162 BAY OF AMPHILA. 
assuring me of his frieiidsliip for the English, and his wish to pro- 
mote their views ; and at the same time he forwarded a packet af 
letters from Captain Rudland, that had reached Massowa by a 
circuitous conveyance, and sent a present of goats and fowls, which 
he had entrusted to the care of the Dola of Dahalac, a respectable 
old man, w ith whom I had been acquainted on my former voyage, 
and who was evidently selected on account of his known attach- 
ment to the English. 
Theletters fromCaptain Rudland contained expressions of great 
alarm at the accounts which he had received respecting the hostile 
proceedings of the Nayib and Omar Aga ; of his assurance that 
Yunus had been poisoned, and of his fears for our safety ; with the 
intelligence of aWahabee fleet having been dispatched from Jidda, 
the destination of which was not satisfactorily ascertained. A 
dispatch was also inclosed, addressed to me from the Bombay 
Government, requesting my co-operation with its agent, Captain 
Rudland, in his commercial plans with respect to Abyssinia, and 
the copy of a letter, ordering him to act in concert with me. 
The receipt of this packet determined my proceedings, and 
I finally resolved to go to Massowa as soon as I could dispatch 
the super-cargo of the ship to the Ras, and ascertain his having 
passed the borders. In pursuance of this plan I wrote a letter 
to Mr. Pearce, desiring him to set out with the Ras's people 
for Massowa immediately on the receipt of my letter, and 
I engaged to meet him there in fourteen days. This letter I 
gave to Mr. Coffin, and went with him on shore, where, after a 
long conference, it was agreed, that he should set out with 
Alii Manda at midnight. I provided him a horse which I had 
