View from Sion Fort Plate 10

This is plate 10 from James Wales' 'Bombay Views'. The series was painted for Sir Charles Malet (1752-1815), the British Resident of Poona, who Wales met in Bombay in 1791.

The view looks down from the Sion Fort gate to Bombay and the Neat's Tongue, bounded by the Mahratta Mountains. The Sion Fort was constructed in 1669/77 by the Governor of Bombay, General Gerald Aungier and it commanded the passage from Bombay to the neighbouring island of Salsette. The fort was of great importance to the British because Salsette was under the control of the Marathas.