458 
MASSOWAH 
Imaum of Sana, or the Dola of Mocha. Emir Mohammed himself 
was expected in the course of a day or two. 
" July 1^. — The Nayib came over in the morning from Arkeko, 
to settle the duties of the kafila * and dows lately arrived. I sent 
to remind him of the near approach of the time which had been 
fixed for having the mules ready ; stating, that from a reliance on 
his word, I had hitherto avoided troubling him on the subject, and 
hoped that all would be prepared by the morrow. He returned in 
answer, that he had already sent twice for the mules, that they 
were nearly at hand, and, by the blessing of God, all would be 
ready in three or four days. This manifest evasion and viohition 
of his written engagement brought on much altercation, which 
was carried on during the whole day by messengers charged alter- 
nately with our complaints, and the Nayib 's excuses. The parti- 
culars it is needless to detail ; the result of the whole was, that the 
Nayib promised to give me a personal interview the next day. 
" July 13. — At the appointed hour of our visit, twelve o'clock, 
we were informed that the Nayib was asleep; the interview was 
therefore postponed till the evening. At six o'clock we waited 
on the Nayib, and found him in the mosque, whence he proceeded 
with us to the Cadjan house, accompanied by two or three attend- 
ants. I opened the conference by saying, that, as I was about to 
dispatch a letter to Lord Valentia, it would be necessary to state to 
his Lordship the reason of our still continuing at Massowah, after 
the day had elapsed on which, by agreement, we were to have 
proceeded on our journey to Abyssinia. The Nayib replied, that 
it would be most agreeable to him to send us off the next morning, 
* Or caravan. 
