58 CONSOLIDATION OF THE ENGLISH COMPANY

ment a war of reprisals for damages and insults suf- fered from the native officials. That government, how- ever, 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 dis- MATHARAN, A HILL -STATION NEAR BOMBAY IN WESTERN INDIA. comfiture; 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 Euro- pean 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. The expedition against Bengal and the northeastern coast totally failed; the factories were attacked and had to be temporarily abandoned. Orders were issued