Aden Stands In A Vale At The Foot Of A
Mountain, And Makes A Fair Appearance.
It is surrounded by a stone wall,
and has forts and bulwarks in many places; but how these are furnished I
know not.
The 8th, there came off a small boat in which were three
Arabs, who said they were sent by the lieutenant of the town to enquire
of what nation we were; sending us word we were welcome if English, and
that Captain Sharpey had been there the year before, and had gone thence
to Mokha, where he sold all his goods. I asked the name of the pacha,
and whether he was a good man. They answered his name was Jaffer Pacha;
that the former pacha was a very bad man, this rather better, but all
the Turks were bad. Asking what sort of place Mokha was for trade, they
told me there was one man in Mokha who would purchase all my goods. I
sent John Williams ashore, one of my factors, who could speak Arabic,
who was kindly entertained.
The morning of the 9th, I sent my pinnace ashore to procure a pilot for
Mokha, and in the mean time weighed anchor and got under sail. The
pinnace returned without a pilot, saying, they would not let us have any
unless we left three of our chief merchants in pledge, and that they
entreated me to leave one ship, and they would buy all her goods. Being
desirous of trade, I agreed to leave the Pepper-corn, and did what we
could to regain the road, but were carried to leeward by the current, so
we came to anchor to the south of the town.
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