Page 109 - The Pirate Coast (By Sir Charles Belgrave)

every month to Bombay, carrying passengers and despatches to
India. The desert crossing took between two and three weeks,
Europeans travelled with Arab caravans, riding on horses, camels
or mules. ‘The Direct Route’ was much quicker than the long
sea journey round the Cape.
A British factory was first established in Basra in T640. Over
the years it occupied various sites in the town, but the factory (or
Residency, as it came to be called), where Loch stayed, was
chiefly constructed by Mancsty, the former Resident. It was a
large, imposing, fortified building, made of kiln-baked bricks, on
the south bank of the central creek, within easy reach of the
Customs House and the Turkish Governor’s ‘Palace’ - buildings
which Buckingham describes as ‘of the meanest kind, and in the
worst state of repair.’ In front of the high Moorish walls of the
palace, was the battery from which salutes were fired. Moored
off the building was the Turkish fleet; (three most extraordinary
looking half ketch, half Zubeck rigged vessels), which were in­
capable of putting out to sea although, in the past, the Turkish
fleet of some twenty well-armed vessels was strong enough to
command most of the Persian Gulf.
The Residency consisted of two large courtyards surrounded by
buildings, with a gateway on the land side manned by sepoy
guards. A noticeable feature was the immense stables. Arab
horses were the principal export from Basra. Every year, some
1,500 horses were shipped to India, to provide mounts for the
troops. The average price of a horse bought in Basra to be
shipped to Bombay was 300 rupees: shipping, feeding and landing
charges amounted to 400 rupees, and the horse would be sold for
about 800 rupees. The best horses were sent to Bengal, and these
cost at least 1,000 rupees in Basra, and the profits were consider­
ably larger. But, as Buckingham says, ‘the greatest number of
these are sent from here by the British Resident on his account’.
It is surprising that the trade was so extensive, for the export
of horses from any part of the Turkish dominions was expressly
forbidden by the Porte. The trade flourished in Basra because it
brought profits to the merchants, the English, and the Governor
who found it worth his while to ignore prohibition. Loch’s esti­
mate of the Turkish character was probably a reflection of the
opinions of Colquhoun: he says that they were: ‘overbearing,
morose and cruel, with much cunning, yet with a considerable
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