﻿78 REMARKS ON THE ISLAND 



gentle breeze drove us easily before dinner-time round 

 a rock, on which the Brilliant struck just a year before, 

 into a commodious road *, where we dropped our 

 anchor early in the evening. We had seen Mehilay 

 another sister island, in the course of the day. 



The frigate was presently surrounded with canoes, 

 and the deck soon crowded with natives of all ranks, 

 from the high born chief, ivho washed linen, to the 

 half-naked slave, who only paddled. Most of them 

 had letters of recommendation from Englishmen, which 

 none of them were able to read, though they spc ke 

 English intelligibly; and some appeared vain of titles, 

 which our countrymen had given them in play ac- 

 cording to their supposed stations. We had Lords, 

 Dukes, and Princes on board, soliciting our custom 

 and importuning us for presents. In fact, they were 

 too sensible to be proud of empty sounds, but justly 

 imagined, that those ridiculous titles would serve as 

 marks of distinction, and, by attracting notice, pro- 

 cure for them something substantial. The only men 

 of real consequence in the island, whom we saw before 

 we landed, were the Governor Abdullah, second cou- 

 fin to the king, and his brother Akvi, with their seve- 

 ral sons ; all of whom will again be particularly men- 

 tioned : they understood Arabic, seemed zealots in 

 the Mohammedan faith, and admired my copies of the 

 AJkoran-, some verses of which they read, whilst Al- 

 wi perused the opening of another Arabia??, manu- 

 script, and explained it in English more accurately 

 than could have been e?:pected. 



The next morning showed us the island in ail its- 

 beauty ; and the scene was so diversified, that a dis- 



* Lat\ 12 10' 47" S. Long.' 44° 25' >" E. by the Master, 



