ABSTRACT
For the more adventurous Country merchants in the 1790s, the string of ancient towns on the Malabar coast might seem to promise to be their oyster – a place pleasantly remote from Government interference, where initiative and daring might pay dividends. And this was in spite of, or even because, for twenty years the British were involved in intermittent hostilities against the French, Haider Ali or his son, Tipu. Among the local inhabitants constant feuds erupted as loyalties were transferred. Certainly some merchants prospered but others, due to the distance from Bombay and the uncertain political climate, became involved in schemes, which like the saw mill set up with Company funds, were destined to founder. As for the Bombay Marine Board, Malabar was where they looked for an apparently inexhaustible source of timber.
