CHAPTER X THE ITALIAN TRAVELLER PIETRO DELLA VALLE'S DESCRIPTION OF AHMADABAD 1623 A.D. AMONG- the best-known names of all the European travellers who have left accounts of their journeys in the East is that of Pietro della Valle the Italian, who spent more than ten years, from 1614 to 1628, visiting various lands of the Orient Turkey, Egypt, Palestine, Persia, and India. The account of his wan- derings, written in the form of letters to a friend, was published in 1650 - 1663, long after his return, and was translated from Italian into English in 1664, more than a decade after his death. Almost every page of his journal contains matters of interest and value, as is manifest from his notes on " Ahmedabad " (Ahma- dabad). ' About noon, having travelled twelve, or, as others said, fourteen Cos, we arriv'd at Ahmedabad, and our journey from Cambaia hither was always with our Faces toward the northeast. Being entred into the City, which is competently large, with great suburbs, we went directly to alight at the house of the English Merchants, till other lodgings were prepared for us, 294
