SURAT, a large and populous city of Hindustan, in the province of Gujerat, situated on the south side of the Taptee river, about twenty miles above its junction with the sea. It is one of the largest cities in Hindustan; and is termed by Bishop Heber a very large and ugly city, with narrow winding streets, and high houses of timber-frames filled up with bricks, the upper stories projecting over each other. The city is about six miles in circuit, in the form of a semicircle, of which the river Taptee or Tuptee forms the chord. Near the centre of this chord, and washed by the river, stands a small castle, with round bastions, glacis, and covered way, in which are stationed a few sepoys and European artillerymen; and which is distinguished by the singularity of two flag-staffs, on one of which is displayed a union jack, on the other a plain red flag, the ancient ensign of the emperors of Delhi; an arrangement which was adopted in courtesy when the fort was conquered from the nawab of Surat, and was continued, though the nawab is only a pensioner on the bounty of the government. In the neighbourhood are most of the English houses of a good size. Without the walls is a French factory, containing some handsome and convenient buildings, but now quite deserted by their proper owners, and occupied by English officers. A French governor with several officers came to take possession of the factory, which was restored in 1814 at the conclusion of peace; but the governor died, and his suite was so thinned by disease that the survivors returned to the isle of Bourbon, and no one has appeared to supply their place. The city is protected on one side by a river; and on the other three sides by a brick rampart, or a ditch. The wall is entire and in good repair, with semicircular bastions and battlements. There is also a strong citadel, erected on the bank of the river, and surrounded by an esplanade.

Surat formerly carried on a very extensive trade. In 1775 a greater quantity of ships belonged to the port than to Bombay. Large exports of cotton were formerly sent to China, but they are now chiefly sent by the way of Bombay. The trade has greatly declined, consisting of little but raw cotton, which is chiefly shipped in boats for Bombay. In manufactures the native artisan is now undersold by the English; a dismal decay, says Heber, has consequently taken place in the circumstances of the native merchants; and he mentions an instance of an ancient Mussulman family, formerly of great wealth and magnificence, who were reduced to dispose of their library for subsistence. The most thriving people in Surat are the Boras, or money-lenders, who drive a trade all through this part of India, and the Parsees. The last are the proprietors of half the houses in Surat. They are dexterous mechanics, good servants, and skilful merchants. They intermarry with each other, and retain all their ancient customs and prejudices, among which is their repugnance to extinguish fire, and the exposure of their dead to be devoured by birds of prey. The boats which lie in the river are of thirty or forty tons, with two masts. Vessels of greater burden must lie about fifteen miles off, below the bar, at the mouth of the Taptee; but few larger vessels ever come to Surat. There is a very neat and convenient church, as well as an extensive and picturesque burial-ground, full of large and numerous tombs of the former servants of the Company; most of them from 120 to 180 years old, and in the Mussulman style, with large apartments surrounded by vaults. There are no remarkable buildings in Surat. The nawab’s residence is modern, but∙not particularly handsome. The British society is numerous and agreeable, this city being the station of a considerable force, of a collector, a board of customs, and the courts of justice. Of the ancient history of Surat under the Hindoo dynastics there are no authentic records. It was taken by the emperor Akbar in 1572, after a vigorous siege of forty-seven days. It was in 1664 taken and plundered by Sevajee, the great Mahratta chief, and was again visited by him in 1671, and laid under contribution, as it was by his successors in 1702 and 1707. Surat was surrendered to a British force in 1750 by the nabob, the ancestor of the present nawab, who was compelled to have recourse to foreign aid. He was succeeded by his sons, the last of whom agreed in 1800 to resign all his authority to the British for an annual pension of L. 12,500. Surat is fifty-one miles south-west by south from Lucknow. Long. 73. 3. E. Lat. 21. 13. N. (f.)