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strongly inclined to believe, that if there was not 
a specific agreement between those people and their 
countrymen the French, on the subject, it was per¬ 
fectly well understood, that if they could induce the 
natives to begin the trade, it would constitute an 
ample atonement for all their past transgressions. 
In the year 1722, soon after the destruction of 
the fleet belonging to the pirates, the Bethali- 
menes, a people inhabiting the interior, had re¬ 
sorted in great numbers to the village, where the 
pirates had deposited their stores, with the view 
of purchasing such articles as were useful or con¬ 
venient. Those most in request, were India stuffs, 
Masulepatam handkerchiefs, muslins, and calicoes. 
The people inhabiting the sea-coasts where the pirates 
also resided, were the Antivares and Manivoulese. 
The greatest cordiality subsisted between these people 
and the Bethalimenes, towards whom they acted with 
hospitality and friendship, both on their own account 
and that of the pirates. 
But when the Bethalimenes saw that the source 
from which the pirates drew their wealth, was dried 
up by the absolute destruction of their fleet, they 
began to prepare for returning to their villages with 
the goods they had purchased. This was the period 
the pirates chose for their purpose: they represented 
to the people, amongst whom they resided, that those 
valuable effects belonged of right to them, as a 
return for the kindness they themselves had expe¬ 
rienced, and that if they suffered them to be taken 
