"ملخّص يحتوي على معلومات بشأن الاتصال الأول لشركة الهند الشرقية مع الجزيرة العربية التركية، طالما أمكن تتبع ذلك من سجلات حكومة بومباي، بالإضافة إلى أسماء العديد من المقيمين البريطانيين والوكلاء السياسيين الذين عُينوا في بغداد والبصرة في الفترة بين ١٦٤٦ و ١٨٤٦ ميلادي، وبمرافقة معلومات أخرى" [ظ‎‎١‎٨] (٢٢٦/٣٨)

6 PRECIS OF INFORMATION REGARDING CONNECTION OF E. I. COMPY.
written is so difficult to decipher that it would occupy considerable time
for copies to be made, added to which, from age, the paper is so tender
that it crumbles to the touch; these letters appear to be confined to
commercial subjects, and the above may therefore be considered to be
fair specimens of the whole of them.
14. Nothing- further can be traced connected with the Gombroon
or Persian factories from the above period (1646) until the year 1656.
From a letter dated the 29th November 1656, addressed by the Chief in
Council at Gombroon to the Chief in Council at Surat, it appears that
Mr. William Weale, one of the parties above alluded to as having been
in charg-e of the Factory at Bussorah, and by whom both of the letters
last quoted are signed, died at Ispahan in September 1656. The follow
ing is an extract from this letter :—
"Our last unto you was dated in Ispahan the 17th September, which came to the
hands of Mr. Thomas Reynardson in Bunder,* who sent them towards you on the
Seajiower, who left this place the 22nd October, which I hope is come safe to your
reception. Long since is advised you of the death of Mr. William Weale in Ispahan,
and of all other occurrences in the Company's affairs to that day, whose copy shall
be sent you by the next conveyance."
15. The following is an extract from a further letter, written at
Shiraz on the 7th November 1656 by the same parties, who, as above
stated, were the Chief in Council of the East India Factory at Gombroon.
This letter is dated three weeks previous to the one from which the
extract above quoted is taken, but did not, as appears from a memo
randum made on the letter, reach the Chief in Council of the Factory at
Surat until a week after the receipt of the one of subsequent date:—
" Please to take notice that our last unto you was dated in Ispahan the 28th
August, whose copy is here sent you ; and what hath been since accounted worthy your
notice shall in the following lines be advised you. The 11th September, after a long
and tedious consumption, it pleased the Almighty to take out of this life Mr. William
Weale, your servant, and our chief head in Persia, and the day following buried
him in as decent a manner as we could, and, indeed, according as he desired before his
death. He died without will, we not being able to persuade him to make it and to
settle his estate. What moveables he had in Ispahan, we took an inventory of, and
carried them with us, and what he hath more in Gombroon shall do the like when we
come there, and send them all to Surat. Our stay in Ispahan this year was occasioned
by the great desire we had to put off what goods you had there, as also to carry your
orders down with us, which at last we effected."
In a subsequent letter, dated Gombroon, the 15th December 1656,
the same pai'ties made a general report on the state of the Company's
affairs in Persia, and at the same time forwarded an inventory of the
effects of Mr. Weale at Gombroon.
16. In a letter dated the 16th October 1657 a Mr. Bell, in writing
from Gombroon to the Chief in Council at Surat, observes—
" I was not so happy as to receive any letters from your Company while I was in
Bussorah, but I hope between this time and the time the Seaflower\ will sail hence they
will come either from Bussorah or by way of Ispahan. I have received orders from
Mr. Andrews to send on the Seaflower 400 tomans Nondunga money for account of
the Hon'ble Company, which by her you may expect. From Bussorah I could make
but little more than Rupees 900 freight, all in money ; so that from hence I hope to
get a full freight of goods and passengers, the Kaffilas being now at hand."
* Meaning no doubt Bunder Abbass, alias Gombroon.
+ One of the East India Company's vessels.