Volume 1

A series of adventures in the course of a voyage up the Red-Sea, on the coasts of Arabia and Egypt; and of a route through the desarts of Thebais, hitherto unknown to the European traveller, in the year M.DCC.LXXVII. in letters to a lady / by Eyles Irwin, esq. ; illustrated with maps and cuts.

Eyles Irwin

Date:: M.DCC.LXXX. [1780]

Credit: A series of adventures in the course of a voyage up the Red-Sea, on the coasts of Arabia and Egypt; and of a route through the desarts of Thebais, hitherto unknown to the European traveller, in the year M.DCC.LXXVII. in letters to a lady / by Eyles Irwin, esq. ; illustrated with maps and cuts. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$C43 ] him. Now, he was engaged at dinner; and now he had com- pany with him... As we {aw every thing here through the me- dium. of difcontent, we confidered thefe excufes as mere eva- fions of his word; and fhould he fail in that part of the treaty, where our living on board the veffel was fpecified, we had little reafon to expect his fulfilling the reft of it. Nay, the worft of their former fears recurred to fome. of our party ; and though I was by this time pretty well reconciled to the malice of fortune, and did not torment myfelf by anticipating evils, I muft confefs, that appearances were not much in our favor. Our property, freedom, and lives, were in the hands of an imperious tyrant, who had fecured us by treachery, and might only be reftrained by fear, from falfifying his engagements. And to this principle, by which his tribe are generally a€tuated in political concerns, I trufted for our deliverance. - The fails of commerce are ever bufy in this. fea, and numbers of {mall veflels had arrived at, and departed from this port, during our fhort ftay. Should the vizier be inclined to keep the tranfaction a fecret, his own reflexion mutt fuggeft to him, that.it muft needs tranfpire by a fea-con- veyance, fhould he have influence enough. to bar the communi- cation by land: and, whatever might be the tale he trumped up to deceive his mafter, the fact would at length reach him in its native.colors. Such did I conceive to be the point, which was difcuffed during this delay. I imaged to myfelf the minifter, fhut up with his creatures in dark cabal, and flattered mytfelf that his intereft would teach him for once, to be honeft. Nor was I difappointed, The captain. was fummoned to the pre- fence of the vizier, and returned with very. gracious. aflurances of protection, and a licence to repair to the veffel.. In the whole courfe of my life, I do not recollea& to have received more ac- ceptable tidings. We could not have withed for a {tronger con- firmation of the _minifter’s fincerity ; and for my own part, I G 2 » felt$