1883.] 
J. Beames —Notes on the History of Orissa. 
251 
fort could only have been at Muhamadnagar near the present Customs 
Wharf, as there is no other place near the town where a fort could have 
been of any use. At that place there are still some curious mounds and 
ridges which closely resemble fortifications, and the position is one which 
would command the approach to the town by water as well as the shipping 
in the port. The two unfortunate factors were sent into the interior 
and never heard of again. After this senseless and purposeless outrage, 
Captain Heath sailed away to Chittagong, and the native governor very 
naturally demolished the Company’s factory. 
Balasore now remained unoccupied by the English till 1691, when 
a firman was granted by Aurangzeb for the re-establishment of the 
factories in Bengal. Mrs. Wishaw’s tombstone mentioned above has a 
great hole in it, which looks as if it had been torn up from its original 
position and probably thrown away, till restored on the re-occupation of 
the factory by our countrymen. It is the only tombstone of so early a 
date. The nest is to the memory of Mrs. Kelsall, wife of the factor 
already mentioned, and is dated 1751. Calcutta was not founded till 1690 
and it is curious that we hear nothing of Pipli in all these events. It 
would seem that Balasore had become the more important place of the 
t.wo. 
Nothing more is known of the condition or circumstances of Balasore 
Factory till 1748. It is said by some writers that on the capture of 
Calcutta by Surajuddaulah in 1756 the English fugitives took refuge at 
Balramgarhi. I find no mention of this in the Records, and it would on the 
contrary appear that Drake and his garrison were on board their ships at 
Fulta till the arrival of Clive. In 1763 the French fleet was cruising in 
Balasore roads and captured some English ships (Long, p. 295), which caused 
a great panic in Calcutta. Two years previous to this, the following curious 
and interesting entry is to be found in the Government records (Long, p. 
250.) “ From Latful Neheman ( ? Rahman) Thanadar of Balasore, January 
1761. Some time ago the merchants were wont to send iron, stone-plates, 
rice and other things from hence to Calcutta, and they brought tobacco and 
other things from thence to sell here, and therefore the merchants reaped 
a profit on both. Two years ago Mr. Burdett came here and Jaggernauth 
was his Mutsooddy and brought a sloop for his own use and intercepted 
the trade from Balasore to Calcutta. The merchants were so much dis¬ 
tressed that they relinquished trade, and many of them left the place and 
transacted their business at Kunka, where they remain and those that are 
here are greatly distressed and are always making complaints. I have re¬ 
presented it to him but he will not listen to it. He has left the factory 
and embarked on board a sloop, and has intercepted the merchant boats 
and will not permit them to pass.” 
