8 yoyage of the Novara. 



March, 1776, set sail thence for Leghorn. Here certain articles 

 were to be taken on board, which the Government had pro- 

 mised to have ready, and which consisted of copper, iron, 

 steel, and tools. Before Bolts left harbour on his voyage to 

 the Indies he was invested by the Empress with the grade of 

 Lieutenant-Colonel in their service, and for the better prose- 

 cution of his objects was provided by the State Chancery 

 with comprehensive powers,* and a pass for barbarous coun- 

 tries, called a " Scojitrino.^^'f The Empress at the same time 

 provided the daring adventurer with letters of introduction 

 under her own hand to the Emperor of Cliina, the " King" 

 of Persia, and the Lidian satraps whose dominions he was 

 to visit. 



Baron Proli, one of the chief partners, went first of all to 

 Vienna, and thence to Leghorn, and concluded an agreement 

 with Bolts to dispatch a ship to the Indies in each of the 

 years 1777, 1778, 1779, the cargoes of which should be 

 worth at least £30,000 each, while Bolts, on his part, en- 

 gaged to remain in the Indies three and a half years from 

 the day of his departure, there to found factories, and to lay 



* " I have drawn up these documents," writes Prince Kaunitz, in a state paper ad- 

 dressed to the Empress, dated 27th March, 1776, "in such manner as to advance the 

 objects of your Majesty in estabhshing commercial intercourse between Austria and 

 the Indies, without incurring disagreeable results, which might accrue from the con- 

 ferring of unrestricted authority." 



t A piece of parchment, cut out of a book in zig-zag fashion, which in former times 

 was necessary in all commerce with barbarians, the captains of privateers, when un- 

 aljle to read, being enabled, by comparing the torn-out leaf {scontriiio) with the coun- 

 terfoil, which it was customary to give to all trading persons, to determine to what 

 nationality the vessel belonged. 



