'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.' [‎389] (420/582)

TRADE OF BUSSORAH.
389
him, and whose wealth, however acquired, he one day hopes to
enjoy, as the Sultan, who is above him, does that of the Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. .
A custom has of late crept in, of the shippers of horses de
manding from the captain or owners of the ship, an advance of a
hundred rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. per head, which is lent to them without interest;
and neither this sum nor the freight is paid until arriving at
the destined port, when, if the horse on which this advance is
made, dies on the passage, both the sum thus lent and the freight
are lost. Injurious as this practice is to the shipping interest, it
seems to be fixed beyond alteration, and has been owing to com
petition among Arab naquodahs and agents, who, in endeavour
ing to outdo each other in the number of horses they could ob
tain for their vessels, have established a custom highly prejudicial
to themselves. The average number conveyed in each ship from
hence was formerly about eighty, but it is now a hundred.
The duties on imports from India are regulated by the tariff
established between the nation to which the owner of the goods
belongs, and the Porte ; and if the trader claims no such privilege
of tariff, he is considered as a subject of the Empire, and pays ac
cordingly. The tariff of the English fixes the duty on all their
imports from India at three per cent, ad valorem, and this is re
gulated by the price at which the commodity has actually sold in
Bussorah ; so that the duty is not payable until the sale has been
really effected. British subjects have the privilege of landing their
goods either at the Factory An East India Company trading post. , or at their own dwelling, or ware
house, which they may hire at rent during their stay here, without
taking them to the Custom-house, where the goods of all others
are obliged to go. The confidence placed by the Turks in the in
tegrity of the English is such, that their own account of sales is
taken without a check on them, and their ships boats are allowed
to pass and repass from the city to the river without examination ;
though both of these privileges are often abused by Arab super
cargoes sailing in vessels under British colours.
The duty on imports paid by all those who are not subjects of