I knew an instance where a merchant of Mogodor (Mr. James Renshaw) had advanced the money for one of these captives, who, had his ransom not been paid by him to the Arab, would have been obliged to return to the south, where he would have been sold, or compelled to embrace the Mohammedan religion; for the British Vice-Consul had not the purchase money, nor any orders to redeem him, having previously sent to the Consul-General an account of the purchase of the rest of the crew. This man was delivered up by the merchant who had redeemed him, to the British Vice-Consul, to whom he looked for payment; various applications were made to the Consul-General, but the money was not paid two years afterwards, all applications to government having failed; a representation of the case was next made to the Ironmongers company in London,[192] which agreed to pay the merchant the money he had advanced. The purchase-money in this case was paid to me as agent for Mr. Renshaw, and including the cost of clothes (for the man was naked when purchased) did not amount altogether to forty pounds; there was, however, so much trouble attending the accomplishment of the business, that no individual merchant has since ventured to make an advance on a similar security; for, not to mention the difficulty of recovering the principal at the expiration of a long period, the value of money is such at Mogodor, that merchants are unwilling to advance it at a low interest, six per cent. per month being often paid for it. It is in this manner that the subjects of a great maritime power have been neglected in a country where, by adopting some judicious regulations, all the hardships of bondage, and the privations which necessarily follow in a barren country, might be prevented.