The Dutch established a factory at Syriam in 1631; The English were some years later. Both were expelled about the year 1670. The English factory was re-established in 1698 by the Government of Madras. In 1740 the Peguans drove out the Burmese, but left the British alone. In 1743 the Burmese re- took the town. They held it only three days, when the Peguans recaptured it, and, suspecting the British. Agent of duplicity, burnt his factory and expelled him. The town went through many vicissitudes in the wars. between the Peguans and the Burmese in the eight- eenth centuries. See article Syriam in Yule and Burnell.
Solor—Sulu. The Sulu islands or archipelago, for there are 150 islands, extend between Borneo and the Mindano Islands, the Southern group of the Philippines.
St. Thomé—Now a southern suburb of Madras city.
Succadana—A place on the western Coast of Borneo. In the early part of the seventeenth century, the East India Company had great hopes of it. Its principal reports were wax and diamonds. One account indeed (Calen- dar of State Papers, Vol. I. No. 522) says that "the best diamonds in the world" were to be procured there. It was once the seat of a Javanese Settlement, and the name, given probably by the Javanese, means, in Sanskrit, the parrot's gift."
Surat—This was a great port at the mouth of the Gulf of
Cambay (See Cambaia). When the merchandise of
the East was carried, to Europe through the Red Sea
and thence overland, it was one of the most important
trading places in India. With the discovery of the
passage round the Cape of Good Hope, its importance
diminished; and now, with silting-up of the gulf, trade
has deserted it.
The following account of it in the Storia do Mogor
(Vol. I p. 61) is interesting from its mention of the
trade of this part of our part of the world.
