510 
MOCHA. 
We urged Devage to get us a dow without delay, and immediately 
procured from him the money we required. 
December 53. — We went on with our preparations, and visited 
the Bas Kateb, a venerable Arab with a long white beard. He was 
extremely civil; but, towards the end of the conversation, ob- 
served that old customs ought to be kept up. I said if they were 
good ones, certainly ; but if bad, the sooner they were altered the 
better. This I knew had reference to the old dispute about the 
boys running away, and therefore I was determined not to permit 
his observation to pass unnoticed. The Dola sent me a number 
of sheep. 
December 24. — We hired a dow for three hundred dollars to 
go the voyage to above Suakin. I paid the Dola an evening visit, 
Mr. Pringle having previously sent him presents, in my name, to 
the amount of five hundred dollars, and to the Bas Kateb two 
hundred. Nothing particular passed, except his saying that he 
begged I would consider Mocha as my house, and that the gates 
should be open for me at any hour. He expressed a wish to 
have* some private conversation with me before my departure. I 
said, I would wait on him the evening before I embarked. Mr. 
Griddle, our youngest Midshipman, was with us ; the Dola wanted 
to know if he was my son, whence arose a conversation respecting 
our sons. He showed me his, and told me he had one more, 
an infant. He then asked after mine. His manners were bad, and 
his whole appearance mean. The apartment was small, and the 
staircases, as usual in Arab houses, narrow and inconvenient, with 
numerous doors at the landing places ; probably meant as a defence 
against a sudden attack. 
