Page 286 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

XVI.] TK AVE IS IX OM XX. •» i ;

l&s, with every soul on board. The other

case, out of many which art' before me, ex
hibits in its detail a still more harrowing ami

revolting picture of savage barbarity.
The Minerva., a merchant ship, proceed­
ing to Bushir, fell in with a large fleet at

nearly the same spot, and after a running
fight of two days, was carried, according to

their usual custom, by boarding. The com­
mander, Captain Hopegood, with the full
knowledge of the cruel fate which then awaited

him, attempted to blow the vessel up, but
unfortunately he failed, and the slaughter

of the victims commenced. The ship was
first purified with water, and perfumes, and
this being accomplished, the different indi­

viduals were bound and brought forward
singly to the gangway, where one of the

pirates cut their throats, with the excla­
mation they use in slaying cattle, “ Alla
Akbar” (God is great). They were in fact

considered as a propitiatory sacrifice to their
prophet. As if to show that even these

lawless wretches retained some of those
striking peculiarities of national charneler,
which have rendered the Arab an anomaly in