'Travels in Assyria, Media, and Persia, including a journey from Bagdad by Mount Zagros, to Hamadan, the ancient Ecbatana, researches in Ispahan and the ruins of Persepolis, and journey from thence by Shiraz and Shapoor to the sea-shore. Description of Bussorah, Bushire, Bahrein, Ormuz, and Muscat, narrative of an expedition against the pirates of the Persian Gulf, with illustrations of the voyage of Nearchus, and passage by the Arabian Sea to Bombay.' [‎381] (412/582)

FRENCH VESSEL ATTACKED BY PIRATES.
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which was the fastest sailer, towards Muscat, when, it falling calm,
they became separated widely apart. At this moment, some
Joassamee pirate-boats pulled down on the schooner, and, finding
no resistance, plundered her of every dollar, and stripped even
the vessel and her crew of every thing that was portable. The
commander, complaining of this treatment towards the subjects of
a nation who were not at war with them, was told, that he might
congratulate himself on being known to them as a Frenchman,
since, if they had been even suspected to have been English, their
throats would have been cut without distinction. It appears that
there was a supercargo on board, who had been formerly in the
service of the Imaum of Muscat, and who understood Arabic suffi
ciently well to communicate with the pirates, which was the means
of their lives being spared. The Joassamees were not content,
however, with plundering the vessel, but endeavoured to scuttle
her ; and men were employed both on the outside under water, and
on the inside below, to effect this, which they were unable to do
from the firm way in which the vessel was built, and their want of
proper implements. The French ship, in the mean time, remained
becalmed at a distance, unable to render any assistance to her con
sort, and both the vessels afterwards reached Muscat in safety ; yet
the object of the voyage was entirely frustrated, and the hopes of
a revival of the French trade at Bussorah consequently declined.
The English factory An East India Company trading post. dates its origin from the first visit of
British vessels to Bussorah, which was in the year 1640; and it
has continued to exist almost without interruption ever since.
The building itself, or the residence of the chief of the factory An East India Company trading post. ,
has been frequently changed: since it was, at one time, in the
very centre of the town; at another, remote from the city alto
gether, on the banks of the river, at a place called Margdl; and it
is now seated on the southern side of the central creek, leading
from the river up through the town, and at a convenient distance
from the dwelling of the Governor, and from the public custom
house. The present factory An East India Company trading post. , which is by far the best building in