Indian Antiquary Vol 60

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 301

MAY, 1931 ]
THE SCATTERGOODS AND THE EAST INDIA COMPANY
97
mountains at Vizagopatam refleot the hot rays of the sun and give such an additional heat as makes those winds very troublesome, but especially from the salt ground at Metchelepotan that is as fiery hot there as at Commeroon 66 in Persia. Many inhabitants at Metohlepotan preserve their lives by dayly indulging themselves with a inoderate dose of opium, and some are lusty, vigorous and strong at a hundred years of age, which shews that the medicinal vertue of this excellent drug does consist in preventing distempers and not in cureing of 'em. They begin to take it about twenty years of age, and live free from all diseases and are never observed to catch cold. The natives in Ginea are said to have a certain root or fruit, called Tantarobois,67 which is full of bitter seeds, and them they mixt with their foods, which proves very profitable to their healths, so that they live strong and lusty to very great ages.
Mr. Noden68 preserves his health at Metchlepotan by a full and liberal feeding upon vegetable food, ourrys, &ca., made after the Portugeese fashion, and has already past his Viridis Senectus, and stands fair for a rejuvinessency, but this is still oweing to a good temperament. Doctor Willis,69 with all his skill in the medical science, could not out live the flower of his age in his native country, and Mrs. Noden lived in Metchlepatam70 or India 40 or 50 years and dyed about 90 years old. If shee had been Eve shee would not have lost Paradise by intemperance in drinking.
[NOTES ON DOCUMENT No. 26.) 1 Beyond the title there is no information of the authorship of the monograph. It is not in Scattergood's hand nor does it resemble his style of writing. It seems therefore likely that it was compiled by one of his numerous European friends in Madras and presented to him as having a special interest in Masulipatam and Divi on account of his father's connection with those places, for he would have heard from his mother of the visit of Abdu'l-hasan Shah of Golaonda to Divi in December 1678 and the part played by John Scattergood senior in the entertainment of that monarch (see vol. LII, p. 23).
The date of the document can only be approximately determined from internal evi. dence. It was written after the death of “Shoa Allum" (Shah Alam I or Bahadur Shah I), as this monarch is spoken of in the past tense, and before the death of Philip Noden, an agent of the English at Masulipatam, whose good health is the subject of remark. Shah Alam I died 18 February 1712, and Noden in May 1718. The period can be further narrowed, since the grant of Divi Island from King Farrukhsiyar (who succeeded Shah Alam I) was one of the concessions obtained by the Surman Embassy (1714-1717). The writer makes no direct mention of the Embassy nor of the request for Divi, although his remarks indicate a hope that the British may soon have possession of the place. It seems therefore likely that the account was written soon after the first tender of the Island to the authorities at Fort St. George in January 1712 and before a formal application was made for it to the Mogul. This points to 1712 or early in 1713 as the date of compilation, and Scattergood may have acquired the MS. soon after it was written, or, later on, in 1717, when the island was granted to the English, and his friend, Richard Horden, a member of Council at Fort St. George, was appointed Deputy Governor.
2 Divi, Tel. from Skt. dvipa, island. By "Gentowe" the writer means Hindu. The form most in use was Gentoo or Gentue, a corruption of Port. Gentio. See Yule, HobsonJobson, s.v. Gentoo.
3 Guttinadîvî near Inzarâm. Guttinadîvî is not now an island, and its name is said to be derived from Tel. gutti, cluster and adavi, forest. It is correct that it is close to Inzarám, which is near the mouth of the Godavari river.
• The writer is referring to the cyclone of 13 October 1679. For contemporary accounts soe Diaries of Streynsham Master, ed. Temple, II, 300-303.
Divi is a low headland surrounded by shoal flats for six miles south and east, and though it escaped the fate of Magulipatam in 1679, it is liable to inundation, cansing loss of lives and property, in severe gales.