68 MASSOWAH. 
come to his house to meet the Captain, or that he and the Captain 
would come to me. This I positively refused, and declared I had now 
nothing more to say to the Captain. The Nayib wished, they said, to 
persuade us to pursue our original plan of going to Suakin. The 
fact was, he would have got at least one hundred dollars out of the 
two hundred which the pilots were to have received, and he did 
not like to lose the money. 
My servant and the men brought some very fine specimens of 
madrapore, and the natives some new shells. At night we heard a 
most terrible uproar of women, screaming and crying : on enquiry 
we found that a dow had arrived from Jidda, and brought intelli- 
gence of the death of the master of one of the neighbouring houses, 
whose brother was in the service of the Nayib. On going outj we 
found the street crowded with people, all crying, as well as the wo- 
men within the habitation. The tom-toms soon set them a dancing; 
and this contim^d to our great annoyance all night, with only oc- 
casional intermissions. They told us this would be continued every 
morning for two years ; but as the town has been free from this 
nuisance since our arrival, and probably several people have died 
within the last two years, I did not give credit to their asser- 
tions. 
We learned from the dow that Captain Vashon arrived at Jidda 
about ten days before she sailed ; I hoped, therefore, he would soon 
get down to Mocha. The Nayib in the evening sent to request 
some vinegar, and something to smell to for the head-ach. I sent 
some Chili vinegar, and one of my silver stopper bottles, filled with 
volatile alkali, which were acceptable. 
June 1^. — Early in the morning, all the women in the town were 
