Page:History of India Vol 9.djvu/372

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CHAPTER XII

FRANCKLIN'S NOTES ON CEYLON AND ON SOUTHERN AND WESTERN INDIA

1786 A.D.

THE following descriptive notes are taken from the diary of the English ensign William Francklin, of the East India Company's service, who visited Southern India on his way by sea from Bengal to Persia in 1786. Francklin touched at Point de Galle, Ceylon, on March 24th, and proceeded thence along the Malabar coast and the western shores of India, making stops at Anjengo in the district of Travancore, at Cochin and Tellicherri in Malabar, at Goa, and at Bombay. His observations give us a view of these places at the close of the eighteenth century.

'Point de Galle is a small fort, situated on the southwest side of the island of Ceylon, belonging to the Dutch East India Company, and has a commandant and a small military force. The commandant is subject to the orders of the governor of Colombo, the chief residency on the same island; the inhabitants, excepting the Dutch, are a mixture of Malabars and native Portuguese, but great numbers of the latter, especially of the lower class of people. There is a tolerable tavern

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