﻿OF HINZUAN, OR JOHANKA. .101 



by (he return of the king and his train ; some of whom 

 were Arabs, for I heard one of them say ftutva rakicl, 

 or, he is sleeping. There was immediate silence, and I 

 passed the night with little disturbance, except from 

 the unwelcome songs of the mosquitos. In the 

 morning all was equally silent and solitary ; the house 

 appeared to be deserted ; and I began to wonder what 

 had become of Tumuni : he came at length with con- 

 cern on his countenance, and told me that the bearers 

 had run away in the night ; but that the king, who 

 wished to see me in another of his houses, would 

 supply me with bearers, if he could not prevail on me 

 to stay till a boat could be sent for. I went imme- 

 diately to the king, whom I found sitting on a raised 

 sofa in a large room, the walls of which were adorned 

 with santences from the Koran in very legible cha- 

 racters : about fifty of his subjects were seated on the 

 ground in a semicircle before him; and my inter- 

 preter to his place in the midst of them. The good 

 old king laughed heartily, when he heard the adven- 

 ture of the night, and said, " you will now be my 

 *' guest for a week, I hope ; but, seriously, if you 

 •' must return soon, I will send into the country for 

 " some peasants to carry you." He then apologized 

 for the behaviour of Shaikh Salhn, which he had 

 heard from Tumuni, who told me afterwards that he 

 was much displeased with it, and would not fail to 

 express his displeasure. He concluded with a long 

 harangue on the advantage which the English might 

 derive from sending a ship every year from Bombay to 

 trade with his subjects, and on the wonderful cheap- 

 ness of their commodities, especially of their cowries. 

 Ridiculous as this idea might seem, it showed an en- 

 largement of mind, a desire of promoting *.he interest 

 of his people, and a sense of the benefits arising 

 from trade, which could hardly have been expected 

 from a petty African chief, and which, if he had 



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