I Requested, If Any Of Our Nation Came There Before I Could Give Advice To England, That They Might Be Permitted To Depart Quietly, And Not Betrayed As I Had Been:

But this he positively refused to comply with.

I then entreated him to write to Regib aga, to execute all that the pacha had promised me; for, being my mortal enemy, he would otherwise wrong me and my people. He answered with great pride, "Is not my word sufficient to overturn a city? If Kegib wrong you, I will pull his skin over his ears, and give you his head. Is he not my slave?" I then asked him for an answer to his majesty's letter, but he would give me none. On my departure, I told the kiahya that I had no weapon, and therefore desired leave to buy a sword, that I might not ride down like a prisoner. He acquainted the pacha with my request, who sent me one of his cast swords. The kiahya also gave me this morning an hundred pieces of gold of forty maydens, having before given me fifty. The 18th, I paid all the dues of the prison, and went to breakfast with the kiahya, where I received my dispatch, and a letter for the governor of Aden, to deliver the boat belonging to the Pepper-corn, I requested also his letter to the governor of Tyes, to restore Mr Pemberton's boy who was left sick there, and who, I had been informed, was forced to turn Mahometan. He wrote a letter and sealed it, but I know not its purport. I now took leave of the kiahya, and departed for Mokha; I, Mr Femell, and Mr Fowler, being mounted on horses, and alt the rest on asses or camels. We had two chiautes to conduct us on the way, one a-horseback and the other a-foot.

The city of Zenan is somewhat larger than Bristol,[332] and is well built of stone and lime, having many churches or mosques. It is surrounded by a mud wall, with numerous battlements and towers. On the west side there is a great deal of spare ground enclosed within the walls, where the principal people have their gardens, orchards, and kiosks, or pleasure-houses. It stands in a barren stony valley, enclosed among high hills at no great distance, on one of which to the north, which overlooks the town, there is a small castle to keep off the mountaineers, who used from thence to offend the city. Its only water is from wells, which have to be dug to a great depth. Wood is very scarce and dear, being brought from a distance. The castle is at the east side of the city, and is enclosed with mudwalls, having many turrets, in which they place their watch every night, who keep such a continual hallooing to each other all night long, that one unaccustomed to the noise, can hardly sleep. The pacha and some other principal men dwell within the castle.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 319 of 424
Words from 166480 to 166988 of 221842