in Iraq) becomes clear, as well as its correspondence with the outposts of the
Company in India (Surat, Malabar, Coromandel, Bengal and Ceylon). The latter
shows - once more - that the nearby outposts were obliged to inform each other.
Gamron also kept correspondence with Constantinople (seat of the Dutch
ambassador in the Ottoman Empire) and Aleppo. Aleppo was an important city
for (the carriage of mail via) the caravan trade. The document flow of the Persian
outpost is most interesting, however, in its difference with the 'ideal' flow of the
Company (as roughly displayed on map 1). The document flow differs in two
respects. First, as appears from map 2, the Heeren XVII and Hoge Regering not
only received correspondence from Gamron, but also from the subordinate office
of Bassoura. Second, as shown on map 3, private correspondence is found as part
of the official exchange of documents. Both were unusual - or at least unwanted
- in the (hierarchical) organization of the VOC, as closer examination will show.
An interoffice quarrel is the underlying element of the letters sent directly from
Bassoura to the Heeren XVII and Hoge Regering. In 1736 George Gutchi was the
local representative of the VOC in Bassoura. Both Gutchi and Carel Koenad, his
supervisor in Gamron, worked for the VOC in Persia for over a decade. However,
by 1736 they had developed an enormous hatred toward each other. Their
quarrel derails, when Gutchi gets involved in a fraud case. In that, the Dutch
East India Company lost/86.912:10:- (about€ 915.000 today) because Gutchi
is "too trusting" in the Bassoura-based agent Nacha Moeltjent. The Company
held George Gutchi responsible for this loss.57 Gutchi felt that he had to defend
himself against these charges, but - because he cannot expect too much help
of his rival in Gamron - bypasses Koenad in his correspondence to Batavia and
the Dutch Republic. He writes to the Heeren XVII in March 1736 that he had
to send a copy of his complete correspondence with Gamron because he is "not
quite sure whether or not all letters to Your Honourable Gentlemen were properly
delivered [by Koenad, N.V.]". A year later he repeats this procedure and adds
complaints about the bad cloves and the wet, unsellable sugar Koenad sent him.
He further accuses Koenad of withholding "quite an amount of documents".58
In the meantime Gutchi sends direct correspondence to the Hoge Regering as
well (his letter of 4 July 1736 is transported on a French ship via Bengal).59
Koenad does not give up, however, and complains to the Hoge Regering about
Gutchi. To strengthen his arguments he includes private correspondence sent
COLONIAL LEGACY IN SOUTH EAST ASIA -
THE DUTCH ARCHIVES
57 Generale missiven, 28 November 1737 and 31 January 1739. Printed in: Goor, Generale Missiven,
1-48, 175-254. According to Barendse, Gutchi undertook considerable private trade. Barendse,
Arabian seas, 226.
58 Letter from Bassoura to the Heeren XVII, 31 March 1736. NA, VOC, Letters and papers from the trading
posts, inv. number 2333, fol. 3919. See also: secret letter from Koenad to the Hoge Regering, 10 December
1736. NA, VOC, inv. number 2417, fol. 3943. Private letter from Gutchi to Koenad, 14 September 1736.
NA, VOC, inv. number 2417, fol. 34 69-3476. Letter from Bassoura to the Hoge Regering, 1 November 1737
(including an appendix). NA, VOC, inv. number 2448, fol. 1717-1732.
59 Letter from Bassoura to the Hoge Regering, 28 July 1736 (appendix 4 July 1736). NA, VOC, inv. number
2416, fol. 1-31. On 31 March 1736 and 14 November 1737, George Gutchi had sent packages of documents
directly to the Heeren XVII. In other cases, the direct correspondence consists of accompanying letters with
packages of documents sent from Gamron to the Heeren XVII, which passed Bassoura. On the lists of docu
ments, Gutchi mentions how the letters were transported. The packages of letters were sent "in duplio,"
marked with different letters ('V' or 'Z'). Some were "in the hands of a good friend", others were sent with
"hired runners per express". Within Persia, documents were transported on the ships of the Company, but
also on the ships of the Company's (French and English) rivals, and on "native vessels". Runners some
times worked for the Company. In one case, Gutchi even sent documents via "our porter Mhamed,
on our own costs". Letters from Spahan arrived in Gamron in 1737 'under cover of the Armenian wool
merchant Godje Auwannes'. See: Letter from Bassoura to the Heeren XVII, 6 July 1737. NA, VOC,
88
