The Voyage--An Akil--The Somali Shore--Sultan (Gerad) Mahamed
Ali--Hidden Treasure--The Warsingali--A Royal Reception--Somali
Appetites--Difficulties and Impediments--Sultan Tries My Abban or
Protector.



On the 18th October 1854, having got all my preparations completed, I
embarked in an Arab vessel, attired in my Oriental costume, with my
retinue and kit complete, and set sail that same evening at 6 P.M.

The voyage, owing to light and varying breezes, was very slow and
tedious. Instead of performing the whole voyage in three days, the
ordinary time, it took us nine. According to the method of Arab
navigation, instead of going from port to port direct, we first
tracked eastward along the Arabian shore three successive days,
setting sail at sunrise, and anchoring regularly at sundown. By this
time we were supposed to be opposite Bunder Heis, on the Somali coast,
and the Nahkoda (captain) thought it time for crossing over the Gulf.
We therefore put out to sea at sunrise on the morning of the 21st, and
arrived the same evening, by mistake, assisted with a stiffish
easterly breeze, at a small place called Rakodah, which, by report,
contained a small fort, three mat huts, and many burnt ones, a little
to the westward of Bunder Heis. My Abban accounted for the destruction
of this place by saying it had been occupied surreptitiously for a
long period by a people called Rheer Dud, who sprang from a man called
Sambur-bin-Ishak; but about four years ago, the Musa Abokr--a
sub-tribe of the Habr Teljala, who were the former and rightful owners
of the place--suddenly returned, took the usurpers by surprise, and