58 
RESIDENCE OF THE MISSION AT BUSHIRE. 
just reserving the little space upon which he squats, displays his wares. 
The shops, as in Turkey, are opened in the morning and shut at night, 
when the trader returns to his dwelling ; for the shop is but the recep¬ 
tacle for his goods. 
On the 2d Nov. a lame fleet of boats came into Bushire from the 
O 
coast, laden with coarse linen for turbans, earthen pots, mats, &c. for 
which they carry away dates. These boats keep together for fear of 
the Joasmee pirates. 
To the east of the town there is a small elevation, which happily 
destroys the equalities of the buildings, and renders it no uninteresting 
subject for a sketch, when enlivened by its concomitants, water and 
shipping. Whatever may have been the former state of the immediate 
neighbourhood, it is certain that there are now no longer to be found the 
gardens and plantations which Neakciius described, or even those 
which Captain Simmons delineated. Had Nearchus again described 
Bushire and its territory in this day, he would have said, that a 
few cotton bushes, here and there date trees, now and then a Konar 
tree, with water melons, berinjauts , and cucumbers, are the only verdant 
objects which, in any measure, alleviate the glare of its sandy plain. 
1 took a sketch of Bushire from a rising spot near a well on a public 
road.* A troop of young camel-drivers, who were going merrily along, 
soon discovered me; and long continued to vociferate, with many other 
names and jokes, “ Frangui , Frangui” the common appellation in the 
East of every European. 
The new factory is about one mile seven-eights from the town. The 
Resident's guard is composed of seapoys, who, by the regulations, should 
be changed every five years, but they are permitted to remain till they 
become so lax in discipline as scarcely to deserve the name of soldiers. 
The guard is mustered at sun-set, when they mostly appear in their shirts 
and night-caps, and the sentries walk about without their muskets. 
In a few days after our landing we rode to the ruins of Reshire. The 
* See Plate YI. 
