"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٢‎٠‎٧] (١٧٨٢/١٣٦٢)

1207
At this time Basrah was^ as a rule, a far healthier station than Bandar
Abbas. In the year 1737, however, which was a very unhealthy one,
sickness carried off " all the English gentlemen* except one Mr. Sterling/^
" Purser of the Poultney, who prudently sealed up the warehouses ; " and
among the victims was Mr. French, the Resident, who died on the 7th
of November. No other deaths during this period among the Company's
servants at Basrah are recorded,
is n fe
id 82 k
h
15 K M
1131) and 15
The Dutch in Turkish 'Iraq, 1730—54.
The Dutch, during the greater part of the period which we are now examin
ing, had a Residency at Basrah ; and from it, at the end of 1747, a gentle
man was sent to re-establish a Dutch settlement that had formerly existed
at Bushehr. In or about 1752, however, calamity overtook the Dutch
Residency at Basrah, of which the head was then the well-known Baron
Kniphausen.f The Baron was arrested one day by the Turkish authorities
on a charge of having had relations with a Muhammadan prostitute, and
he was not released until he had paid, it was said, a bribe of Rs. 50,000;
and large sums were extorted at the same time from other persons
belonging to or connected with the Dutch Factory. On his release the
Baron sailed for Batavia, where he arrived simultaneously with a letter
Containing complaints against him, sent by the Turkish governor of
Basrah through the Dutch Factory at Bandar ""Abbas; and, whether at
or after his departure is uncertain, the Dutch Factory at Basrah was with
drawn. Having cleared his character to the satisfaction of the Dutch
^authorities in the East Indies, Baron Kniphausen, as we have seen else
where, returned to the Persian Gulf at the end of 1753 and proceeded to
feettlei with a naval and military force on the island of Kharag; and
mfeanVdule the Dutch Ambassador at the Porte had procured a Farman for
the re-hoisting of the Dutch flag at Basrah. On arrival at Kharag the
Baron sent to Sulaiman Pasha a letter from the Dutch General in Batavia
demanding repayment of the sums extorted from the Dutch Company's
servants and the reception of Kniphausen himself at Basrah, and threatening
that, in event of non-compl iatiLfe, force would be used ; but the reply of the
Pasha seems to have been that he would refund nothing, and that he
would only admit a Dutch h esident if he were somebody other than
* Number not stated.
7 't aui^DfiU«y on tWfe 'gentietaati* character and proceedinfje are specified in a
footnote on page 129 ante. .p ;'il' iiabh
11
i
t