[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Travellers (1500–1858)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel) › [Les six voyages de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier) › [Travels in India (Ball)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball) › 110.p2 # Travels in India (Tavernier) 110.p2 Travels in India (Ball) 110.p2 - **Language:** English ### [110.p2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.110.p2) “Gentlemen — I take the liberty to write to you these lines in order to testify the displeasure I have experienced at the affront done me by Commander Henri Van Wuck at Gombroon, who, notwithstanding the letters of recommendation which I had from the Ambassador to the States, an Officer of my King, addressed, one to the Chief Officer of the Company at Ispahan, another to the Commander at Gombroon, and a third to the Commander in this town of Surat, asking all three to assist me as much as possible, except in so far as the Company was interested. But M. Henri Van Wyck has disregarded his, and has done me the most signal affront that a man of honour, as I am, who am an Officer of his Royal Highness, the brother of my King, could ever receive, which was to have my baggage opened, where there were many jewels, some of which have been lost, and to have ordered a large packet of letters to be taken which the Agent of the English at Gombroon entrusted to me to deliver to the President of the English in this town of Surat, having had another packet containing blank paper placed in its stead. I leave you to reflect as to what kind of esteem the President and all the English hold me in at present, and whether I have not good cause for making my complaints and asking justice from you. And, if it should please you gentlemen to send me permission to wait upon you at Batavia, in order to testify, by word of mouth, the displeasure which I feel on account of this which M. Van Wyck has done me in order to accomplish a crime of this nature, and to inform you in detail of the manner in which all this affair has happened, you would oblige me much. At the least, I ask you to give me some satisfaction in respect to the author of the theft, in default of which I shall not fail, as soon as I have, by the grace of God, returned to France, to make my complaints through the King my master, who has honoured me with his protection. and through his Royal Highness, his only brother, to MM. the States, and from their Ambassador, to obtain satisfaction, at whatever cost, of the said Van Wuck, and by this means establish my honour. Moreover, if I return by Ispahan, I shall not omit to inform the King of Persia of it, and shall tell him, after so much honour as his Majesty has done me, and notwithstanding all the passports which I have held from him, that the said M. Van Wuck has treated me in this fashion. I believe also that his Majesty will not be pleased to hear that all the patterns of jewels, which I was to buy and have made for him both in India and Europe, were lost when the packet of letters was stolen. I can also advise him of the plots and conspiracies which M. Van Wuck has had at Gombroon with a Prince, an enemy of Persia, who came to the said place in disguise. Finally, I know enough to make him receive an equal or greater affront than he has done me; and by his receiving it the Company will receive it also. This, gentlemen, is what I am resolved upon if you do not decide to give me complete satisfaction, though I believe I shall not have that trouble. Hoping that you will not omit to do me justice before I leave this country to return to Europe, where as in all other places I shall always be. Gentlemen, your very humble, etc.” It is rare to see treason unpunished, and the principal actors in this plot all had miserable ends. In the following monsoon the vessels which arrived from Surat at Gombroon spread in that region the tidings of the black villany which had been done me; and a short time after, M. Van Wuck having been attacked by a kind of fever, and the Rev. Father Balthasar, Carmelite Monk, going to see him, sought to get him to speak of this affair with which he was so prominently mixed up. But he defended himself of the charge strongly, and making use of an equivocation, said, that if it was true that he had taken the letters, he wished to die without speaking, and not to live three days. He had not in truth committed the theft, but he had arranged for its being done; and he died at the end of three days, and without speaking. His Lieutenant, named Bozan, one of those whom he had sent to escort me to the vessel, and who apparently had opened the bouccha and committed the theft, after a great debauch, having lain down on the terrace of the house to sleep in the fresh air, as these terraces have neither parapet nor anything to prevent a fall, on moving and rolling in his sleep, fell over, and on the following day was found dead on the seashore. As for the Captain of the vessel, who was also in the plot, four or five days after his arrival at Surat, as he pursued his way, a Muhammadan, jealous of his wife, whom he had beaten, and excited to rage against some Franks who separated them, believing this Captain, whom he found alone, was of the band, stabbed him five or six times with a dagger, upon which he fell dead on the ground. Such were the miserable ends of all these people. - [Previous: 110.1665](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.110.1665) - [Next: 111](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.111) - [Up: 110](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.110) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.110.p2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.110.p2) · Pramāṇa