I Found No Difficulty, As I
Engaged A Woman To Bring A Regular Supply For A Daily Payment In Beads.
Much Bartering Was Going On Between The Turks And The Natives For
Provisions, In Which The Latter Were Invariably Cheated, And Beaten If
They Complained.
I felt sure that such conduct must end in disagreement,
if not in actual fight, in the event of which I knew that I should be
dragged into the affair, although perfectly innocent, and having nothing
to do with the Turks.
My quarters in the town were near an open quadrangular space about
eighty yards square, inclosed upon all sides, but having a narrow
entrance to the main street. The Turks were scattered about in the
neighbouring lanes, their time passed in drinking merissa, and
quarrelling with the natives and with each other.
The day after Ibrahim's departure, the Turks seized some jars of water
by force from the women on their return from the stream. A row ensued,
and ended by one of the women being shamefully maltreated; and a
Latooka, who came to her assistance, was severely beaten. This I did not
see, but it was reported to me. I called Suleiman, and told him that if
such things were permitted it would entail a fight with the natives, in
which I should not allow my men to join; that I prohibited my men from
taking anything from the Latookas without just payment: thus, should a
fight be caused by the conduct of his people, they must get out of it as
they best could.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 207 of 662
Words from 56415 to 56676
of 178435
