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. The house of the keeper of the prison, in which I was
confined, adjoins the wall, at the foot of which is a spacious yard,
where a great number of people, mostly women and children, are kept as
pledges, to prevent their husbands, parents, and relations from
rebelling. The boys while young run about loose in the yard, but when
they come to any size, they are put in irons, and confined in a strong
tower. The women and children dwell in little huts in the yard built on
purpose, the children going mostly naked, unless when the weather is
very cold, and then they have sheep-skin coats.
[Footnote 332: This is a most improper mode of description, as it is now
impossible to say what size Bristol was then. - E.]
The first night of our journey we arrived at Siam, a small town, with
a cattle, on the side of a hill, sixteen miles from Zenan, the country
about being very barren. The 19th we came to Surage, a small village
eighteen miles from Siam, in a very barren country. The people are very
poor, and go almost naked, except a cloth round their middles reaching
to their knees. The 20th, Damare, or Dhamar, a town built of stone
and lime, but in five separate parts, like so many distinct villages. It
stands in a spacious plain or valley, abounding in water, and producing
plenty of grain and other provisions. This town is twenty miles from
Surage, and we remained here two days by order of Abdallah Chelabi, the
Kiabys, who was governor of this province. The 22d we came to Ermin, a
small village, about fifteen miles. The 23d, Nakhil Sammar, a common
inn for travellers, called Sensors by the Turks. There are many of
these sensors between Mokha and Zenan, being built at the cost of the
grand signior for the relief of travellers. This sensor stands in the
middle of a very steep hill, called Nakhil Sammar, on the top of which
is a great castle, in which the governor of the province resides, who is
an Arabian; these craggy mountainous countries being mostly governed by
Arabians, as the inhabitants of the mountains cannot brook the proud and
insolent government of the Turks. No Turk may pass this way, either to
or from Zenan, without a passport from the governor of the province from
which they come. This sensor is about fourteen miles from Ermin.
The 24th we came to Mohader, a small village at the foot of the great
hill, thirteen miles from Nakhil Sammar. Our chiaus had a warrant from
the pacha to take up asses for our men, and accordingly did so at this
place over night; but next morning the Arabians lay in ambush in the
way, and took back their asses, neither of our chiauses daring to give
them one uncivil word. The 25th we came to Rabattamaine, a sensor,
with a few small cottages and shops, on the side of a hill, sixteen
miles. Here grow poppies, of which they make opium, but it is not good.
The 26th we came to a coughe[333] house, called Merfadine, in the
middle of a plain, sixteen miles. The 27th, Tayes, a city half as big
as Zenan, surrounded by a mud wall. We staid here two days, in which
time I did all I could to recover Mr Pemberton's boy, whom Hamet aga the
governor had forced to become Mahometan, and would on no account part
with him.
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