A History of The Indian Wars
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Date
1978
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AL-BIRUNI, LAHORE
Abstract
Description
IN the rare little volume here reprinted an English sailor
narrates his adventures in the East Indies between the years
1715 and 1723. During that period (broken though it was
by a return for a time to England) he played many parts :
sailor on board three East Indiamen in succession : mate in
a ' country ' vessel (i.e. one trading in the East Indies only) :
officer in the armed naval forces of the Company at Bombay :
seaman and (according to his own account) petty officer in
a royal navy ship : captain of artillery in a Mughal army
operating in Gujarat. His other experiences were equally
varied. Though he served chiefly on the western coast of
. India, he visited also Muskat, the Gulf of Aden, Madras,
Calcutta, Mauritius, Reunion, Madagascar, and the Comoros,
besides the places touched at during the voyages out and
h_ome. He took part in several fights with the Marii.thas and
other Indians, both on sea and land, and some of his most
stirring pages describe the unsuccessful assaults that were
made upon the strongholds of Angria. Of Commodore
Mathews's expedition to Madagascar in search of the European
pirates wlio were making havoc of Eastern trade he furnishes
a full account, with some curious particulars concerning the
ex-pirates w!"io had settled down in that island. His service
as a Mughal gunner provides what is in some respects the
most interesting chapter in the book ; while we are also
given many glimpses of life at Bombay and other places on
the west coast, including the earliest mention of cricket being
played in India.
Keywords
Indian wars, A HISTORY OF THE INDIAN WARS, CLEMENT DOWNING, WILLIAM FOSTER, C.I.E.