ised
me; for, being my mortal enemy, he would otherwise wrong me and my
people. He answered with great pride, "Is not my word sufficient to
overturn a city? If Kegib wrong you, I will pull his skin over his ears,
and give you his head. Is he not my slave?" I then asked him for an
answer to his majesty's letter, but he would give me none. On my
departure, I told the kiahya that I had no weapon, and therefore desired
leave to buy a sword, that I might not ride down like a prisoner. He
acquainted the pacha with my request, who sent me one of his cast
swords. The kiahya also gave me this morning an hundred pieces of gold
of forty maydens, having before given me fifty. The 18th, I paid all
the dues of the prison, and went to breakfast with the kiahya, where I
received my dispatch, and a letter for the governor of Aden, to deliver
the boat belonging to the Pepper-corn, I requested also his letter to
the governor of Tyes, to restore Mr Pemberton's boy who was left sick
there, and who, I had been informed, was forced to turn Mahometan. He
wrote a letter and sealed it, but I know not its purport. I now took
leave of the kiahya, and departed for Mokha; I, Mr Femell, and Mr
Fowler, being mounted on horses, and alt the rest on asses or camels. We
had two _chiautes_ to conduct us on the way, one a-horseback and the
other a-foot.

The city of Zenan is somewhat larger than Bristol,[332] and is well
built of stone and lime, having many churches or mosques. It is
surrounded by a mud wall, with numerous battlements and towers. On the
west side there is a great deal of spare ground enclosed within the
walls, where the principal people have their gardens, orchards, and
kiosks, or pleasure-houses. It stands in a barren stony valley, enclosed
among high hills at no great distance, on one of which to the north,
which overlooks the town, there is a small castle to keep off the
mountaineers, who used from thence to offend the city. Its only water is
from wells, which have to be dug to a great depth. Wood is very scarce
and dear, being brought from a distance. The castle is at the east side
of the city, and is enclosed with mudwalls, having many turrets, in
which they place their watch every night, who keep such a continual
hallooing to each other all night long, that one unaccustomed to the
noise, can hardly sleep. The pacha and some other principal men dwell
within the castle. The house of the keeper of the prison, in which I was
confined, ad