'Précis of correspondence regarding the affairs of the Persian Gulf, 1801-1853' [‎156r] (311/344)

Part VII—Chap. LXVIII
291
received an answer to that letter only on the 10th ultimo; until an answer was received it
will be obvious to you that I could not enter on any repairs to this Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. since to have
done so wouLl have been to defeat one of the reasons I urged for removing the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. to
another situation. I mention tliis to obviate any misapprehension as to the cause of my not
puttino: the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. here into a habitable state for myself and my Establishment during
the summer season.
2. I beg also to apprize you that my residence during the summer away from Head-quarters
which were uniunabitiole, was not intended by me co form any ground tor deputation
allowance; whether i lived at K.hoormooj or at Karrak, or anywhere else, and that my
residence at Karrak although I stayed there to be nearer to my Gulf duties, was considered
by myself as private.
3. For the same reason that I did not myself inhabit Bushire, I left it optional with all
others of my fcistablishment to stay there or not, excepting those who were absolutely required
to bi at Busliira, and one cljrk and one Mirza whom it was absolutely necessary
to keep with mvself. My assistant and the surgeon were written to oflBciallv to go to Bushi'e
or not just as they pleased ; tor as 1 found that the local business at Bushire would allow of
both my assistant and myself being generally absent, without any detriment to the public
sei vice, I was unwilling to oblige my assistant and the surgeon to live in quarters so much
in dis-repair as theirs were without an absolute necessity. This permission placed them also
on the same private footing as mysell: if they chose not to stay at Bushire, but to go to
K.hoormooj, Karrak, or elsewhere. They selected Karrak for their summer quarters, and
although absent from the Head-quarters, of course drew no deputation allowance any more than
myself ; and Government has approved of my having given them iheir option. My assistant
and myself nevertheless ran over to Bushire, sometimes for a week, sometimes for more, and
on one occasion Mr. Kimball lived there for three weeks till he tiaisned the duty (negotiating
Bills for money) on which he was deputed.
4. I sent as few of the guard to Bushire as I could, not only because their quarters were
in bad repair there, but because the Doctor having determined to stay at Karrak, it was better
to keep as many of them near him in the unhealthy season, as could be left, without danger
to the Treasury or Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. , rhere were 18 men :lnrefore of the guard at Karrak—the
uther half being at Bushire. Public peons or servants of any kind there are none allowed
on my Establishment ; not even a man to sweep the office.
5. I have mentioned these circumstances with the view of shewing he inaccuracy of the
opinion of the Persian Ministers, communicated to me in your demi-otficial letter dated the
12th ultimo that I was staying at Karrak as Resident, and with all the pomp and eclat
attached to the situation. My flagstaff at Kar.-ak was struck in May, when the flag
itself was removed to Bushire, so that all the requisites of pomp which I had kept at Karrak
were one English clerk and one Arabic Mirza (but these you can easily believe could give
me no pomp, and were only requisites f )r business) the flag, flagstaff. Treasurer, and
Accountant^ Departments with all the records having been with half the Escort sent to
Bushire and all the rest of my Establishment left to go there or to any other place they
pleased, not very far from Head-quarters.
6. Hal I gone to Khoormooj [ have little doubt that mv assistant and the civil surgeon
would have stayed half the summer there, iu visits to me and the other half at Karrak where
they had the use of a tolerable bungalow.
7. It is unnecessary to say anything on the subject of my having appointed a headman
(Ked Khoda) to the Islanders of Karrak, beyond making a simple denial that so foolish an
absurdity ever entered my imagination.
574. The naval stores were removed from Karrak to Bassidore in October-
November 1842 (Commodore Lowe's letter, dated 5th November 1842, to the