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Chapter 9 – A Description of Bengal by the French Voyager Francois Pyrard de Laval

1607 A.D.

11 H V, interest of France in India, like that of Portugal, Holland, and England, led to expeditions

for the purpose of trade and settlement in ‘Hindustan, and among the most interesting accounts of India at the opening of the seventeenth century is that given by Francois Pyrard of Laval, who set out for the Orient in 1601 and spent nearly ten years in travelling in the East Indies, the Maldives, the Moluccas, and various parts of India, returning to his home in 1611. In the account of his travels, Pyrard devotes considerable space to places along the coast of India, including the district of Bengal, where he spent a month. In spite of the fact that he complains of the shortness of his sojourn in Bengal, he has given a good account of the country, as will be seen in the following selection from Albert Gray’s translation for the Hakluyt Society.

‘After a month’s voyage, we arrived at Chartican (Chittagong, properly Chatigam), a port of the kingdom

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India’s great mountain barrier on the north

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of Bengal, where we were received by the inhabitants with much rejoicing. On landing, they took me with them to salute the king, who is not, however, the great king of Bengal, but a petty king of this province, or rather a governor, with the title of king, as is generally the case in those parts. The great king of Bengal lives higher up the country, thirty or forty leagues off. On being presented to this petty king, he received me with great kindness, and gave me my full liberty, saying that if I would remain with him he would do great things for me: and, indeed, he bade bring me raiment and food day by day in great abundance. But after a month’s sojourn there I found a ship of Calicut, whose master asked if I would go with him, saying that the Hollander’s ships often came to Calicut, and there might be some in which I could get a passage to France, since I was minded to return thither; whereto I gladly agreed, seeing I had no other aim but that, and on that score I declined all other favours. I therefore took my leave of the king, which was granted me without difficulty.

I was so short a time in Bengal, that I cannot record many of its characteristics; however, here is what I picked up.

The kingdom of Bengal is of great extent; it lies in the middle country of the Indies, and is said to be four hundred leagues in length, so the king is the most puissant prince in India, after the grand Mogor. About the time I left, the Mogor had declared war against him, and the king was preparing to receive him with

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more than two hundred thousand men and ten thousand elephants. He has many tributary kings: for instance, the kings of Aracan, of Chaul29, and other great lords, as well Mohammedan as Gentile, who are bound to furnish him, when he goes out to war, with a certain number of men, elephants, and horses. They also pay him tribute for such harbours as they have in their territories; and at all of these a great trade is carried on in all sorts of merchandise, the merchants exporting large quantities of goods, by reason whereof they dare not risk the loss of this king’s good-will.

The country is healthy and temperate, and so wondrous fertile that one lives there for almost nothing; and there is such a quantity of rice, that, besides supplying the whole country, it is exported to all parts of India, as well to Goa and Malabar, as to Sumatra, the Moluccas, and all the islands of Sunda, to all of which lands Bengal is a very nursing mother, who supplies them with their entire subsistence and food. Thus, one sees arrive there every day an infinite number of vessels from all parts of India for these provisions; and I believe it would be still greater, were not the navigation so perilous by reason of the banks and shallows wherewith all this Gulf of Bengal is full. So it happens that when the Bengal ships are behind their time, or are lost, rice is fabulously dear, and there is a cry, as it were, of the extremity of famine. On the contrary, when the navigation is good, the rice is as cheap as if it grew in the country, and fetches no more

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The Irawaddy, which empties into the Gulf of Bengal

than four deniers the pound. The country is well supplied with animals, such as oxen, cows, and sheep; flesh is accordingly very cheap, let alone milk-foods and butter, whereof they have such an abundance that they

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The Temple of the God Vishnu at Conjevaram

supply the rest of India; and pile carpets of various kinds, which they weave with great skill.

There are many good fruits, – not, however, cocos or bananas; plenty of citrons, limes, oranges, pomegranates, cajus, pineapples, etc., ginger, long pepper, of which, in the green state, they make a great variety of preserves, as also of lemons and oranges. The country abounds with sugar-cane, which they eat green or else make into excellent sugar for a cargo to their ships, the like not being made in any part of India except in Cambaye and the other countries of the Mogor adjacent to Bengal, these countries being of the same climate, language, and fertility. There is likewise exported from Bengal much scented oils, got from a certain grain, and divers flowers; these are used by all the Indians after bathing to rub their bodies withal. Cotton is so plentiful, that, after providing for the uses and clothing of the natives, and besides exporting the raw material, they make such a quantity of cotton cloths, and so excellently woven, that these articles are exported, and thence only, to all India, but chiefly to the parts about Sunda. Likewise is there plenty of silk, as well that of the silkworm as of the (silk) herb, which is of the brightest yellow colour, and brighter than silk itself; of this they make many stuffs of divers colours, and export them to all parts. The inhabitants, both men and women, are wondrously adroit in all manufactures, such as of cotton cloth and silks, and in needlework, such as embroideries, which are worked so skilfully, down to the smallest stitches, that nothing

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prettier is to be seen anywhere. Some of these cottons and silks are so fine that it is difficult to say whether a person so attired be clothed or nude. Many other kinds of work, such as furniture and vessels, are constructed with extraordinary delicacy, which, if brought here, would be said to come from China.

In this country is made a large quantity of small black and red pottery, like the finest and most delicate terre sigillee; in this they do a great trade, chiefly in gargoulettes (earthenware vessels) and drinking-vessels and other utensils. There is a great quantity, too, of huge reeds or canes, as big as a man’s thigh, and six or seven fathoms high, hollow inside, and knotted like those here. They are harder to break than any wood in the world; of these, levers and rods are made to carry over the heaviest weights, and are used throughout India, even at Goa and elsewhere: so much so, that the Portuguese and the Indians use no other poles for their palanquins and litters: these are everywhere called Bambou (bamboo). When one of these is bent into any required curve and heated, it remains so always, and will sooner break than lose its curve. Of these, too, are made their measures for measuring all their goods, such as rice, grain, oil, butter, and the like. Measures of all sizes are made of them. These reeds grow in quantity elsewhere in India; but this is their original home, and here they are found in greatest plenty. These canes will not bend double; and they are mottled black and white. There is another kind, of a different shape and thickness, the largest of this

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Giant Bamboos

sort being no more than four thumbs’ girth, and very tall. It is porous, hard, and very pliant, so that you can bring the two ends together without its breaking, and yet it is very strong; of this are made walking-sticks and canes for chastisement; they raise the skin wherever they fall, but never break it, however tender it

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may be. They are neatly shaped, and are naturally of a mottled colour, white, yellow, and black. There is a great trade in them to all parts of India, for they are found nowhere else. By rubbing hard two sticks of this cane together, fire is produced as from a match; and they are used for this purpose. There is yet another sort of cane, which never grows thicker than the little finger, of the same form and growth as the other; it is as pliant as an osier, and is called Rotan (rattan). Ships’ cables are made of it, and many kinds of neatly plaited baskets, and other wicker things. In short, it is used as cord, and can be split into any number of strips. It is a fathom and a half in length. It is trafficked in everywhere, and is in great demand for its use in manufacture; it is white, and not mottled.

This country abounds with elephants, which are exported hence to all parts of India. There are rhinoceroses also, and some say unicorns, too, which are said to be found in this land only. They say other animals will not drink at a well until a female unicorn has steeped her horn in the water, so they all wait on the bank till she comes and does so.

In short, I find no country in all the East Indies more abundantly supplied with all things needful for food, with the riches of nature and art; and were not the navigation so dangerous, it would be the fairest, most pleasant, fertile, and profitable in the whole world. They usually keep an ambassador at Goa; but when I was preparing to leave Goa to come home, there arrived an ambassador extraordinary at the court of the

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From a statuette of an Indian Elephant

viceroy, and it was said that he had come to ask some assistance.

One of the greatest trades in Bengal is in slaves; for there is a certain land subject to this king where fathers sell their children, and give them to the king as tribute; so most of the slaves in India are got from hence. Nowhere in India are slaves of so little value, for they are all old and knavish villains, both men and women. The people are well formed in body, the women are pretty, but more shameless than elsewhere in India. The men are much given to trafficking in merchandise, and not to war or arms, – a soft, courteous, clever people, but having the repute of great cheats, thieves, and liars. They trade in many places, making long voyages; so do many strangers frequent their country, for example, Persians, Arabs, and the

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Portuguese merchants of Goa and Cochin. Under the government of this king are men of many religions, Jews, Mohammedans, and Gentiles, or pagans, these latter showing as great a diversity of ceremonies as of countries and provinces. The great king is a pagan; he of Chartican, whom I saw, was a Mohammedan.

The Gentile people of this Bengal country have for their pagoda, or idol, a white elephant; it is but rarely met with, and is deemed sacred. The kings worship it, and even go to war to get it from their neighbours, not having one themselves, and sometimes grand battles are fought on this score.

As for dress, the men attire themselves bravely with very large cotton shirts, which fall to the ground; over it is worn a silk mantle, and on the head a turban of very fine linen. The women wear little chemisettes of cotton or silk, reaching to the waist; round the rest of the body is thrown a cloth or taffetas; when they go abroad, they wear about that a large piece of silk, with one end brought over the head. They are disorderly and very barbarous in their eating’ and drinking; they have many servants, and have each three or four wives, very richly adorned with gold chains and pearls. They make wines of sugar and other materials, and get drunk therewith. A large number of Portuguese dwell in freedom at the ports on this coast of Bengal; they are also very free in their lives, being like exiles. They do only traffic, without any fort, order, or police, and live like natives of the country; they durst not return to India, for certain misdeeds they have committed, and

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The bank of the Ganges at Benares

they have no clergy among them. There is one of them named Jean Garie, who is greatly obeyed by the rest; he commands more than ten thousand men for the King of Bengal, yet he makes not war against the Portuguese, seeing they are friends.

In this land is the great river Ganga, otherwise called the Ganges, the most renowned in the world. The natives hold that it comes from the Earthly Paradise; their kings have been curious to have its source discovered, but they have never discovered it, for all their journeys and expense. Its mouth is at twenty-three degrees from the equinoctial, toward our pole; but whether this is the famous Ganges of the ancients, or that of Canton in China, as some will have it nowadays, I leave to the discussion and decision of the learned in such things; anyhow, the common opinion of the Portuguese and many others is that this is the

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true Ganges; if its situation does not correspond, at least its name does. From this river comes that excellent wood called Calamba (aloes-wood), which is believed to come from the Earthly Paradise. It is very dear throughout India, and more esteemed than any other, being more rare and odoriferous; very little of it is found, and then it comes floating to the seashore, or the banks of the river; it is also found on the shores of the Maldives, and I have met with it there many a time.

This river breeds also a- large number of crocodiles, and is marvellously rich in fish; in short, it is the wealthiest in all produce in the East Indies, and after it comes the Indus, the river of Surate and Cambaye.

The Indians regard the Ganges as holy, and believe that when they have washed therein they are absolved of all their sins; and Mohammedans as well as Gentiles deem the water to be blessed, and to wash away all offences, just as we regard confession. They, however, believe that, after bathing there, they are altogether sanctified, even saints. And they come from afar to wash them there, as do the Mohammedans at the sepulchre of Mohammed at Mecca. This is all I was able to observe of this kingdom during the short time I was there.’

Footnotes

29. Possibly the district of the Chaul Khoya River, Assam.

This collection transcribed by Chris Gage
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