Page 202 - Dilmun 21

٩‫ﺇ‬

However, it was Sir homas Roe who re-established good relations. Sir
homas Roe noticed the coee drinking at the oghul outr and he
managed to establish an agency in ocha in 1619 iwth W‫ﻚ‬lliamFinch as an
agent. Finch became busy sending consignments o coee to colleagues in
Surat.

Early in the eighteenth century the enterprising Dutch took coee plants rom
Arabia to the East lndies. ١n 172 the East lndia ompany cultivated the
seeds in St Helena and by the nineteenth centuyr entral Europe had
become a coee drinke,r thanks to the Dutch and French who spread the
cultivaiton o coee beans.

ln quick succession three other ventures were launched by the ompany in
the period immediately ollowing iddletons return. aptain William keeling,
who had as his chie lieutenant, David iddleton, a brother o Hen,yr
commanded the irst o the trio that, igures in histoyr as the third voyage.
his voyage is made interesting by the act that it established the irst
connection o the ompany with lndia. Willian Hakwins was instructed to
proceed as envoy to the coutr o Jehan ir at Agra.

n an August day in 160 he East lndia ompany ship (Hector) arrived at
the coast o ujerat. n board was William Hawkins, bearer o a letter rom
James I to the great ohal asikng on behal o the compan,y the libetry to
trade in lndia, rom Surat which was governed by akarab han and
occupied by the Potruguese. lt took a lot o struggle or Hawkins to airrve at
Agra on April 16 1609, wto and a hal months ater departing Surat. he irst
discussion bewteen Hawkins and Jehan ir was through an interpreter
(Potruguese priest). he common medium o conversation bewteen them
was Arabic, For wto years Hawkins became a permanent member o the
Emperors daily attendants, with a personal allowance o ٤,200 a year and a
command o our hundred horses and an Armenian wie. Hakwins in that
position cannot be regarded, as a great name on the list o Seventeenth
centuyr adventurers but was an interesting one. his did not last and there
was a time when it looked as i the British lost their interest in india. his was
until Januayr 11 161 and ater a ierce battle with the Potruguese in Surat.
A irman was handed over by the local oicials and the shahbunder to the
East lndia ompany ships ommande,r homas Best.