HOW TO REGAIN STOLEN PROPERTY. 345 



there to represent the chief nationalities, for from one 

 hundred and fifty t 'to two hundred Europeans arrive there 

 annually, and many are much in need of assistance, 

 pecuniary or otherwise. A fresh breeze directly ahead 

 of us, though very pleasant as yet, promises, according 

 to the Egyptian captain, a rough passage to Suez. 



May 12. The wind has greatly increased, and the 

 sea has been running so high all day that we have spent 

 the greater part of it on our backs. Thanks, however, 

 to the Greek, we have had something to interest us, for 

 he told Arkwright this morning that he had seen one of 

 the crew stealing the claws from the package of our 

 lions' skins. This is a very old grievance, and one that 

 we have always done our best to guard against, knowing 

 what great value the natives attach to both nails and 

 whiskers as charms. Arkwright at once wrote to the 

 captain to complain of the theft, adding that if they 

 were not returned the matter should be reported to the 

 Viceroy, and Mr. Bock translated the note to him. This 

 so frightened him that he set to work with a will to find 

 out the culprit, whom unfortunately the Greek could not 

 recognise, and failing to do so he adopted the following 

 plan to obtain the lost property viz., to muster the 

 crew, and tell them that basins containing sawdust 

 would be placed on each deck, so that the claws might 

 be dropped into them at night without the thief being 

 observed ; and if they were found there in the morning 



