ut finding stones of any great
value: For, at the diamond-mines, the adventurers purchase so many
yards square at a certain price, employing slaves to dig and lift the
earth, taking whatever stones are found in that spot; which sometimes
are of great value, and sometimes so few and small as not to pay
costs. Other Moorish merchants deal largely in foreign trade, and
as the Mogul is a very easy master, some of them acquire prodigious
wealth, and carry on commerce to such an extent as can scarce be
credited in Europe. About twenty years ago, [that is, about the year
1700,] there died a Moorish merchant at Surat, who used yearly to
fit out twenty sail of ships, from three to eight hundred tons, the
cargoes of each of which were in value from ten to twenty thousand
pounds, and who always retained goods in his warehouses equal in
value to what he sent away. The customs of Surat amount every year to
upwards of L. 160,000 sterling, and, as the merchants pay three per
cent. at a medium, the value of the goods must exceed five millions
yearly.

The fourth and last factory under a director, is that of Gambroon or
Bendar-abassi on the coast of Persia. The director here is always a
principal merchant, having a council and a fiscal to assist him. As
this city stands on the Persian gulf or sea of Basora, being the only
port of Persia on the Indian sea, and lies at a great distance from
Batavia, this direction is not so much sought after as others; and
besides, the heat at this place is greater than in any part of the
world, and the air is excessively unwholesome. To balance these
inconveniences, the director at Gambroon has an opportunity of making
a vast fortune in a short time, so that in general, in four or five
years, he has no farther occasion to concern himself in commerce.
There are several other European nations settled here besides the
Dutch, but they have by far the best factory, and have fortified it so
effectually, that the inhabitants of the neighbouring mountains, who
are a crew of bold and barbarous robbers, have never been able to gain
possession of it, though they have made frequent attempts. The king
of Persia, who reigned about 1722, came sometimes to Gambroon, and
distinguished the Dutch above the other European nations by many marks
of his favour, and by the grant of many privileges. Some time before
that period, he sent a gold saddle very richly wrought, and adorned
with precious stones, a present to the govern