Forbes, James, 1749-1819, James Forbes letter, Surat, 1772 January 20, copied between 1794 and 1800
- CallNumber:
- Folio A 2023 69
- Creator:
- Forbes, James, 1749-1819
- Title(s):
- James Forbes letter, Surat, 1772 January 20
- Date:
- copied between 1794 and 1800
- Classification:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Series:
- Series I: A voyage from England to Bombay with descriptions in Asia, Africa, and South America
- ContainerGrouping:
- volume 4, page 223-231
- Provenance:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- AccessRestrict:
- The materials are open for research.
- UseRestrict:
- The collection is the physical property of the Yale Center for British Art. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts.
- ScopeContent:
- Forbes concludes his description of Surat with a look at the surrounding areas. Though he claims a limited ability to see the nearby country due to Maratha military advances, Forbes nonetheless provides an overview of some of the natural history of the region. One of his first topics is the proliferation of wheat fields, which remind him of England, and bring to mind a quote from Homer: “When round and round, with never wearied pain, the trampling steers beat out th’ unnumber’d grain.” He also identifies various fruits—the Omlah (amla, or Indian gooseberry, Phyllanthus emblica), from which the natives make soap, and the Wood-apple, whose fruit, despite its enticing smell, is, to Forbes, quite inedible. Forbes passes briefly over birds and other creatures, but spends most of his time describing the various predators one finds near Surat. The tiger “is one of the most beautiful animals in the East,” and yet “is the dread of man and beast, wherever he appears.” The cheetah, likewise, is a killer. Some keep these animals for sport: in the case of the cheetah, the keeper will use the animal to hunt antelope, which the cheetah quickly overtakes, kills, and “seizes it by the throat, and sucks the blood.” The hyena, unlike the tiger and cheetah, inspires no admiration in Forbes: it is “I think the most fierce and ugly animal I ever saw…its aspect, particularly when enraged, is hideous.” From these and other creatures, Forbes turns to human activity in the vicinity of Surat. He speaks at length about his visit to Pulparrah, a village known for its religious institutions. There he finds numerous statues, whose appearance, without the added consideration of their allegorical meaning, he finds “preposterous.” He explains: “some represent a man, with an elephant’s head [Ganesh], other the human figure with many hands, and various other devices.” It is only for “vulgar minds” that these visual representations serve any use. During his visit, Forbes witnesses a wide array of different practices: near the river, devotees offer flowers, bath, and burn their dead. Forbes again regrets his inability witness a sati, lamenting, “it is now two years since the last cremation, and I despair of seeing one during my short stay at Surat.” Instead, he watches, with some uneasiness, the severe penances of the “Senassees, Gosannees, and other Gymnosophists,” responding with a quotation from Alexander Pope’s “The Universal Prayer”: “For God is paid, when man receives; to enjoy is to obey!” Those who don’t perform these austerities are the truly pious, however, and in Forbes’s eyes “these are real Hermits, & fully exemplify Goldesmith’s beautiful lines.” The letter closes with a quotation from Oliver Goldsmith’s (1728-1774) “The Hermit,” beginning, “No flocks that range the valley free, to slaughter I condemn.” Portions of this text appear in <title>Oriental Memoirs</title>, volume 1, pp. 268-287.
- PhysicalDescription:
- 9 pages
- Genre:
- Correspondence , Botanical illustrations, Ornithological illustrations, Travel sketches, Maps, Watercolors (paintings), Drawings (visual works), Engravings (prints), and Portraits
- Subject Terms:
- Forbes, James, 1749-1819. Descriptive letters and drawingsForbes, James, 1749-1819. Oriental memoirs
- Associated Places:
- EnglandItalyScotlandWales
- Associated People/Groups:
- East India CompanyForbes, James, 1749-1819
- FindingAidTitle:
- James Forbes archive
- Archival Object:
- https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/3199535
- Metadata Cloud URL:
- https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/archival_objects/3199535?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1