The demands received here from out-stations in this Commandement must be met as far as possible, because it is a rule with the Company that one district must accommodate another, which, I suppose, will be the practice everywhere. Since His Excellency the Governor and the Council of Colombo have authorized Your Honours in their letter of June 13,1696, to draw directly from Coromandel the goods required from those places for the use of this Commandement, Your Honours must avail yourselves of this kind permission, which is in agreement with the intention of the late Commissioner van Mydregt, who did not wish that the order should pass through various hands. Care must be taken to send the orders in due time, so that the supplies may not run out of stock when required for the garrisons. The articles ordered from Jaffnapatam for Manaar must be sent only in instalments, and no articles must be sent but those that are really required, as instructed; because it has occurred more than once that goods were ordered which remained in the warehouses, because they could not be sold, and which, when going bad, had to be returned here and sold by public auction, to the prejudice of the Company. To give an idea of the small sale in Manaar, I will just state here that last year various provisions and other articles from the Company's warehouses were sent to the amount of Fl. 1,261.16.6--cost price--which were sold there at Fl. 2,037, so that only a profit of Fl. 775.3.10 was made, which did not include any merchandise, but only articles for consumption and use.[49] The Company's chaloups [50] and other vessels kept here for the service of the Company are the following:-- The chaloup "Kennemerland." Do. "'t Wapen van Friesland." Do. "Jaffnapatam." The small chaloup "Manaar." Do. "Hammenhiel." Do. "Het Vissertje." The ponton "De Hoop." Do. "De Last Drager." Do. "De Os." Further, 14 tonys [51] and manschouwers, [52] viz.:-- 4 tonys for service in the Fort. 1 tony in Isle de Vacoa. 1 do. in the islands "De Twee Gebroeders." 1 do. at Point Pedro. 1 do. at Kayts for the Waterfort. Three manschouwers for the three largest chaloups, one manschouwer for the ponton "De Hoop," one manschouwer for the ferry at Colombogamme, one manschouwer for the ferry between the island Leiden and the fort Kayts or Hammenhiel.