MASSOWA. 205 
had been formerly occupied by the Nayib. This chief received 
me very ceremoniously, ordered sherbet to be handed about^ 
asked the few customary questions, with as much haughtiness 
as the Grand Seignor himself could have assumed, and then 
presented me with a kaftan, lined with ermine. All this pass- 
ing in a wretched apartment, with a low ceiling and a mud 
floor, in the midst of a half-naked and dirty rabble, produced a 
most incongruous and ridiculous effect. I continued, however, 
though with no inconsiderable difficulty, to keep my countenance, 
endeavoured to sustain my part with all the unbending gravity I 
could muster, and returned, amidst a crowd of the inhabitants, 
who attended me with shouting and hallooing, to the shore. I 
observed during my visit, that the Nayib and his son kept com- 
pletely in the back-ground ; they paid their compliments at a 
distance, and looked anxious to converse with me, but were 
evidently too much under restraint to venture upon such a liberty, 
in the presence of their superior chief. 
On the 13th, the Kaimakan sent to request a private conversa- 
tion with me in the evening ; in consequence of which I went on 
shore. He received me on this occasion without form, in a small 
upper room, in a manner very different from that which he had 
assumed on the preceding day. On our being seated, sherbet and 
rose-water were handed round, and he offered me his own hookah, 
which, being considered as a particular compliment, I thought it 
right to accept. Hamed, the Nayib's son, and some of the prin- 
cipal people of the place were present on my first going in, but, 
on a hint being given, they shortly afterwards departed, leaving 
a few slaves only in the room, who being always considered 
