settled by the Portuguese, to whom it was ceded in 1530; having been before dependent on one of the native chiefs. In 1661, it was ceded by the Crown of Portugal in full sovereignty to Charles II. by the treaty of marriage concluded with that power, when he espoused the Infanta. In order to take advantage of this acquisition, and to make it a profitable dependence on the Crown, a fleet was dispatched under the command of the Earl of Marlborough in 1662, to receive formal possession of the Island and its dependencies. Some doubts arising, however, as to the construction of the treaty, the Viceroy refused to surrender the Island, on which the Earl of Marlborough returned to Europe, after having left the troops, amounting to 500 men, in the Island, where most of them died. In 1664 a treaty was concluded by this nobleman's successor with the Viceroy of Goa, in which the former renounced all pretensions to the dependencies of Bombay, and accepted of the cession of the Island alone, which the English accordingly received in 1665; the troops who had survived the ravages of disease, only mustering 119 rank and file.
It was soon discovered that the revenues of the Island were not equal to the expence of retaining it, and that the East India Company were much injured by a contraband trade carried on by persons in the King's service. In consequence of these and other reasons, the sovereignty of the Island was, in 1668, transferred to the East India Company. The Company's servants made every exertion to place this new acquisition in a respectable state of defence, and to encourage settlers; and, in 1678, the Island of Bombay, from being almost a desert, had become the centre of the Company's trade, protected by fortifications with 100 pieces of cannon mounted, and a suit-