Forbes, James, 1749–1819, James Forbes letter, Baroche, 1778 June 1, copied between 1794 and 1800
- Call Number:
- Folio A 2023 69
- Holdings:
- Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
- Creator:
- Forbes, James, 1749–1819
- Title(s):
- James Forbes letter, Baroche, 1778 June 1
- 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
- Part of Collection:
- volume 10, page 9-23
- Provenance:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- Conditions Governing Access:
- The materials are open for research.
- Conditions Governing Use:
- 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.
- Scope and Content:
- Forbes writes his next letter from Baroche (Bharuch), where he hopes “in a few years to obtain that independence, which first brought me to the oriental world.” He begins with an account of his trip to Baroche, before offering an extended description of the city and its surroundings. “Bombay to Surat” Forbes spend little time on his voyage to Surat—it was, in his telling, short and uninteresting. He does, however, comment on the beauty of the ocean, with its “gently-curling waves…tinged with the loveliest hues from the lustre of his retiring beams.” He closes with a series of classical allusions. “Baroche” Arriving in Baroche, Forbes identifies the city with “the ancient Barygaza, mentioned by Ptolemy and Arian,” and offers brief comments on ancient history and the “degenerate sons” of Rome. He then mentions his previous stay in Baroche—with Ragobah’s (Raghunathrao’s) army—and insists that the city is much improved, having recovered from the devastation of war. It hosts a thriving trade in cotton, which is sent to China and Bengal. “Animal & Vegetable Productions” Forbes then describes the area’s other products—besides cotton—and gives an account of the surrounding district, which belongs entirely to the East India Company. He notes the fields of chilis, “glowing with a bright scarlet,” throughout the area. He finds numerous interesting creatures in these fields, such as the praying mantis and the “tortoise-fly,” each of which strikes him as fascinating and beautiful. He lists several mammals and birds, noting that the myna is easily trained, and “are brought up to hop about the house with all the familiarity of the English magpie.” Forbes is perhaps most taken by an insect he calls the Silver Aurelia, about which he says “the purest silver or the brightest pearl would fall short of its lustre.” He marvels at the “workmanship,” describing the insect as a “rich field for the admiration of the virtuoso, and contemplation of the philosopher!” Forbes continues on to describe the plant life in Baroche, as well as in his garden in particular. There, he says, he has a trellis of grapes “exactly similar to that beautiful description in Holy-Writ.” He has also “lately altered [the garden] by placing an urn on one of the old Hindoo walls, or pillars, and inscribing under it a few lines, which I insert with the greatest diffidence; they have many defects, but being my first poetical attempts, I trust you will excuse them.” A poem of several stanzas follows, beginning, “To thee, chaste Nymph, my Naiad fair…” Forbes closes this portion of the letter with a description of the snakes he finds in his garden: he encounters numerous cobras, and other snakes which “the head gardener will on no account destroy, calling them Genii of the garden: he often speaks to them, accosting them under the endearing appellation of father and mother.” He also speaks of the mongoose, one of which, he says, once “in contending with a large snake, was wounded by its antagonist, …immediately retired, and after eating a certain herb, returned to the combat until it had gained the victory.” “Banvrhan” The final section of Forbes’s letter is a description of a tomb near to the city. He describes its architectural style as “Saracenic, or Moorish,” and explains that it is “in memory of Baba-Rahan, and other celebrated personages,…held in the highest veneration by all the followers of the Holy Prophet.” He provides a lengthy backstory, identifying the Baba Rahan as someone who had come to the province to convert Hindus to Islam, at first by persuasion, and later by violence. Local notables resisted, though some of them too converted to Islam, and several of these died in the violence spurred by this campaign of conversion. Forbes asserts writes that, “the principles of the Koran I shall not at present investigate; whatever they may be in theory, our saint & his converts paid no attention to…” The tomb had been gradually embellished by various rulers following these events, though now it falls into decay. Forbes closes with a comment on the “beggars of various descriptions,” some of which remind him of “the pilgrims to the celebrated Lady of Loretto; a shrine I hope one day to visit.” Portions of this text appear in <title>Oriental Memoirs</title>, volume 2, chapter 21.
- Physical Description:
- 14 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
- Finding Aid Title:
- James Forbes archive
- Collection PDF:
- https://ead-pdfs.library.yale.edu/11734.pdf
- Archival Object:
- https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/3199845
- Metadata Cloud URL:
- https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/archival_objects/3199845?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1