her voyage about the 20th of March and returns to Surat about the end of September following.  The voyage is short, and might easily be made in two months; but during the long season of the rains, and a little before and after, the winds are mostly so violent that there is no putting to sea without extreme hazard.  The cargo of this ship, on its return, is usually worth L200,000 sterling, mostly in gold and silver.  Besides this, and the quantities of money which come yearly out of Europe, which I do not pretend to calculate, many streams of silver flow continually thither, and there abide.  It is lawful for all to bring in silver, and to carry away commodities, but it is a capital crime to carry away any great sums.

All the coin or bullion that comes to this country is presently melted down and refined, and coined with the stamp of the Mogul, being his name and title in Persian characters.  This coin is purer silver than any other that I know, being of virgin silver without alloy, so that in the Spanish dollar, the purest money in Europe, there is some loss.  Their money is called rupees, which are of divers values, the meanest being worth two shillings, and the best about two shillings and nine-pence.  This is their general money of account.  There is in Guzerat a coin of inferior value, called mamoodies, worth about twelve-pence each.  Both these and the rupees are likewise coined in halves and quarters; so that three-pence is the smallest piece of current silver in the country.  That which passes current for small change is brass money, which they call pices, of which three, or thereabout, are worth an English penny.  These are made so massy, that the brass in them, when put to other uses, is well worth the quantity of silver at which they are rated.  Their silver money is made both square and round; but so thick, that it never breaks or wears out.

For farther commodities; India yields great store of silk, which they weave very ingeniously, sometimes mixed with gold or silver.  They make velvets, sattins, and taffetas, but not so rich as those of Italy.  This country also produces many drugs and gums, and particularly the gum-lac, from which hard sealing-wax is made.  The earth also yields abundant minerals, as lead, iron, copper, and brass, and, as they say, silver; yet, though this be true, they need not work their silver mines, being already so abundantly supplied with that metal from other nations.  They have spices from other countries, and especially from Sumatra, Java, and the Molucca islands.  They have curious pleasure gardens, planted with fruit-trees and delightful flowers, to which nature lends daily such ample supply, that they seem never to fade.  In these places they have pleasant fountains, in which to bathe, and other delights by various conveyances of water, whose silent murmurs sooth their senses to sleep, in the hot season of the day.