Page 213 - A History of Siam

A HISTORT OF Slr 201

as far as the east coast of where it was
Madagascar,
wrecked, and all the passengers, humans and animals
alike, went to the bottom of the sea.
While showering favours upon the French, King
Narai was not towards the The
badly disposed English.
latter had not, however, the advantage of possessing a
force of and Charles II was not a man
missionaries, King
to whom the of French influence in a
prospect ousting
far distant land was to It
likely appeal. appears, however,
that in Narai offered to cede Patani to the
1678 King
East India Company, with the same privileges as they
enjoyed at Fort St. George, Samuel Potts, one of the
went to Patani, but
Company's factors, actually finding
it in a state of he went on to
rebellion, Singora.
With to these rebellions of Patani and
regard Singora,
it is difficult to trace what Patani
very clearly happened.
appears to have submitted to Siam in 1679, but Singora,
which had been more or less in a state of rebellion for
over was in
twenty years, reported by Potts, January
to be for a to Dutch
1679, preparing siege. According
Potts assisted the rebellious Governor of
reports, Singora
to put up earthworks against the Siamese, which brought
the East India Company into great disfavour. In
March 1689 Singora was still holding out, but was
probably subdued during that year. La Loub&re states
that the came to an end in a curious manner. A
siege
Frenchman, named Cyprien, tired of the dilatory methods
into
of the Siamese General, crept Singora by night,
captured the Governor, and brought him, single-handed,
into the Siamese camp.
Potts returned to Ayut'ia after the fall of Singora, and
began to indulge in a series of quarrels with Richard
Burnaby, who had been in charge of the British factory
there since 1678. Burnaby was dismissed in 1681, and