sh. This revolution proceeded from the works with
which about this time our factory was strengthened. In 1695 a settlement
was made at Triamang, and two years after at Kattaun and Sablat. The
first, in the year 1700, was removed to Bantal. Various applications were
made by the natives in different parts of the island for the
establishment of factories, particularly from Ayer-Bangis to the
northward, Palembang on the eastern side, and the people from the
countries south of Tallo, near Manna. A person was sent to survey these
last, as far as Pulo Pisang and Kroi, in 1715. In consequence of the
inconvenience attending the shipping of goods from Bencoolen River, which
is often impracticable from the surfs, a warehouse was built in 1701 at a
place then called the cove; which gave the first idea of removing the
settlement to the point of land which forms the bay of Bencoolen. The
unhealthiness of the old situation was thought to render this an
expedient step; and accordingly about 1714 it was in great measure
relinquished, and the foundations of Fort Marlborough were laid on a spot
two or three miles distant. Being a high plain it was judged to possess
considerable advantages; many of which however are counterbalanced by its
want of the vicinity of a river, so necessary for the ready and plentiful
supply of provisions. Some progress had been made in the erection of this
fort when an accident happened that had nearly destroyed the Company's
views. The natives incensed at ill treatment received from the Europeans,
who were then but little versed in the knowledge of their dispositions or
the art of managing them by conciliating methods, rose in a body in the
year 1719, and forced the garrison, whose ignorant fears rendered them
precipitate, to seek refuge on board their ships. These people began now
to feel alarms lest the Dutch, taking advantage of the absence of the
English, should attempt an establishment, and soon permitted some persons
from the northern factories to resettle the place; and, supplies arriving
from Madras, things returned to their former course, and the fort was
completed. The Company's affairs on this coast remained in tranquillity
for a number of years. The important settlement of Natal was established
in 1752, and that of Tappanuli a short time afterwards; which involved
the English in fresh disputes with the Dutch, who set up a claim to the
country in which they are situated. In the year 1760 the French unde