YOUR letter, by Ghous Mahommed Khân and Turkem Doss, has been received, and apprized us, among other things, “of your determination “to establish a factory [or warehouse] at Calicut.”* You have also represented to us verbally, by the aforesaid Kbân, “that our officers at “the port of Calicut charge you for anchorage duty, at the rate of forty “rupees per Dingy, and this duty you request of us to remit.” You have furthermore stated, “that the Imaum of Muscat, while he levies a “duty of ten per cent. on [the goods of] all other merchants, charges “our merchants no more than six per cent.; and you, therefore, solicit “a similar indulgence from us.” You likewise express a desire, “that “your Gûmâshtehs may be allowed, as formerly, (after first buying from “the managers of our ports whatever number of morahs of rice the “latter have to dispose of) to purchase, without let or hindrance, from “the people of the country, such further quantities of the same article “as they may require.” It is known.

[Then follows a recital of the concessions specified in the three preced­ing letters, which it is unnecessary to repeat here].

With respect to our establishing factories [as you propose] at Port Mundry in Kutch, and at the port of Jâmnugr, our intention is, to dis­patch, some time hence, trusty persons, with letters and the customary tokens of friendship to the Râjahs of both those places. On this occa­sion we shall require of you to introduce our agents to the two Râjahs, and to procure the necessary permission for the establishment of [the proposed] factories.

Agreeably to your request, we have directed Meer Kâzim to settle with you for the advances made by you of two hundred and sixty rupees to Mahommed Ibraheem, and one hundred and two rupees to Othman Khân, making together the sum of three hundred and sixty-two rupees.

We collect, from the foregoing letter, that Tippoo Sultan had already so far accomplished his commercial views at Muscat, as to be considered the most favoured of the numerous traders with that port. The concessions by which he obtained that distinction (for it was hardly any thing more) are not any where distinctly stated; but it is probable, that it had been granted on a previous under­standing between the Imaum and the Sultan’s agent, Ghous Mahommed Khân, that the Imaum’s vessels were to be admitted into the ports of Mysore, on the footing specified in the ensuing letter.

Of the particular immunities here granted to Mâo Saith, the remission of four-tenths of the customary duties (whether on imports alone, or on exports also, does not appear) would, no doubt, have been a very considerable indulgence, if the trade had been suffered to be quite free, and if Tippoo himself had not partici­pated very largely in it. The Sultan, however, not only exported rice to Muscat in his own vessels, and imported the commodities of that country into Mysore, but he also obliged the Muscat merchant to purchase all the government rice on hand, at a price fixed probably by himself, before he allowed him to buy else­where. In addition to these restraints, there is reason to believe, that the most profitable branches of the commerce of his dominions, namely sandal wood, beetel-nut, pepper and cardamums, were entirely monopolized by the Sultan. Under these circumstances, it may be questioned, whether the encouragement ostensibly given to the Muscat traders, was, on the whole, much calculated to promote the commercial intercourse of the two countries. Of the actual extent of that intercourse, at any given period of the Sultan’s reign, I possess, at present, no accurate means of judging; though it is probable, that ample materials for this purpose were obtained, by the gentlemen who received charge of the different sea-ports of Canara and Malabar, at the period of their falling under the authority of the English.