On their arrival at Loheia they were received with remarkable
politeness by the emir and the chief merchants of the city. They
had taken the small vessel in which they performed the voyage for a
longer passage as far as Hodeida; and the captain, understanding that
they had some intention of remaining at Loheia, secretly applied to
the emir with a request that he would compel them to complete their
engagement, either by proceeding all the way to Hodeida, or by paying
the whole sum agreed upon. With a generosity not often displayed
towards utter strangers by men in office, the emir replied, that should
the travellers refuse payment of the sum in question, he himself would
satisfy his demands; and the principal merchant to whom the suspicious
navigator also applied entered into the same engagement. Of course they
were not allowed to suffer by their grateful and astonished guests.
The above merchant, in his eastern style of hospitality, gave them a
house to live in during their stay. In return the travellers amused him
and the emir with the effects of their microscopes, telescopes, &c.
These things filled them with wonder; crowds of people, curious but
well-behaved, thronged their court from morning till night, examining
with attention whatever they saw, and expressing their astonishment
at every thing. This was too much for Danish politeness. They hired a
porter, and stationing him at their door, gave strict orders that none
but professional men should be admitted. But the curiosity of the Arabs
was not to be subdued so easily; for, when all other excuses failed,
they feigned illness, and gained admittance under pretence of coming
to consult the physician. Sometimes Dr. Cramer, who appears to have
been an uncouth creature, was requested to favour sick persons with a
visit at their own houses, and one day received a pressing entreaty to
repair without delay to the _emir el bahr_, or captain of the port,
who had need of consulting him. Cramer, not attending to this summons
immediately, was shortly afterward informed that the _emir el bahr’s_
saddle-horse was at the door waiting for him. This piece of attention
was too flattering to be resisted; he therefore descended immediately,
and was about to put his foot into the stirrup, when he was interrupted
with the information that the horse was unwell, and had been brought
there as a patient! Physicians in Arabia prescribe for horses as well
as men; this, therefore, was not meant as an insult; but Cramer, who
felt all his Danish blood curdle in his veins at the bare idea of
prescribing for a Mohammedan horse, and was, moreover, mortified at not
being allowed to mount his patient, indignantly refused to exercise
the functions of a horse-doctor. Luckily, however, their European
servant, who had served in a dragoon regiment, understood something of
the veterinary art, and undertook the cure of the emir’s horse; which
succeeding happily, he also was regarded as an eminent physician, and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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