was sent down with a small squadron and some troops.  Fortunately the factory was exceptionally well provisioned.  On the 30th August, the Morning Star, with five gallivats and a sloop, arrived off Carwar, and blockaded the harbour till the arrival of Hamilton and the rest of the force on the 12th September.  In command of the land force was Midford, one of the Company’s factors.  On the 13th, the troops were landed, under Midford and Stanton, in a heavy surf which drove the gallivats[1] on shore and upset them, throwing the whole party into the water.  Midford, with some of his men, struggled on shore, but Stanton was taken out of the water senseless.[2] In the midst of this scene of confusion they were suddenly charged by the Rajah’s horsemen.  Half drowned, undisciplined, and with their ammunition spoiled by water, they could make only a feeble resistance.  Midford and his English Serjeant, Hill, were desperately wounded and made prisoners, together with five Europeans and forty-seven topasses, while sixty men were killed and two gallivats lost.  The wretched topasses had their noses cut off, five European heads were stuck up in derision before the factory, while Midford and Hill were alternately cajoled and threatened to induce them to take service with the Rajah.

In consequence of this disaster, the factory sued for peace, but the Rajah’s terms were so humiliating that they were rejected, and it was decided to await further reinforcements from Bombay; but two months elapsed before their arrival.  Meanwhile, a post of four hundred men was established on shore to guard the water-supply required for daily use.  This gave rise to a skirmish, which put some heart into the invaders.  Early one morning the post was attacked by the enemy, who found, to their surprise, that they had come under fire of the guns of some small vessels Hamilton had anchored close inshore.  After an hour’s cannonade, they broke and fled, pursued by the party on shore, who accounted for some two hundred of them.  Encouraged by this success, Stanton continued to harass the Rajah by small night attacks, and by burning some of his villages, while at sea they did him more damage by intercepting his ships laden with salt and other necessaries, and especially three, bringing Arab horses from Muscat; though the captors were much troubled in providing water and provender for them.  Meanwhile, the factory, which was five or six miles up the river, on the north bank, continued to be invested, and in order to prevent any communication with the squadron, a boom was laid across the river, commanded by a battery on the south side.  In spite of this, communication was kept up through the Portuguese factory, and, more than once, Lieutenant Forbes contrived to pass in and out in a rowing-boat, but it was impossible to send in provisions.

About this time we find Hamilton reporting to Bombay—­