This scene was very ill calculated to entertain such a man as Hanway,
and might, perhaps, have touched even the breast of Shylock with
compassion. He therefore retired in silence, leaving the bloody-minded
representative of the shah to glut his ferocious appetite for slaughter
at his leisure. Meanwhile, the payment for the lost merchandise being
made very slowly, Hanway once more appealed to the justice of the
governor, who now confessed that a part of the money had been
appropriated to the shah’s own use, and, in default of other means,
offered in part of payment a number of female prisoners, who might, he
said, be sold for slaves. This Hanway refused; and having obtained the
greater portion of his demand, he repaired to the seashore, and once
more embarked on the Caspian. Proceeding along the southern shore, he
disembarked at Lanjaron, and continued his journey by land to Reshed,
where, immediately after his arrival, he was attacked by a dangerous
disorder, which detained him in that city during nearly two months;
after which he invested his money in raw silk, and, setting sail on the
13th of September, arrived safely at Yerkie on the mouth of the Volga.
Here, as the Russian authorities feigned to believe that the plague was
raging in Northern Persia, he was compelled to perform quarantine during
six weeks; at the expiration of which he proceeded by land along the
western bank of the Volga to Zarytzin, and thence to Moscow, where he
arrived on the 22d of December. Here he received letters from England,
informing him that by the death of a relation he had succeeded to a sum
of money far exceeding any advantages he could expect to derive from the
conducting of the Caspian trade. “Providence was thus indulgent to me,”
says he, “as if it meant to reward me for the sincerity of my
endeavours.”
Hanway reached Petersburg on the 1st of January, 1745. Here he remained
nearly five years engaged in commerce; but at length, the love of gain
yielding to the love of home, he quitted the Russian capital; visited
the dry dock constructed by Peter I. at Cronstadt; and, passing rapidly
through Prussia, Germany, and Holland, embarked in a yacht at
Helvoetsluys, and landed at Harwich, after an absence of nearly eight
years.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account