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294
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[OCTOBER, 1874.
Bombay was then scarcely one tenth part of what it has now attained to be. It extended in a central straight line from the pier of the Castle, which was almost parallel to the modern Pálava (Anglicè Apollo) Bandar, to its northern extremity, at the point now called the Påyadh ani station, a distance of about one mile and a quarter. In the middle of this line, or about the grounds on the Esplanade now occupied by washermen, and called the Dhobi Lines, stood the Mumbadevi temple, subsequently transferred, as before stated, to the spot reclaimed for the purpose just north of Payadhuņi. The tanks now used to wash clothes in once belonged to the temple, and were held in high veneration : their desecra- tion has been most distasteful to Hindu feel- ings. The Western side of the island extend ed in a curved line along the shore of Back Bay, including Girgåów and Chaupati, from its southern extremity called Mendip's or Mendham's Point, I to a spot, facing the Bastum or "Tower of Silence" of the Parsis, which was then separated from Wâlukesvara by a narrow creek of sea-water, which allowed the water of Back Bay to communicate with what once covered the flats below Tá adeva (Tardeo), now reclaimed by the Breach Candy Vellard or dam which keeps out the sea on the "west face of the island. On the eastern side the shore extended in a zigzag line along a wavy hill called the Dongari, which extends from Fort St. George to the southern margin of another shallow creek, which used once to separate the island of Bombay from that of Maz&
gai w a little beyond Umark hâdi (Oomercarry). This hill was formerly quite arid in appearance, and wholly inhabited by fishermen.
Now the term Pâyndhuņi means 'washing of the feet,' and plainly indicates that it was a place used for that purpose. People and cattle coming down to Bombay from Salsette, Mahim, and other islands lying northwards, used to wash their feet in a shallow stream of water, which became deeper by the tide, especially during the solstitial heats, before stepping into the more civilized soil of Bombay.
Another argument favouring the supposition that Bombay was an island quite distinct from Parel, Mazaga ów, &c., is that the natives living in Kulába, Waluk esvara, and Maza gå i w say even in our time, from a traditional habit, that they are "going to Bombay," meaning the Fort, which to a modern writer would probably appear absurd.
At the time of the cession to the British crown, Bombay was given over for a very insignificant 'quit-rent to a lady by name D. Ignez de Miranda, widow of D. Rodrigo de MonÇanto,ll who was called "a Senhora da Ilha," "lady of the island," and to a few others. It then, and for some time after the cession, consisted of one caçabé, which means a grove of trees and gardens (hortas), and three paddyfields. These groves and gardens contained 40,000 cocoanut trees, out of which only 4,000 or 5,000 belonged to the E. I. Company. The value of each of these trees varied from 6 to 9 xerafins. There was also one bandrastal, which means the right (jus) to extract
• A pretty good ides of the castle, built by the Por- I tuguese, before ita repairs and modifications by the English, may be formed from a "Delineation of His Maties Citadel and Fort of Bombay, April 2nd, 1668," given in Orington's work above cited.
+ See मुंबईचेवणेन, p. 91.
I Mendip's or Mendham's Point was a place where a cemetery was built in the time of Cook, and the early writers mention, that it was named from the first individual buried there. The locality has been much disputed; some writers, such as Philip Anderson, in his English in Western India, think it was at the modern Cooperage; while others state that it was about 100 yards from the Lighthouse at Colabe. This however, seems to be erroneons from the fact of Aler. Hamilton writing :-" Mr._Aungier advised the Company to enclose the town from Dungaree to Mondham's Point ....," which certainly cannot be Kul&b. Others with some semblance of truth, believe it to be the plot to the west of Apollo Pier where the Baluting Battery is placed. I have adopted this latter theory. Murphy's "Remarks on the History of some of the Oldest Raceu now settled in Bombay, &c." (Trans. Bomb. Br. R. Geog. Soc. vol. I. pp. 128-86), with map, though not quite precise in all details, will give the reader some idea of the former divisions of the island.
S A writer in the Monthly Miscellany of Western India in reference to this has the following :-"And if tradition be at all consistent with truth, when carriages (cxcepting the Indian vehicles) were unknown, and Bombay Governors were wont to garb themselves in Saletni starched caps, and to trust more frequently to their feetthey too, it is said, were accustomed to unhose themselves, and with shoes and stockings in hand march across, avail themselves of the foot-wash, rehose themselves and pro. ceed on their jaunt."
It was at the residence of this lady that Hamphrey Cook and the Portuguese Commissioners signed the articles of delivery and the instrument of possession when the island was ceded to England.
The serafin is considered by Warden, in his Report on the Landed Tenures of Bombay, p. 7, to be equivalent to 20 pence: or that formerly they used to take thirteen bergfins for the sterling amonnt of £1-3-6. The Portuguese zerafim, however, which seems to have been adopted with out any alteration in value by the early English governors, is only about half rupee, or, strictly speaking, it corresponds more exactly to the French franc or Italian lira when the serafim is in copper, and to about one-sixth more when in silver.
