Page 226 - Gulf Precis (1-B)_Neat

4,20
perceived tlmt in the desolate state, to which Persia had been reduced, by the long Period of a
Civil War and by the expensivo campaigns of Nadir Shah, tho necessary Expences of the
Government, would far exceed the Kovonucs collected j and that the only effectual means of
encrcasing tho receipts of the Royal Treasury, wero to encourage and invite Merchants from all
parts to settle in his Dominions, to oudeavor to receive every Branch of Manufacture; and to
invariably protect the Peasantry, who had so long struggled under Misery and oppression.
Possessed of sentiments like theso, it could not long cscapo tho Penotration of the Vakeel,
how highly injurious the withdrawing the different European Factories formerly established
in Persia had proved to the Commercial Interests thoroof and as the Country round Gombroon,
had not yet complcatly submitted to his authority, he urged Shaik Sadoon tho Governor of
Bushire, to moke repeated applications to the Chief at Bussora, for the Establishment of an
English Factory at the Port. The applications of tho Shaik met with success and the then
Government at Bombay, directed Mr. Price, a Member of their own Board, who was then
proceeding to Bussora with the Appointment of Chief of the Factory at that place, to touch at
Bushire and to treat with Shaik Sadoon on the subject. Mr. Price found no difficulty in exe­
cuting the object of his Instructions and Mr. Jervis a Servant of the Hon'ble Company was
left in charge of their Affairs, at that place, with the Appointment of Resident.
Notwithstanding the Residency at Bushire was so regulated, by the orders of the
Hon’ble tho President and Council at Bombay as to be subordinate to the Chiefship of
Bussora, yet the Information which is to be obtained from the Records of the Chiefship, in
regard to the Transactions of the subordinate, is scanty and incomplete. From what little
it has been possible to glean from them, it appears the Mr. Jervis, occasionally made large
sales of Woollens, Velvets &ca. on the Hon'ble Company's account, that the commerce carried
on by private Merchants residing there daily increased, and that Bushire soon after the
establishment of the English Residency became a Port of Importance.
The violence offered by the Turkish Governor of Bussora to the Baron Kniphansen, the
Chief of the Dutch Factory at that place, gave birth, to the Establishment of a Dutch Fort and
Factory on the Island of Carrack. Kerim Khan was too unxious to see the European Factories
again established in Persia, to refuse the request of the Governor General of Batavia, for an
unconditional Grant of the little Island of Carrack; and the Baron, Kniphansen, to whose
care the infant settlement was entrusted, soon erected thereon a Fort of no mean strength,
Lodgings for the different Servants of the Dutch Company, Warehouses for their Goods, and
Barracks for the Troops stationed there for the defence of the Island. The Dutch Imports at
Carrack consisted mostly of the 6ame commodities which they had formerly imported at
Bussora, but their returns were different, being made partly in Pearl, Mules, the Wines of
Sohyras and the Drug6 produced in different parts of Persia.
To this Establishment of the Dutch Factory at Carrack, the little Port of Bundcreeg
situated on the Persian shore nearly opposite to the Island of Carrack, became endebted for
many Advantages. The Porta of Bushire and Bundereeg though situated at much the same
distance, by Water from the Island of Carrack, differed very materially in respect to their
situation to Scherauze, the Market for which the greatest parts of the Dutch Imports were
designed. A Cofla departing from the former of these Ports, for Scherauze, generally per­
formed its Journey in twelve to fourteen days, whilst those which proceeded from the
latter, required no more than Seven to Eight days on the Road. This difference in the Time
of Performing, necessarily created a difference in the Expence of the Journey, and the Dutch
for the conveyance of the Goods sent to Scherauze, either on the Account of the Dutch
Company or on Account of private Merchants, uniformly preferred to land them at Bundereeg,
rather than at Bushire; fortunately however for tho Port of Bushire, the Governor of Bundereeg
was a character but little entitled to the confidence of the Merchants, the greatest part of
whom, residing at Bushire, made frequent Commercial Trips from thence to Carrack and
concluded large Purchases there of Spices and Sugars, which on their return to Bushire were
dispatched from thence to Scherauze. The Port of Bundereeg depending entirely upon the
settlement at Carrack for its Commercial Importance, relapsed naturally, into its former
obscurity, on the Dutch withdrawing themselves from that Island.
The Island of Babreen situated on the Arabian Shore of the Persian Gulph, was at this
Time annexed to the Government of Bushire, but the Court at Scherauze did not draw so
much Advantage from the Possession thereof a6 might have been expected considering the