with his ships for England within a week of the delivery of the firman.
With the departure of the English ships the Portuguese plucked up courage. In retaliation for the privileges conceded to the English they seized a large Guzerat ship near the mouth of the Tapti and carried it off to Goa. The action, instead of intimidating the Mogul, aroused his wrath. He instantly declared war on the Portuguese, and followed up the declaration by seizing all subjects of the Goa Government he could lay his hands on. Meanwhile, Makarrab Khan was sent with a large force to besiege the Portuguese settlement of Damaun on the Western India coast south of Surat.
A splendid opportunity now offered for the English if they had been in the position to avail themselves of it. But for many months after Best's departure the sole representatives of the East India Company in India were a handful of factors, with Thomas Aldworth as the chief agent at Surat. Day after day during the season the horizon was anxiously scanned for the familiar flag, but no English ship appeared. As the season wore on without the expected fleet the attitude of the Mogul authorities changed. They treated the firman as of no binding force, and without being actually hostile acted in such a way as to sterilize completely the efforts of the Englishmen. In spite of all Aldworth held tenaciously on to his position and by so doing probably saved the situation. The pied à terre which he defended and preserved, at all events, was of inestimable value in the subsequent operations which led directly up to the establishment of English influence in India on a stable basis.
In the middle of October, 1614, the long and eagerly
