306 
BENGAZI. 
the streets at this moment ; for even Giacomo Eossoni (the brother 
of the Consul), who was a great favorite with the Arabs, and who 
chanced to be out just before, very narrowly escaped with his life in 
making his way to take refuge in our house. We had every desire 
to act as conciliatory a part as possible, but finding our doors assailed 
in the manner described, we armed ourselves, with the intention of 
defending the house to the last, should the Arabs proceed to extre- 
mities. At this difficult moment Shekh Mahommed and his bro- 
thers, accompanied by some of our other Arab friends, made their 
way through the mob and arrived just in time to prevent an imme- 
diate attack upon our quarters ; and we afterwards learnt that one 
of the Shekh’s brothers had been felled to the ground, for his remon- 
strances in our favour, before he could reach our door. A parley 
was now begun with great vehemence on both sides ; but before any 
measures could be determined upon, an alarm was excited that the 
Greeks might be landing while this discussion was pending, and the 
whole party of rioters hurried down to the beach, leaving none but 
the women and children in the town. Muskets were now discharged 
in various directions, without any person knowing what they were 
firing at, and the whole strength of the place was drawn up on the 
beach in momentary expectation of being attacked by the invaders. 
At length, after a lapse of several hours, they conceived that suffi- 
cient time had been given for the approach of the vessels, if Bengazi 
had been really their object ; and after inquiring of one another what 
grounds there had been for all the disturbance they had been mak- 
ing, without any one being able to give a satisfactory answer, the 
