And Thereafter, I Shall Claim No
Right, Title, Or Interest In The Said Town, Precincts, Or Appurtenances
Whatsoever."
"I also covenant for myself, my heirs and successors, that the whole
trade of the English, in whatsoever commodities, brought in or carried
out, shall be entirely free from all custom, imposition, tax, toll, or
any other duty, of any quality or description."
"To these covenants, which the shortness of time did not permit to
extend in more ample form, I, the Zamorin, have sworn to perform, by the
great God whom I serve, and not only for myself but for my successors;
and in witness thereof have laid my hand upon this writing.[180] And the
said William Keeling promises to acquaint the king his master with the
premises, and to endeavour to procure his majesty's consent thereto."
[Footnote 180: This probably alludes to a custom mentioned in one of our
earlier volumes, of imprinting the form of the hand, smeared with ink,
on the paper, instead of signature or seal. - E.]
This being agreed upon, a stock was made out for a factory, such as the
shortness of time would permit, and three factors were appointed. These
were, George Woolman, chief, Peter Needham, second, who was one of the
general's servants, and I, Roger Hawes, third; together with a youth,
named Edward Peake, as our attendant, who was to learn the language.
John Stamford, a gunner, was likewise left to assist the Zamorin in his
wars. On the 10th the ships departed, leaving us and our goods in a
shrambe at the water side, together with a present for the Zamorin. We
continued there till the 13th, at which time the last of our goods were
carried to the Zamorin's castle; whose integrity we much suspected,
after having thus got possession of our goods. On the 20th, he insisted
to see Mr Woolman's trunk, supposing we had plenty of money. Needham had
told him we had 500 rials; but finding little more than fifty, he
demanded the loan of that sum, which we could not refuse. He offered us
a pawn not worth half; which we refused to accept, hoping he would now
allow us to proceed to Calicut, but he put us off with delays. He
likewise urged us to give his brother a present.
On the 28th, the Zamorin came into the apartment where we were, and gave
Mr Woolman two gold rings, and one to each of the rest; and next day he
invited us to come to his tumbling sports. That same night, Stamford
went out with his sword in his hand, telling the boy that he would
return presently. The next news we had of him was, that he was in the
hands of the Cochin nayres. He had lost His way while drunk, and meeting
with some of them, they asked where he wished to go; he said to the
Zamorin, to whom they undertook to conduct him, and he knew not that he
was a prisoner, till he got to Cochin. This incident put us in great
fear, but the Zamorin gave us good words, saying he was better pleased
to find him a knave now, than after he had put trust in him.
We had leave in April to depart with our goods to Calicut, where we
arrived on the 22d of that month, and were well received; but had to
remain in the custom-house, till we could get a more convenient house,
which was made ready for us on the 6th of May, with promise of a better
after the rains. We were very desirous, according to our orders from
the general, to have sent a messenger with his and our letters to
Surat, to acquaint our countrymen that we were here; but the governor
would not consent till we had sold all our goods. On the 18th of June,
one was sent. On the 26th, part of our goods were sold to the merchants
of Calicut, by the governor's procurement, with fair promises of part
payment shortly. But it is not the custom of the best or the worst in
this country to keep their words, being certain only in dissembling. Mr
Woolman was desirous of going to Nassapore to make sales, but the
governor put him off with divers shifts from time to time. The 3d July,
our messenger for Surat returned, reporting that he had been set upon
when well forwards on his way, and had his money and letters taken from
him, after being well beaten. Among his letters was one from Captain
Keeling to the next general, the loss of which gave us much concern; yet
we strongly suspected that our messenger had been robbed by his own
consent, and had lost nothing but his honesty. A broker of Nassapore
told Mr Needham, that our dispatches had been sold to the Portuguese,
and when the governor heard of this, he hung down his head, as guilty.
We here sold some goods to merchants of Nassapore.
Mr Woolman died on the 17th of August. We could not procure payment of
our promised money, and were told by our broker, that some one of our
debtors would procure a respite from the governor, by means of a bribe,
on which the rest would refuse till they all paid. On the 24th, the
Zamorin's sister sent us word, that she would both cause our debtors to
pay us, and to lend us any money we needed; but we found her as false as
the rest The queen mother also made us fair promises, and several others
made offers to get letters conveyed for us to Surat; but all their words
were equally false. Thus wronged, Mr Needham farther wronged himself by
his indiscretion, threatening, in presence of a nayre who attended us,
and who revealed his threats, that he would go to the king of Cochin,
making shew of violent revenge to put the governor in fear. He behaved
outrageously likewise to a scrivano,[181] who is the same as a justice
with us, taking him by the throat, and making as if he would have cut
him down with his sword, for detaining some of our money which he had
received.
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