Page 162 - Gulf Precis (I-A)_Neat

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Abdul Sheikh, Intelligence that Abdul Sliaik (Govrof Kisma) had agreed to sell the Persian
Governor o! Kiahm. .
Hi* prooeedinge. Ship which camo from Bombay in March 1752 to the Sciddee of Muscat
whereupon ho dispatched two choppers oxpross with letters to Mr. Wood
requesting his assistance in very positive torms to prevent the said ship from
falliug into the hads of the Arabs declaring that he would shortly bo down
himself upon the occasion & should highly resent it in caso of its being
carried off, as tbeir late Agent had engaged to use his utmost endeavours to
protcot tho King's fleet against the Arabs or any other enemies & therefore ho
ought not to have suffered Abdul Shaik at first to have carried her into Lkoft
River, from whonce he then insisted on their bringing her back. That
Mr. Wood not chusing to interfere in matters of that kind if possible to avoid
it, made use of all the arguments he could invent to excuse himself, but
finding them to no purpose & that he must inevitably involve the Hon’ble
Company in immediate troubles with the Persiaus by an obstinate refusal
ho thought bettor to comply & therefore sont the Drake in Company with
the Ramauny upon that expedition when Abdul Shaik delivered her up in a
friendly manner without the loast resistance or oven firing a single gun on
either side. That the Nancy Grab belonging to tho Dutch Gentlemen at Surat
arrived there the 23rd ’ April but being in expectation of better marketts
up the Gulph proceeded immediately between Kismis & the main without
waiting to take in a Pilot & shortly after run ashore upon the Rooks near old
Lhoft where she was intirely broke to pieces & most of her cargo seized by
Abdul Shaik. That broad cloth & perpets were goods so particularly adapted
Bale* of cloth, etc.
to the Persian taste & so necessary for their dress in the winter season, that
there must be at all times a great demand for them up country as there was at
that time, but the merchants were obliged to run such great hazards from
robbers on the roads & suffer so many impositions from the people in Govern­
ment that for sometime before very few of them had had courage venture
down. That they had sold since the 31st July last 312 bales of cloth with all
the perpets they bad in warehouse & having still 340 bales remaining out of
the Sector, Prince Henry & ilamoody's Cargoes, their Indent to the Hon’ble
Court of Directors for next year’s supply had been but very small & if we
would complete the quantity of perpets requested by Mr. Wood in September
last it would conduoe greatly towards the speedy vend of the above remains
which from being frequently transhipped from one vessel to another had not
only suffered in the package but had taken a damp into them which occasioned
a continual decay tho’ they had for several times had them out to air in the
sun & still continued to do all they could to preserve them. That they had
disposed of the cochineal consigned them B Hector part at 60 and part at
50 Rupees Br. Fabreze Mauud which was but a little more than prime cost
but they were glad to get it off at those prices rather than lay & spoil in tho
warehouse as it was a very bad article for that as well as the Bussorah Markett
where they proposed to have sent it last year, had not Mr. Ellis assured them it
would by no means answer. That the merchants of Persia imagined tho double
coloured drabs were invented by the Europeans to save the expense of scarlet
dye and therefore esteemed them, much less than if they were of one colour
only, for which reason they now consigned us nine chests of them by that
vessel to prevent their being rendered of no value thro* the heat of the
warehouses there where they had remained at that time near two years. That
the medley cloth they found was more apt to receive Damage than the