"You will be able to settle nothing with them," said the Turkish ex-Governor of Basra, whom Malcolm met at Bushire in 1800, on his way to Tehran, " that is in the least satisfactory without heavy bribes or harsh measures; and the latter will be the wisest. ... Armed force, in fact, was the only remedy; and, as they were careful to point out to the London directors, it must be so considerable" that the Dutch may not baffle you with their insolency and pride which they will undoubtedly attempt to doe to make themselves appear great and to ingross the whole trade."

The directors temporized. They preferred to compound their differences with the Persians and to await further information before plunging into hostilities. Meanwhile they permitted merchant ships to be armed so as to give "an appearance of force and commerce." But in 1684 they decided to send an armed force to the Gulf to recover arrears of revenue and compel the King of Persia to honour his obligations. The fleet never reached the Gulf and soon the necessity disappeared. In 1697, the trading privileges which the company had been granted, originally by Shah Abbas, and which had been confirmed from time to time (without much practical effect), were re-affirmed and, indeed, extended by a royal decree which, among other things, stipulated for an exchange of ambassadors between the two countries, allowed British traders the protection of consuls, and safeguarded them from persecution on the score of their religion, declaring in effect that it was no affair of the Persians if the British chose to lose their souls by their heresies, "it being God's business to turn men's hearts."

A period of comparative quiet followed: the idea of “armed force was tacitly dropped; but the chaos which followed Nadir Shah's death in 1752 and which crippled the only profitable business then being carried on at Bandar-that in Kerman woolfinally decided the board sitting in solemn conclave in London to withdraw from Bandar Abbas " till the troubles in the kingdom of Persia were subsided." After some discussion of the relative merits of different posts, the head-quarters of the company in the Gulf was transferred to Basra in 1763; and at the same time a factory and "residency" were opened at Bushire-but not before the final humiliation had been suffered at Bandar Abbas. A French warship had suddenly appeared in the Gulf in 1758; the factory was attacked without warning in 1759; and after being plundered by French and Persians was burnt to the ground.

There is, then, not very much to get hold of in these muddled years. There was no advance in any direction save that of lawlessness (the appearance on the seas of maritime Arabs is of evil import). From the British point of view it was simply a case of hanging on. There can have been very little romance" for the company's factors at Bandar Abbas in that process. The correspondence of these years is a brave record of work carried on, not only in spite of political embarrassments and commercial disappointment, but of constant sickness. "Death hath been so familiar in those parts caused by ill aire staying so long in Gombroon," says a despatch from Surat to our friend, Mr. Cradock, in 1662, “that to remedy it wee cannot deny you license of absenting yourself out of it . . . but, as before, wee earnestly desire your frugality." Augustin Swallow's letter from Gombroon to the council at Surat, in November, 1656, is one of many similar despatches :

Worthy good friends (he writes), it is my grief that this letter should be messenger of such bad news as the death of Mr. Thos. Reynardson, who departed this transitory world the 20th November, 1656, at halfe an hour past one in the afternoon, having lain sick 12 days of a fever being troubled first with an excessive vomiting for one day and a halfe. The Lord fitt us for our last end. In the time of his sickness, Augustin Swallow several times desired him to make his will when he slightingly answered that he did not intend to die.

The death-roll from "the heate and pestirous aires" of Bandar Abbas (as another letter describes it) continued to grow. In spite of that and of their other difficulties, the factors carried on their work in a spirit which—but why indulge in heroics? I do not suppose they regarded themselves as heroes: they merely delivered the goods. Such little incidents as the sudden attack on the factory by a French force was part of the day's work. Mr. Alexander Douglas thus describes it in a letter to his masters in Bombay, in which he gives them "the disagreeable news of the French having taken the honourable company's factory." The French, who had four ships, "landed to the westward of the factory with two mortars and four pieces of cannon and began to batter. We on our parts did what the few number of Europeans we had would admit of." As to the topazes (native seamen) and sepoys, few of them would stand to the guns. "About 11 o'clock, being high water, their ship of 22 guns hauled within about one quarter of a mile of the factory and began to play on us. . . ."

Eventually a council of war decided that the house was not tenable.

Upon which it was unanimously agreed to make the best terms we could and that night the same was agreed on as per copy of the capitulation enclosed. But sorry we are to remark the same has not been observed in the manner we might have expected from Europeans. They have gone so far as to take away a few liquors we had for our use. . . . Out of the few number of Europeans we had . . . Ensign Johnston and Sergeant Ranscommon were so much indisposed as to be able to do no duty the day we were attacked. According to the best intelligence we can get the French have positive orders to demolish the Factory. . . . But, so soon as the French are gone we shall endeavour to get down (presumably from Kerman) this year's investment of wool. . . . At present woollens are in demand in the Inland parts, according to the information we have received.

Not a bit put out! It may well be supposed, however, that the orders from Bombay to pack up and leave Gombroon for the northern end of the Gulf were hailed with relief. But it seems rather hard lines for Mr. Alexander Douglas after his spirited defence of the factory that he should be asked to go to Basra under a junior servant; and we are not surprised that he declined. My constitution being greatly impaired through my long residency in this unhealthy place, which I have little chance of recovering but in my native climate," he retired from the company's service.

Here we may usefully indulge in a little history. By 1763 the Portuguese had entirely disappeared from the Gulf; the French had never had a look in-their attack on Bandar Abbas had been merely in the nature of a piratical raid; as a matter of fact, the end of the Seven Years' War in Europe in 1763 had put the issue between France and England in the East beyond all doubt-our supremacy was quite definitely established. The Dutch had left Gombroon and Basra and were now concentrated on one point only-Karrack Island (the island of Mr. Dalrymple's chart) and their star was on the wane. Inland, Karim Khan Zand had managed to make himself overlord of South PersiaVakil he styled himself with his headquarters at Shiraz. But his authority did not yet reach as far as Bushire, which was ruled by an independent Arab chief, Shaikh Nasir, who had in fact written to Mr. Douglas at Gombroon in 1762," with the sincerest wishes for his friendship," inviting him, "by the blessings of

God," to come to Bushire and open a factory there, for "thank God, the Port of Bushire is in entire security, quiet and flourishing; and the roads for caravans quite free from molestation." As Bandar Abbas had been anything but quiet, this must have been a considerable recommendation to Mr. Douglas. But there were other advantages which this town offered for a peaceful trading company. It was surrounded on three sides by water, and so could be easily defended; it offered a good market for woollens and tin; and, best of all, there was "one conveniency attending Bushire, that a person there need have no connections or caress anyone but the Shaikh himself."

As things turned out, "quiet" was just about the very last adjective that could be applied to the next fifty-or, indeed, the next eighty-years at Bushire. It became the storm centre of the Persian Gulf; by comparison, life in Bandar Abbas was almost a rest cure. But Mr. William Andrew Price, who went to Bushire to open the factory there, could not know that; and no one was more sanguine than he.

Bushire, from its situation, being 14 days from Shiraz and 30 from Spahann, promises extremely well for opening a large vend for woollens into the Kingdom of Persia . . . and the whole country . . . being under the command of Karim Khan . . . who, it is generally allowed, governs with great justice and moderation, gives us good hopes of

success.

In addition, he found the people of Bushire" of a mercantile turn of mind . . . very different from most others in the Gulf "; and Shaikh Nasir, the man he had to "caress," a most excellent gentleman. The only fly in this ointment was the presence of the Dutch at the island of Kharag, forty miles away-but he need not have been afraid of them. The Dutch are no particular concern of ours: but no account of life in the Persian Gulf would be complete without a picture of Mynheer Kniphausen in his moated grange-though anyone with less reason to be weary of life than this Mariana of Kharag Island it would be hard to imagine. On calm days, we are told by Francis Wood, who visited the island in 1756, " he employs eight or ten small country boats with divers fishing for pearls, and sends slaves in each boat to receive the oysters the divers take up and deliver them to Mynheer just the same as they come out of the sea." The opening of the oysters, he adds, quite unnecessarily, was always done in

private. As regards their trade, "their warehouses were full of goods," particularly leather, spices, sugar, broadcloth.

The Dutch leave no means untried to engross every branch of trade into their own hands, and if an obstinate perseverance in selling their goods at low prices . . . and a steady resolution in carrying on Fortifications and Buildings at an almost incredible expense, may be esteemed facts conducive to success, they are certainly in a fair way of attaining it; but for my part I could see no trade going on. . . A hundred Europeans is the established number of soldiers allowed from Batavia for the defence of Kharag fort: what I have seen I take to be about 60; and they are all neat, handsome fellows kept under the strictest discipline. Besides these, Mynheer Kniphausen has above a hundred Coffree slaves well armed according to the country manner, with swords and targets who, from his manner of treating them, are likely to remain faithful and contented under their bondage. He takes care to supply them with plenty of dates, Fish and bread; gives them decent clothing, cools the natural fervour of their constitution by allowing a considerable number of Coffree women to live among them in common; and never controls and even advises them, in regard to religion but when they commit a fault he punishes them very severely.

It is a pity we have not been given a description of the king of the island. He must have had a big black beard, and a deep hearty laugh, and enjoyed life thoroughly. Poor Kniphausen ! Three years later he and all his Dutchmen were driven from Kharag Island by Mir Mohanna, a rebel and freebooter from Bandar Rig. They came to Bushire where the British Resident, Mr. Jervis," entertained them in their distress," and gave them what money and necessaries they had occasion for. And that is the end of the Dutch in the Gulf-as well as Mynheer, with his pearls, his Coffree slaves, and his neat, handsome fellows.

99 66

This is a point at which a picture should be given of Bushire— soon to become and remain the headquarters of British political influence in the Gulf. But it is impossible. "Desolate," dilapidated port," mean and filthy," are some of the descriptions. All quite true-but equally untrue. If you are lying out at sea near the inner buoy, waiting for the fast mail at sunrise of a November morning, with the Kuh-i-Khormuj in the background, and an opal sea all round you, you will think Bushire dignified instead of mean; beautiful, not ugly. I give it up. But the beauties cannot have been very apparent to the company's servants, compelled to live in the original "Residency" (which