the Dutch and English factories, or trading-posts, at Surat. "They have there their Lodges, their Storehouses, their Presidents, their Merchants, and their Secretaries, and indeed have made it one of the most eminent Cities for Traffick of all the East." This was just thirty years after Hawkins had vainly attempted to save one cargo from the clutches of the Moghul governor, and another from the Portuguese. The new companies had evidently lost no time in strengthening their position. "The English particularly have made it the main place of all their Trading into the Indies, and have established there a President, to whom the Secretaries of all the other Factories are oblig'd to give an accompt. He manages affairs with the assistance of twenty or twenty-four Merchants and Officers, and hath under his superintendency the Factory of Agra, where they have a Secretary accompanied by six persons; that of Ispahan, where they have a Secretary and seven or eight other Merchants, that of Mesulipatan, with fifteen; that of Cambay, with foure; that of Amadabat, with six; that of Brodra and Broitscheia, with foure; and that of Dabul with two persons; who are all oblig'd to come once a year to Suratta, there to give an accompt of their Administration to the President."
Mandelslo was treated by both Dutch and English with the princely hospitality which has ever been a tradition in India. He was met by a coach drawn by two white oxen, and heartily welcomed by the president, who begged him to stay with him five or six months and entertained him royally. "At dinner he kept a great
