ecisely recorded by the Council, fifteen months
before. Young Gyfford, who was then twenty-five, appears to have been a
favourite with the Governor, and had lately been given charge of the
Bombay Market. Eighteen months after his marriage, we find William Gyfford
appointed supercargo of the _Catherine_, trading to Mocha. The office was
a most desirable one for a young factor. It afforded him opportunities for
private trade at first hand, instead of through agents, that in the mind
of an adventurous young man quite outbalanced the perils of the sea.

In spite of small salaries, a goodly appearance was made by the Company's
servants in public. At the public table, where they sat in order of
seniority, all dishes, plates, and drinking-cups were of pure silver or
fine china. English, Portuguese, and Indian cooks were employed, so that
every taste might be suited. Before and after meals silver basins were
taken round for each person to wash his hands. Arrack, Shiraz wine, and
'pale punch,' a compound of brandy, rose-water, lime-juice, and sugar,
were drunk, and, at times, we hear of Canary wine. In 1717, Boone
abolished the public table, and diet money was given in its place. Boone
reported to the Directors that, by the change, a saving of nearly
Rs.16,000 a year was effected, and the Company's servants better satisfied.
On festival days the Governor would invite the whole factory to a picnic
in some garden outside the city. On such an occasion, a procession was
formed, headed by the Governor and his lady, in palanquins. Two large
ensigns were carried before them, followed by a number of led horses in
gorgeous trappings of velvet and silver. Following the Governor came the
Captain of the Peons on horseback, with forty or fifty armed men on foot.
Next followed the members of the Council, the merchants, factors, and
writers, in order of seniority, in fine bullock coaches or riding on
horses, all maintained at the Company's expense. At the Dewallee festival
every servant of the Company, from the Governor to the youngest writer,
received a 'peshcush' from the brokers and bunyas, which to the younger
men were of much importance; as they depended on these gifts to procure
their annual supply of clothes.

Of the country, away from the coast, they were profoundly ignorant. The
far-off King of 'Dilly' was little more than a name to them, and they were
more concerned in the doings of petty potentates with strange names, such
as the Za