This Letter I Wrote Exactly As They Wished; But
Commanded Them To Look Well To Their Ships And Boats, And By No Means To
Let Any Of Their Men Come Ashore.
Taking this letter with them, they
examined two or three of my men apart as to its meaning.
[Footnote 327: Or interpreter, now commonly called dragoman, druggeman,
or trucheman, all of which are corruptions from the Arabic
tarijman. - Astl. I. 366. a.]
They could not at first get any one who would venture on board, so that
my first letter was not sent. But at length a person, who was born at
Tunis, in Barbary, and spoke good Italian, undertook to carry a letter,
providing I would write to use him well. I wrote again as they desired,
which was taken on board and answered, saying, that all the Turks were
slain or drowned, save one, named Russwan, a common soldier; in this
answer they expressed their satisfaction to hear that I was alive; as
Russwan told them he believed I and all the rest were slain. We
continued in this misery till the 15th December, never hearing any thing
from the ships nor they from us. The aga came several times to me,
sometimes with threats and sometimes soothing, to have me write for all
my people to come ashore and deliver up the ships; but I always answered
him as before. He was in hopes our ships would be forced, for want of
water and provisions, to surrender to him, knowing they could not have a
wind to get out of the straits till May, and would by no means believe
me that they were provided for two years.
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