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parativo weakness & is fully eenBiblo that an order to admit no Arab vessels into Company’s
Ports would x ruin and that of his Government.
68. I come now to the consideration of the 4th Division of my subject, vizi., The Port
in tho Gulpli best situated for a settlement.
69. To answer all tho ends, Commercial and political, which I have already suggested,
it would ho necessary that the Port at which the English Government established such
settlement should possscss the following advantages :—
lit.—An excellent Harbour well protected from all weather, but particularly from
the South-East and Sorth-West winds, which prevail in the Gulph, & often
blow with extreme violence.
2nd.—A healthy climato, good water, sheep and cattle in its vicinity, or at least a soil
on which such could be fed.
3rd.—A situation that vessels to and from the Gulph could touch at, without any loss of
time, in order that it might become the Emporium of the Trade, and lastly it
ought to bo so situated that no vessel whatever could enter or go out of the
Gulph, without being distinctly seen from it, in order that it might completely
command the Trade.
70. Unless a Port combined all these advantages, and was also from situation capable
to being rendered perfectly independant of the Arab & Persian Governments, it would not
in my opinion be an object for the Hon’ble Company to form any settlement that involved
much expence, & from past experience, I should imagine any feebler efforts to increase &
protest the Commerce of the Gulf to be more likely to terminate in danger and loss than in
the production of solid & permanent benefit.
71. The Ports in the Gulph which from their former celebrity or present resort merit any
attention are those of Gombroon & Abu Sheher, on the Continent of Persia, and the Islands
of Bahrien, and Khamukh, Hormuz, x Kishm & Anjam-
72 I shall begin by stating the distinct advantages which each of those places
possesses, next mention the objections that may be advanced against them and conclude with
my opinion of the Port best calculated for settlement, and a statement of the reasons on
which such opinion is grounded.
73. Of the Ports of Gombroon & Abu Sheher, I consider former by far the most
favourable situation for most of the purposes that I have laid down as in responsible
requisites for an English Settlement. It has the best harbour for large Vessels, & is better
situated in every respect to command 8s become the medium of the Trade in the Gulph.
■
Abu Sheher is only preferable as possessing a more healthy climate, and being nearer
to Shiraz and the other chief marts of Indian Commerce; but it appears to me that
these are almost insuperable objections to these or any other Ports that are situated on
the continent. In the first instance it would probably be a matter of much difficulty
to obtain permission for erecting a fort and town of any respectability on the main
land. In the next it would require such to be of very considerable strength to resist the
attacks that might be expected on a mercantile town within the easy reach of a Persian
Army j and, lastly, a settlement so placed would be likely to involve the Hon’ble Company in
the interior interests of the Persian kingdom, any concern with which I should conceive it
would always be better to avoid.
-i 74. The Island of Bahrien though undoubtedly one of the finest in the Gulf is from
situation perfectly unadopted for the settlement, not one of the great purposes of which it
:
could answer. It is at present crowded with inhabitants, and is, as I have before stated,
subject to the Shaikh of Graine.
75. Karrack has a good climate, excellent water and command the Bussorah River,
It might be converted here that if policy demanded an extent of this into an essential*
subordinate, but never could be the chief settlement. It has no safe harbour; it doss not
command the trade between India and Persia, nor could it ever become a Emporium of