1st. A vessel under Marocco colours, was, during last war, taken by a British cruiser, and sent or brought into Plymouth, or other port, in England. The captain and the ship were detained a considerable time here; the former, at length, whose patience became exhausted, expostulated at his detention, and insisted on being released, if no interpreter in this commercial nation could be found competent to translate his passport. Mr. Slade, an eminent proctor in Doctors' Commons, then applied to me, after a detention of, I believe, two months, and I translated the passport. Mr. Slade very liberally told me, that whatever I chose to charge for this service, which he had sought in vain to accomplish, should be gratefully paid. I charged five guineas; and it was instantly paid. The passport consisted of two lines and a half. This was in the Court of Admiralty. Mr. Slade, who is an honourable and respectable man, will of course not hesitate to corroborate the accuracy of this statement.
2d. A letter was written by the present Sultan Soliman, emperor of Marocco, &c. to our late revered sovereign, George III., in a more courteous style than is usual for Muhamedan potentates to write to Christian kings; with liberal offers on the part of the Sultan, courting an augmentation of friendly intercourse, &c. This letter (contrary to the usual courtesy of European courts) was neglected some months, no answer being returned to it. It was sent to the Universities for translation, but ineffectually; then to the Post Office; and, at the expiration of some months, it was accidentally transmitted to me, through the hands of the Right Honourable Spencer Perceval, at that time Chancellor of the Exchequer, and I delivered, at the request of that gentleman, a translation of it in English. This letter was ten or fifteen times as long as the passport before mentioned, and I charged thirty pounds for the service. But the Treasury thought ten pounds a sufficient remuneration, which I accepted!!
This service was rendered to the British government, and I have letters and documents in my possession, which corroborate this fact.
3d. Was the translation of an Arabic manuscript, respecting Mungo Park's death; delivered gratuitously to a private individual, viz. Mr. Bowdich, before mentioned; to satisfy the curiosity of my country, whose interest was excited respecting the fate of that enterprising and indefatigable African traveller. Mr. Bowdich, who is an honourable man, will undoubtedly confirm the truth of this statement, to any gentleman who may be desirous of ascertaining the fact.
The Shereef Ibrahim's account of Mungo Park's
Death.
(THE AUTHOR'S TRANSLATION.)
"In the name of God, the Merciful and Clement!
"This narrative proceeds from the territory in Husa, called Eeaurie or Yeaurie. We observed an extraordinary event or circumstance, but we neither saw nor heard of the river which is called Kude. And as we were sitting we heard the voice of children; and we saw a vessel, the like to which in size we never saw before. And we saw the king of Eeaurie send cattle and sheep, and a variety of vegetables, in great abundance. And there were two men and one woman, and two slaves; and they tied them in the vessel. There were also in the vessel two white men, of the race called Christians: and the Sultan of Eeaurie called aloud to them, to come out of the vessel, but they would not. They proceeded to the country of Busa, which is greater than that of the Sultan of Eeaurie. And as they were sitting in the vessel, they hung [232], or were stopped by the cape, or head-land of Kude."
Footnote 232:[ (return) ] Probably by an impetuous current.
"And the people of the sultan of Busa called to them, and poured their arms into the vessel; and the vessel reached the head-land or cliff, and became attached or fixed to the head of the mountain or projection in the river, and could not pass it. Then the men and women of Busa collected themselves hostilely together, with arms of all descriptions; and the vessel being unable to clear the head-land, the man in the vessel killed his wife, and threw the whole of her property into the river; they then threw themselves into the river through fear. The news of this occurrence was then conveyed to the Sultan Wawee, until it reached, by water, the territory of Kanjee, in the country of the Sultan Wawee. And we buried it in its earth; and one of them we saw not at all in the water. And God knows the truth of this report from the mouth of the Shereef Ibrahim. The end."