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330 HISTORY OF THE LXDTAN NAVY.
nothing seemed to have been removed into the interior, many
warehouses being found filled with valuable goods, which were
now set on fire and consumed. All these valuables might with
ease have been embarked on board the captured vessels, which
was suggested at the time, but the commanders acted on the
principle that the British forces had come to inflict vengeance,
and not acquire gain. No looting was permitted, and the only
articles taken off to the ships were a little treasure and a few
jewels, which had been found in some buildings stormed by
our troops,* and which the individual captors were permitted
to retain. The town was now set on fire with its contents, and
the flames quickly reduced all to ashes. The British loss was
trifling, considering the resistance encountered, while at least
three hundred of the Joasmis were slain in defending their
houses with the desperate tenacity characteristic of the race.
Commodore Wainwright expressed his thanks to the captains,
ofiicers, and men of the following cruisers, which participated
—
in these operations: '^lornington,' Captain .Jeakes ; ' Aurora,'
Lieutenant Conyers; 'Nautilus,' Lieutenant Watkins; 'Prince
of Wales,' Lieutenant Allen; 'Fury,' Lieutenant Davidson;
'Ariel,' Lieutenant Salter; and 'Vestal,' Lieutenant Phillips.
The punishment thus meted out was condign and terrible,
but the deterrent effects were, in a great measure, neutralised
by Colonel Smith hastily re-embarking the troops on the morn-
ing of the 14th, on receipt of a report that a large body of Arabs
was nearing the city from the interior. This hurried exit
reassured the Joasmis, who, far from giving way to depression
at the sight of their smouldering hearths, a weakness unknown
to this fierce race, again opened fire upon the troops. The
embarkation, says a writer already quoted, took place at daylight
in the morning, and, while the fleet remained at anchor, during
the whole of the day parties continued to assemble on the shore
displaying their colours, brandishing their swords and spears,
and discharging their muskets from all points ; so that the
conquest was scarcely as complete as could have been wished,
since no formal act of submission had j'et been shown. The
officers of the Expedition are themselves said to have regretted
that their work was to be abandoned so prematurely ; but
whether the report of the reinforcements expected from the
interior, or the temporizing and lukewarm instructions of the
Bombay Government, guided the measures of the leaders in
their retreat, is not accurately known.
From Ras-ul-Khymah the Expedition proceeded to Linjah, a
flourishing port of the Joasmis, on the Persian coast, near the
island of Kishm, and probably containing at that time nearly
* Milburn, in liis " Oriental Commerce," pays, " Considerable plunder was
taken in the town. One soldier is said to have had fourteen liundred gold
Mohurs."