completed,
and will, it is hoped, be opened after the rains. Mr. Donaldson kindly
proposed a tempting trip over it to the summit of the Sahyadri
Mountains, or Ghats, which form the eastern boundary of the Portuguese
territory. Unfortunately we are already so much behind our time that
we shall have to press forward as quickly as wind and waves will
allow, if we mean to adhere to the original plan of our voyage with
anything like punctuality.

So many difficulties are thrown in the way of would-be visitors to the
churches of Goa, that although Mr. Oliver had kindly sent his sepoy on
to announce our arrival, and had written to the Administrador to ask
leave, we were recommended to wait for an hour or two on board, to
allow time for the necessary forms to be complied with. A refreshing
sea-breeze was blowing, and at ten o'clock we decided to brave the sun
and to proceed under the double awnings of the gig (towed by the
steam-launch) across the bar and up the river towards Old Goa.

From the sea, the Portuguese settlement looks like a series of
promontories, each crowned by a fort, with the river Mandovi in the
centre, running up into the interior between richly wooded banks. Its
coast-line is some sixty or seventy miles long from north to south,
and its greatest breadth about thirty miles. The entire territory is
hilly, and intersected by numerous rivers, of which the Mandovi is the
most important. Both the ancient and modern cities of Goa have been
built on its banks. The promontories of Bardez and Salsette protect a
fine harbour, capable of accommodating vessels of the largest tonnage
during the greater part of the year. The climate of Goa is generally
healthy, though smallpox and cholera have from time to time broken out
there with great virulence.

[Illustration: Portuguese Rowlock]

[Illustration: Cape Goa Entrance]

Never was any place so totally unlike what I had expected--in fact, it
did not in the least correspond to the idea which any of us had formed
about it. The palace of the Governor (who was for over three
centuries called the Viceroy) stands in the city of Pangim, or New
Goa, which, as I have already said, has been built on the river
Mandovi, about five miles from its mouth. Curiously enough, the
present Governor of Goa is our old friend Captain da Carvalho, who
commanded the corvette 'Affonso Albuquerque' when she brought the King
of Portugal to Plymouth last year, and lay alongside us for a
fortnigh