I Was Not Much At My Ease, Alone Among Six Mahometans,
And Could Not Help Apprehending That Some Zealous Pilgrim Of Mecca
Might Lay Hold On This Opportunity, In The Heat Of His Devotion, Of
Sacrificing Me To His Prophet.
These apprehensions were without ground.
I contracted an
acquaintance, which was soon improved into a friendship, with these
people; they offered me part of their provisions, and I gave them
some of mine. As we were in a place abounding with oysters - some of
which were large and good to eat, others more smooth and shining, in
which pearls are found - they gave me some of those they gathered;
but whether it happened by trifling our time away in oyster-
catching, or whether the wind was not favourable, we came to Suaquem
later than the vessel I had left, in which were seven of my
companions.
As they had first landed, they had suffered the first transports of
the bassa's passion, who was a violent, tyrannical man, and would
have killed his own brother for the least advantage - a temper which
made him fly into the utmost rage at seeing us poor, tattered, and
almost naked; he treated us with the most opprobrious language, and
threatened to cut off our heads. We comforted ourselves in this
condition, hoping that all our sufferings would end in shedding our
blood for the name of Jesus Christ. We knew that the bassa had
often made a public declaration before our arrival that he should
die contented if he could have the pleasure of killing us all with
his own hand.
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