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HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NA\T^. 33
The following account of the early history of Ormuz, and
its capture from the Portuguese by a Persian army and a fleet
of the Company's ships, is chiefly derived from a paper in
" The Geographical Magazine" for April, 1874, from the pen
of Lieutenant Arthur W. Stiife, I.N., an officer well known in the
Service as an accomplished surveyor, and who now holds a
high appointment in connection with the telegraph lines in
the Persian Gulf, whose waters he and Captain Constable, I.N.,
have, by their surveys, done so much to render accessible to
navigators of all nations.
The earliest settlement of the island, which had previously
been uninhabited, was made about A.D. 1301, and an account
of it was written by Turan Shah, the king of the island in
1347-48. Before the above date the kingdom of Ormuz was
on the mainland, and, according to this history, it was founded
by Arabs, who crossed over from Arabia ; this is highly pro-
bable, as nearly all the cities on the Persian coast have been
thus founded. The site of the city on the mainland, has been
conjectured to be on the Minab river, where it possibly suc-
ceeded an older settlement of the same name, for Arrian tells
us that Nearchus found a town called Hermozia at the month
of the river Anamis, in a fertile district. The island was then
called Gerun, and the name Ormuz was only applied to the
kingdom and city on the main.
But, on an evil day for Ormuz, its wealth excited the cupi-
dity of the Portuguese, then connnencing their career of
empire under the inspiring genius of that remarkable man,
Alfonso Albuquerque,* or, more properly, Dalbouquerque. In
1508, after performing several exploits on the African coast,
and taking Muscat and other places in Arabia, he entered the
Persian Gulf with a squadron of seven ships, having on board
a small force of soldiers, and resolved to m.ake himself master
of the island of Ormuz, which his great military and political
trade. The streets were covered with mats and in some places with carpets, and
the Unen awnings which were suspended from the houses, prevented any incon-
venience from tlie heat of the sun. Indian cabinets inlaid with gilded vases, or
cliina died with flowering shrubs, or aromatic plants, adorned tlieir apartments.
Camels laden with water were stationed in the public squares. Persian wines,
perfumes, and all the delicacies of the table were furnished in the greatest abund-
ance, and they had the music of the East in its highest perfection. In short,
universal opulence, an extensive commerce, politeness in the men and gallantry
in the women, united all tlieir attractions to make tliis city the seat of pk-asure."
This description has been characterised as an exaggeration by Fraser, but, never-
theless, all accounts agree in averring that Ormuz was great, wealthy and
populous, before it fell into the hands—lirst, of the Portuguese, and then of the
Persians.
* For details of the achievements of this great statesman and warrior, see
"The Commentaries of the great Alfonso d'Albouquerque, second Viceroy of India,
translated from the Portuguese Edition of 177 1, with Notes and Introduction by
Walter de Grray Birch," of the British Museum, Hon. Secretary of the British
Archaeological Association. This work forais the volume of the Uakluyt Society
for 1875.
D
VOL. I.