152 LEARNED DOCTORS. 



lecting myself, I bowed in return, and taking out 

 my letter I had received in Calcutta, held it up for 

 Waarkie to take it, and hand to the Negoos, as I 

 hoped from his being so conversant with Arabic, 

 he might be able to decipher it without the aid of 

 an interpreter. This, however, I soon saw he could 

 not do, for upon looking at it, not being able to 

 make anything of it the right way, he turned it 

 upside down, to see if it would read any easier in 

 that position. Two mollums, or learned Mahomedan 

 scribes, attendants of the Wallasmah Mahomed, 

 were now T summoned, but they soon confessed 

 themselves at fault with the Persian character. 

 Very fortunately for my reputation, a large round 

 Government seal occupied one-third of the paper, 

 and some of the characters upon it being recognised 

 as Arabic, the document at length was reported 

 to be genuine, or I should have been set down as 

 an impostor as well as an adventurer. The seal 

 having thus impressed them with the official cha- 

 racter of the letter, the mollums satisfied the King 

 that they could make out that I was represented in 

 it to be a good man, and after one of them had 

 been instructed to ask me what presents I had 

 brought for the Negoos, they were ordered to 

 depart, 



Having understood from the members of the 

 Mission, on my first arrival, that it was an invariable 

 custom, on introduction to the monarch, % to make 

 him some present, I had accordingly provided 



