A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 09: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present TimeKerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 09: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
As the viceroy and his fellows expected the immediate landing of the
ambassador and followers, together with the captain and others of us, we
sent Nazerbeg again ashore, with instructions what to do. He was to
inform the viceroy that the ambassador was not very well, and had
therefore deferred his landing till next morning, which was Monday the
20th September. He was also directed to request the viceroy and
governor, to send two or three of their boats for him very early, to
bring the women and others of his company ashore, as the ship's boats
were too small; and to say, that the ambassador expected to be attended
by some men of condition from the viceroy, to come in the boats, out of
respect to the king of Persia, whose person he represented. This
message, being well delivered, took the desired effect, and the viceroy
readily promised to comply with every thing required. Having finished
this part of his introductions, Nazerbeg was to repair to the tent where
the baggage was lodged, and to fetch from one of the trunks, two bags of
money containing £200 sterling, and some other things of value, if he
could so contrive without being noticed, as it was wished to conceal the
knowledge we had of the villainous intentions of these barbarians.
Nazerbeg was also desired to use dispatch, and to desire the three
servants of the ambassador to remain all night at the tents, with
promise of being relieved next morning. All was done as directed, and
not only was the money brought away, but a trunk also containing Lady
Shirley's apparel. When the balloches enquired the reason of taking that
trunk back to the ship, they were told it contained the lady's
night-clothes, and that it was to be brought ashore again next day.
[Footnote 113: In Purchas this person is named _Hoge_ Comul; but we
suspect it ought to be _Haji_, intimating that he had made the
pilgrimage of Mecca and Medina.--E.]
The ambassador having thus recovered his money, wished much to get back
one other large trunk, containing things of value, and the three men
which were ashore with his baggage, even if all the rest were lost. For
this purpose, we filled, over night, a large chest and a night-stool,
with billets of wood, rubbish, stones, and other useless matters, to
make them heavy, binding them up carefully with mats and ropes to give
them an air of importance. Nazerbeg was instructed to take these on
shore, to be left in place of the large trunk which he was to bring
away, under pretence that it belonged to one of the merchants, and had
been landed by mistake. The three men at the tent were to accompany him
back to the ship, with their musical instruments, and the _balloches_
were to be told they were wanted by the lord ambassador to accompany him
with their music on his landing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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