which many of them assented. The very day after the
surrender, a frigate came from Goa, with the articles of peace, and
the Portuguese loudly complained of having been unfairly dealt with by
Van Chowz; but he answered, that the Portuguese had acted in the same
manner with the Dutch, only a few years before, in the capture of
Pernambuco in Brazil. The English had at that time a factory in
Cochin, but the Dutch ordered them immediately to remove with all
their effects, which they accordingly did to their factory at Paniany.

On gaining possession of Cochin, the Dutch thought it too extensive,
and therefore contracted it to the size it is now, being hardly a
tenth part of what it was before. It measures about 600 paces long,
by 200 in breadth, and is fortified with seven large bastions and
intermediate curtains, all the ramparts being so thick that they are
planted with double rows of trees, to give shade in the hot season.
Some of the streets built by the Portuguese still remain, together
with a church, which is now used for the Dutch worship, the cathedral
being converted into a warehouse. The house of the commandant is the
only one built in the Dutch fashion, which is so near the river that
the water washes some part of its walls. The flag-staff is placed on
the steeple of the old cathedral, on a mast seventy-five feet high,
above which is the staff, other sixty feet in length, so that the flag
may be seen above seven leagues off at sea. The garrison of Cochin
usually consists of three hundred men; and from Cape Comoras upwards,
in all their forts and factories, they have five hundred soldiers,
and an hundred seamen, all Europeans, besides some topasses and the
militia. They procure their store of rice from Barcelore, because the
Malabar rice will not keep above three months out of the husk,
though it will keep twelve with the husk on. This part of the country
produces great quantities of pepper, but it is lighter than that which
grows more to the northwards. The forests in the interior affords good
teak-wood for ship-building, and two woods, called _angelique_ and
_prospect_, which make beautiful chests and cabinets, which are sent
all over the coasts of western India. They have also iron and steel
in plenty, and bees-wax for exportation. The sea and the rivers afford
abundance of excellent fish of various kinds, which are sold very
cheap.

_Cranganore_, a little to the north of Cochin, stands upon a river
about a l