Page 388 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

XVIII. ] BERBERA.

the fire was opened from the ships (he natives
lied with their wives and families ; and a
party of seamen being landed, they took quiet
possession of it. Through the intervention
of Shumaki, one of their chiefs by whose
spirited and humane exertions the survivors
from the brig were solely indebted for their
preservation, many of the fugitives returned

on the following day, and an agreement was
entered into, by which they bound themselves
to refrain from any future attack on English
vessels; and also to refund, by annual instal­
ments, the full amount of the plundered pro­
perty. For the purpose of collecting, and, if
necessary, enforcing the stipulated demand,
it was resolved that a vessel of war should be
despatched annually, until the whole was
liquidated; and during one of these visits,
much of the information collected in the fol­
lowing notes was obtained. Berbera may be
described as a large encampment, rather than

a town, for there are no brick houses ; the
residents, as well as the visiters,' with the
trifling exception of those lodged in cadjan
huts, dwelling in tents constructed of a few
sticks, and covered with skins. These the