"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٢‎١] (١٧٨٢/٢٦٤)

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" of the situation of affairs at Gombroon ; without paying 1 a just compli-
a ment to the great prudence and sagacity of the English and Dutch
" factories established there, who amidst all the shocks and convulsions
u of a civil war among the Persians, have met with little or no interrup-
" tion in their trade from any of the contending parties ; it being a
" maxim with them, to side openly with none of the competitors, and
" ^ the same time to keep well with all: for this end, civil letters,
"and sometimes presents, have been thought indispensably necessary."
The Kirman Wool investment of 1760 amounted to 3,000 maunds, of 1760
which 2,820 maunds were red, 135 white, and 45 grey ; the last quality
the Agent and Council at Bandar Abbas proposed to sell locally for
what it would fetch. Disturbances in Khurasan affected the trade of
the Company, and much less business was done in this year than had
been anticipated. Wool and copper were still the chief commodities in
the export trade.
In 1761 the commercial horizon was overcast. Great oppression 1761.
was exercised in Kirman by Karim Khan's governor, and a contribution
of 30,000 Tumans was demanded from the province which was found
wheu it came to be distributed, to be equal to seven times the ordinary
annual revenue. The Linguist who represented the Company in Kirman
was included in the governor's exactions, and he was informed by his superi-
ors that, if after despatching the annual wool investment he saw no
prospect of remaining u in any degree of security/''he might return to
Bandar 'Abbas. The Linguist seems accordingly to have collected the
wool investment of about 3,000 maunds, after which he obtained per
mission from the governor to leave Kirman. There was little sale for
woollen goods at Bandar 'Abbas in this year ; and the Agent and Coun
cil reported that " the Kingdom seemed to go very fast unto Ruin, the
" Great Men paying no regard to the Subject, but only the gratifying
"their Soldiers and Dependents; and they much feared the Ruin of
" Trade would be the consequence." The Bombay Presidency desired
that, as old copper was now very low, none should be sent them, and that
remittances should be made in gold or silver.
Stagnation, due to the same causes, continued in 176^, The total 1762.
value of the sales at Bandar 'Abbas from August 1761 to August 1762,
during which time few traders from the interior visited the place, was
only Rs. 36,020. This was due largely to the state of affairs in Kirman,
where Multani merchants dealing largely in woollens had formerly resided
and carried on a trade with Mashhad and Qandahar ; but they had now
been discouraged by the exactions practised on them, their goods from
Bandar 'Abbas being habitually seized by the local authorities at arbitrary
rices, and had ceased to trade.