IOR/G/29/25, ff 200-289

Extract of Bombay Commercial Consultations prepared by Charles Walking, the Secretary to the Court of Directors, in which he includes an enclosure from the Resident and joint Factor at Bussora [Basra] and from the Resident at Bushire [Bushehr], Samuel Manesty and Harford Jones respectively. The enclosure covers: the Residents’ correspondence with Persian officials; the Persian Government’s views on the establishment of British factories in the Kingdom of Persia [Iran]; the privileges and the commercial advantages that would be granted by the Shah of Persia to the East India Company (EIC); and a list of the different kinds of goods usually brought to Bushire from India.

The enclosure also includes a ‘Report of the Commerce of Arabia and Persia’ (ff 208-286) based on information already available from previous reports of the Bushire Factory. The report is prepared and signed by the Residents of Bussora and Bushire. It is divided into three parts: ‘Commerce of Arabia bordering on the Persian Gulph [Gulf]’, ‘Commerce of the Red Sea’, and ‘Commerce of Persia’.

‘Commerce of Arabia bordering on the Persian Gulph’ covers the following matters:

• Trade status in Muscat, Bahreen [Bahrain], Catiffe [Qatif], Jebarra [Zubarah], Bussora, and Bagdad [Baghdad, also spelled as Bagdat]
• Privileges granted by the Ottoman Empire to the British and other European nations at Bussora
• Account of the main powerful Arab tribes in the region including: Benechalid [Banū Khālid], Beneattaba [Banū ‘Utbah], Whahab [the Wahhābīs], and the Montificka Arabs [al-Muntafiq Arab tribal confederation]
• The trade activities of merchants from Constantinople [Istanbul], Aleppo, Damascus, Mardin, Orfa [Urfa], and Diarbeker [Diyarbakir]
• Commodities traded including: sugar, dried fruit, rose water, coffee, spices, rice, pearls, woollen goods, metals, and opium
• The activities of vessels belonging to Arabs and Moslem [Muslim] merchants of Surat and Muscat
• The European vessels in the Persian Gulph.

It appears that part of the report is missing (between folios 242v and 243r). This may have been the second part, ‘Commerce of the Red Sea’.

‘Commerce of Persia’ covering:

• The EIC’s trade activities in Persia and the attitude of the Persian Kings towards it
• Remarks on the Factory at Gombroon [Bandar Abbas]
• The Dutch Factory activities on the Island of Carrack [Jazireh-ye Khark]
• Events taking place in Persia [Iran] and their impact on the commerce as early as 1773
• The status of trade on the Island of Ormus [Jazireh-ye Hormoz]
• The trade with Kandahar [also spelled as Candahoor]
• The languishing state of the EIC’s commerce at the port of Bushire
• The importation to England of raw silk from Persia
• The type of woollen goods and other British products suitable for the Persian market
• Description of the arrival of a Persian pilgrim caravan in Bagdad
• Comparison between the carpets manufactured in Persia and those manufactured in England, the Wilton and Axminster carpets in particular
• Annual accounts of exports and imports between the Persian Gulph, the Red Sea, and India
• The recommendation to establish factories at the ports of Mocha and Muscat.