I Had, Now The Satisfaction Of Seeing My Caravan Slowly Winding Down The
Hillside In Good Order, Having Surmounted All Their Difficulties.
Upon arrival, my men were perfectly astonished at seeing us so near the
trader's party, and still more confounded at my sending for Ibrahim to
summon him to my tree, where I presented him with some English
sovereigns, and a double-barrelled gun.
Nothing escapes the
inquisitiveness of these Arabs; and the men of both parties quickly
perceived that I had established an alliance in some unaccountable
manner with Ibrahim. I saw the gun, lately presented to him, being
handed from one to the other for examination; and both my vakeel and men
appeared utterly confused at the sudden change.
The chief of Ellyria now came to inspect my luggage, and demanded
fifteen heavy copper bracelets and a large quantity of beads. The
bracelets most in demand are simple rings of copper five-eighths of an
inch thick, and weighing about a pound; those of smaller size not being
so much valued. I gave him fifteen such rings, and about ten pounds of
beads in varieties, the red coral porcelain (dimiriaf) being the most
acceptable. Legge was by no means satisfied: he said "his belly was very
big and it must be filled," which signified, that his desire was great
and must be gratified. I accordingly gave him a few extra copper rings;
but suddenly he smelt spirits, one of the few bottles that I possessed
of spirits of wine having broken in the medicine chest. Ibrahim begged
me to give him a bottle to put him in a good humour, as he enjoyed
nothing so much as araki; I accordingly gave him a pint bottle of the
strongest spirits of wine. To my amazement he broke off the neck, and
holding his head well back, he deliberately allowed the whole of the
contents to trickle down his throat as innocently as though it had been
simple water. He was thoroughly accustomed to it, as the traders were in
the habit of bringing him presents of araki every season. He declared
this to be excellent, and demanded another bottle. At that moment a
violent storm of thunder and rain burst upon us with a fury well known
in the tropics; the rain fell like a waterspout, and the throng
immediately fled for shelter. So violent was the storm, that not a man
was to be seen: some were sheltering themselves under the neighbouring
rocks; while others ran to their villages that were close by; the
trader's people commenced a fusilade, firing off all their guns lest
they should get wet and miss fire. I could not help thinking how
completely they were at the mercy of the natives at that moment, had
they chosen to attack them; the trader's party were lying under their
untanned ox-hides with their empty guns.
Each of my men was provided with a piece of mackintosh, with which his
gunlocks were secured.
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