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58 ment a war of reprisals for damages and insults suffered from the native officials. That government, however, though it was in a bad plight, had still power and pride sufficient to turn fiercely upon such assailants. In Western India, the Company's attempt to defy the imperial authority brought them to considerable discomfiture; for Aurangzib himself was encamped at no great distance with his main army. At Bombay, where the force is reported to have consisted of fifteen European soldiers in addition to a raw native militia, the governor was actually besieged in his own town and castle, and the place was reduced to awkward straits by the fleet of the Abyssinian Siddhi.

MATHARAN, A HILL-STATION NEAR BOMBAY IN WESTERN INDIA.

The expedition against Bengal and the northeastern coast totally failed; the factories were attacked and had to be temporarily abandoned. Orders were issued