76 MOCHA. 
pledging his honour that he should not be punished ; yet, as soon 
as he had him in his power, he tied him up, and flogged him, in 
the presence of the very people to whom he had made the engage- 
ment. A promise is by the Arabs considered as most sacred, and 
the laws of hospitality bound them to protect the man ; their in- 
dignation, therefore, was excited beyond all bounds. The Banian, 
who attended Captain Keys, informed me that the boys repeated 
this story, and told him they would never go back. 
When I applied to the Dola to let me and Mr. Pringle see them, 
it was positively refused, though in the morning it had been ac- 
ceded to; he pretended, that as the Captain had seen them, it was 
unnecessary that any one else should. As a last resource, I wrote to 
Mr. Pringle's interpreter, the Hadgi, who was at Sanna, to make the 
strongest remonstrances to the Vizier, to claim them as my servants, 
and to represent that the offence was greatly aggravated by their 
being taken from the factory, which was more immediately under 
the protection of the Imaum. I likewise desired that he would ob- 
tain for me a definitive answer, whether they were determined to 
persevere in their present system of encouraging our sailors to 
desert, that I might, on my return, be able to represent the case 
properly to the India Government. The extent of this evil calls 
loudly for remedy, and nothing can in my mind be easier, as a single 
ship would oblige them to restore every renegado. Some years ago 
the French bombarded the town, in consequence of the Dola's not 
paying a debt of seventy thousand dollars. They first fired on his 
house, where they killed several persons; and afterwards on a 
Friday (the sabbath of the Mussulmauns), threw a shell into the 
great mosque. This brought the Dola to his senses, and the cash 
