The Dowry of a Portuguese Princess
The Island of Bombay, on the west coast of India, was the first land really owned by England in the East. It was ceded to England by Portugal as a part of the dower of the Infanta, Catharine of Braganza, on her marriage with Charles II. Thus the first British territory in India came not by conquest, but as a gift. The gift was not highly esteemed in 1661, though as early as 1653 England had made proposals for the purchase of the island. The population of the whole island at that time was not more than ten thousand, and the climate was so unhealthy that three years was regarded as the average life of an European there. But England has never been slow to recognize an advantage, and this foothold in India was not abandoned. A regiment was enrolled and fortifications erected, which proved sufficient to deter the Dutch from an attack in 1673. And in 1687 the Island of Bombay represented the concentrated interests of the British East India Company in India, the King having transferred, in 1668, the island to the East India Company, for an annual payment of ten pounds.
It is interesting to note the fact that British interests in India began under the charter of her first great Queen, and culminated under the second great Queen. Queen Elizabeth opened the way for the Empress-Queen Victoria. The East India Trading Company was chartered by Queen Elizabeth in 1600; in 1858 it was transferred to the Crown, and Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India in 1877. Thus three hundred years of continued struggle with natives and with foreign powers for supremacy, or the law of "the survival of the fittest," gave India to England.
The Island of Bombay, eleven miles by three, stands out from a coast outlined with lofty mountains, the Western Ghauts. At places these Ghauts, or terraced hills, rise in splendid bluffs and precipices from the water's edge; then, retreating, leave a fertile strip of from five to fifty miles in width; again, they overhang the sea, reaching an average elevation of eighteen hundred feet, with individual peaks rising to more than double that height. This great range of "hills" stretches along the western coast of India for five hundred miles, and is from ten to twenty miles broad. The Island of Bombay, having this magnificent coast line in view, is also itself flanked east and west by low hills. A neck of land, extending southwest from the island, protects from the force of the open sea the finest harbor in the Indian Ocean, a harbor of fifty square miles, affording safe anchorage for the largest ships. The Bay is studded with islands, connected by bridges with the city; so that the approach to Bombay from the sea affords a panorama second only to Naples in extent and beauty.
The City of Bombay occupies the southern end of the island, between the Black Bay on the west and the harbor on the east. In natural scenery, sanitary advantages and position, Bombay ranks first among the cities of India, and is second only to Calcutta, the capital of British-India, in government importance and in population; Bombay is pressing Calcutta closely as the commercial capital of India.
About a mile north of European-Bombay is Black-Town, the place of residence of the natives; and between the two are the Esplanade and the army barracks.
The private homes of European residents lie apart from the native and mercantile quarters of the town. The favorite suburb is Malabar Hill, a high ridge terraced to the top with handsome houses, which command one of the finest views in the world; and just beyond this is Breach Candy, a great seaside resort.
The city proper consists of well-built and unusually handsome native bazaars, with wide streets, devoted to foreign commercial houses. Some of the European hotels, and those on the American plan, have no rivals in India.
But Bombay, always favorably situated for European trade, nevertheless owes its present importance and wealth indirectly to the United States. The Bombay Presidency contains the richest cotton-fields in India. During our late Civil War, which closed the Southern ports and cut off the supply of American cotton for three or four years, Bombay began to export raw cotton in vast quantities; and even after the reopening of our Southern ports, the immense stimulus given to its commerce was not withdrawn. The phrase "America made Bombay" is often heard. Bombay, the eastern terminus for regular passenger steamships to India, is also the western terminus of the great railway system of India. The first railway in Hindustan was opened in Bombay in 1853.