598 



ANNUAL REGISTER 1816. 



among the crowd. In our de- 

 fence we replied it was not pos- 

 ■sible we could have used any 

 means of compulsion, as we were 

 lUKirmed. This we boldly assert- 

 ed, as the brace of pistols 1 had 

 with me was never produced, 

 liesides, we recalled to his me- 

 mory that on our way thither one 

 of the guides who liad died, had 

 replenished our bardak with water 

 from a well near Amabdi. — This 

 pro\ ed that we had gone amicably 

 together. 



The Cacheff, who continued to 

 treat us haughtily in public, com- 

 manded the Arab to explain the 

 means by which the infidels (who 

 he confessed were without arms) 

 had killed his comi)anions. He 

 replied, by magic, for he had 

 seen me burning something on 

 o\n- first entrance into the great 

 chamber. This was the bat I had 

 accidentally scorched. . Our cause 

 now began to wear a better com- 

 plexion : part of the crowd, who 

 treated the idea of magic with 

 contempt, believed us innocent, 

 and the rest probably dreaded the 

 imaginary powers with which we 

 had been invested. Emboldened 

 by this change of sentiment in 

 our favour, our dragoman assumed 

 a lofty tone, and peremptorily 

 insisted on our being sent, to- 

 gether with our two accusers and 

 the Shekh of Amabdi, to Siout, to 

 Ibrahim Bey, the son of the 

 Pacha of Cairo, and the Governor 

 of Upper Egypt. The reputation 

 of tins man for cruelty was so 

 great, that his very name excited 

 terror in the assembly. It was 

 now our turn to thieaten, and we 

 talked of the alliance of our king 

 with the Pacha of Cairo, and the 

 conseqiience of ill-treating any 



one protected by his firman. This 

 had its effect, and the Cacheff 

 having consulted for some time 

 with the Shekh, suggested an ac- 

 commodation by money. This 

 juoposal we at first affected to 

 reject with disdain, as it would 

 in some manner be an acknow- 

 ledgement of our guilt, though 

 we were secretly anxious to ter- 

 minate the affair at any rate. Our 

 dragoman was sent to negociate 

 with the Cacheff, and it was 

 finally agreed we should pay twelve 

 jjiastres or two Spanish dollars to 

 each of the women, and the same 

 sum we offered as a present to 

 the Shekh of the village. All 

 animosity seemed now to have 

 ceased, and we were permitted 

 quietly to return to our vessel, 

 and continue our voyage. 



THE SrOTS IN THE SUN. 



l^Froni a French paper J] 



The superstitious anxiety exci- 

 ted at present among the A'ulgar, 

 and even among ))eople who would 

 be offended at being so classed, 

 by the great news of spots in the 

 Sun, must afford ample matter of 

 reflection to all enlightened men. 

 What renders these terrors ridi- 

 culous is, that nothing is more 

 usual than the appearance of spots 

 in the Sun's disk : few years pass 

 during which astronomers do not 

 observe them in less or greater 

 numbers, and no injurious in- 

 fluence has ever yet resvilted from 

 them. A spot was observed in 

 1779, which, from its apparent 

 dimensions, must have been about 

 17,000 leagues in diameter; it 

 was therefore five or six times as 



large 



