ciiAr. i.] 
DEMAND FOR POLL-TAX. 
29 
were in my service; that no plunder would be per¬ 
mitted, and that their names were to be registered at 
the public Divan before they started. They promised 
fidelity and devotion, but a greater set of scoundrels 
in physiognomy I never encountered. Each man re¬ 
ceived five months’ wages in advance, and I gave them 
an entertainment with abundance to eat and drink, to 
enable them to start in good humour. 
We were just ready to start; the supplies were all on 
board, the donkeys and horses were shipped, when an 
officer arrived from the Divan, to demand from me the 
poll-tax that Moosa Pasha, the Governor-general, had 
recently levied upon the inhabitants; and to inform 
me, that in the event of my refusing to pay the said 
tax for each of my men, amounting to one month’s 
wages per head, he should detain my boats. I ordered 
-my captain to hoist the British flag upon each of the 
-three boats, and sent my compliments to the govern¬ 
ment official, telling him that I was neither a Turkish 
subject nor a trader, but an English explorer; that I 
was not responsible for the tax, and that if any Turkish 
official should board my boat, under the British flag, 
I should take the liberty of throwing him overboard. 
This announcement appeared so practical, that the 
official hurriedly departed, while I marched my men 
on board, and ordered the boatmen to get ready to 
