king's hostile interference of his
Hamburg envoy. In his answer the king evaded what he was resolved not to
grant, and yet could not in equity refuse. By the double dealing of the
monarch the Company lost the active support of the subscribers in
Hamburg and Holland.

In spite of the desertion of her English and foreign subscribers the
Scots, encouraged in their stubborn resolution, and flattered by hopes
that captivated their imaginations, decided to enter the project alone.
A stately house in Milne Square, then the most modern and fashionable
part of Edinburgh, was purchased and fitted up for an office and
warehouse. It was called the Scottish India House. Money poured faster
than ever into the coffers of the Company. Operations were actively
commenced during the month of May, 1696. Contracts were rapidly let and
orders filled--smith and cutlery work at Falkirk; woollen stockings at
Aberdeen; gloves and other leather goods at Perth; various metallic
works, hats, shoes, tobacco-pipes, serges, linen cloth, bobwigs and
periwigs, at Edinburgh; and for home-spun and home-woven woollen checks
or tartan, to various parts of the Highlands.

[Illustration: SCOTTISH INDIA HOUSE]

As the means for building ships in Scotland did not then exist, recourse
was had to the dockyards of Amsterdam and Hamburg. At an expense of
L50,000 a few inferior ships were purchased, and fitted out as ships of
war; for their constitution authorized them to make war both by land and
sea. The vessels were finally fitted out at Leith, consisting of the
Caledonia, the St. Andrew, the Unicorn, and the Dolphin, each armed with
fifty guns and two tenders, the Endeavor and Pink, afterwards sunk at
Darien; and among the commodities stored away were axes, iron wedges,
knives, smiths', carpenters' and coopers' tools, barrels, guns, pistols,
combs, shoes, hats, paper, tobacco-pipes, and, as was supposed,
provisions enough to last eight months. The value of the cargo of the
St. Andrew was estimated at L4,006. The crew and colonists consisted of
twelve hundred picked men, the greater part of whom were veterans who
had served in king William's wars, and the remainder of Highlanders and
others who had opposed the revolution, and three hundred gentlemen of
family, desirous of trying their fortunes.

It was on July 26, 1698, that the vessels weighed anchor and put out to
sea. A wild insanity seized the entire population of Edinburgh as they
came to witness the emb