Their reception at Diou. The
author applies to the viceroy for assistance, but without success;
he is sent to solicit in Europe.
Our condition here was not much better than that of the illustrious
captives whom we left behind. We were in an Arabian ship, with a
crew of pilgrims of Mecca, with whom it was a point of religion to
insult us. We were lodged upon the deck, exposed to all the
injuries of the weather, nor was there the meanest workman or sailor
who did not either kick or strike us. When we went first on board,
I perceived a humour in my finger, which I neglected at first, till
it spread over my hand and swelled up my arm, afflicting me with the
most horrid torture. There was neither surgeon nor medicines to be
had, nor could I procure anything to ease my pain but a little oil,
with which I anointed my arm, and in time found some relief. The
weather was very bad, and the wind almost always against us, and, to
increase our perplexity, the whole crew, though Moors, were in the
greatest apprehension of meeting any of those vessels which the
Turks maintain in the strait of Babelmandel; the ground of their
fear was that the captain had neglected the last year to touch at
Moca, though he had promised. Thus we were in danger of falling
into a captivity perhaps more severe than that we had just escaped
from. While we were wholly engaged with these apprehensions, we
discovered a Turkish ship and galley were come upon us. It was
almost calm - at least, there was not wind enough to give us any
prospect of escaping - so that when the galley came up to us, we
thought ourselves lost without remedy, and had probably fallen into
their hands had not a breeze sprung up just in the instant of
danger, which carried us down the channel between the mainland and
the isle of Babelmandel. I have already said that this passage is
difficult and dangerous, which, nevertheless, we passed in the
night, without knowing what course we held, and were transported at
finding ourselves next morning out of the Red Sea and half a league
from Babelmandel. The currents are here so violent that they
carried us against our will to Cape Guardafui, where we sent our
boats ashore for fresh water, which we began to be in great want of.
The captain refused to give us any when we desired some, and treated
us with great insolence, till, coming near the land, I spoke to him
in a tone more lofty and resolute than I had ever done, and gave him
to understand that when he touched at Diou he might have occasion
for our interest. This had some effect upon him, and procured us a
greater degree of civility than we had met with before.
At length after forty days' sailing we landed at Diou, where we were
met by the whole city, it being reported that the patriarch was one
of our number; for there was not a gentleman who was not impatient
to have the pleasure of beholding that good man, now made famous by
his labours and sufferings.
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