Surat on the Banks of the Taptee - 1813

 

        Plate twenty-seven from the first volume of James Forbes'"Oriental Memoirs", a work in the form of a series of letters richly illustrated, describing various aspects of nature, people and buildings he met with during his travels in India in the 1760s-70s. Forbes(1749-1819) spent most of his working-life in Gujarat where he held the post of Collector in Bharuch and Dhaboi. Of the Surat city in Gujarat on the banks of the river Tapti, Forbes noted, 'This engraving represents this celebrated city in the most interesting point of view, from the English Factory to the Dutch bunder, taken on the opposite side of the river. In the centre is the Castle, with the British and Mogul colours on the towers; the more distant flag surmounts the Portuguese Factory.'