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8 years wasted he allowed himself to be surprised lost all of his ships all of his cannon and had 3000 Men cut to pieces, before his eyes. with difficulty he escaped to Muscat. his father raised an Army and in 18 months reduced the places to submission without any considerable loss afterwards he governed them with a More rigourous hand but still with Justice. The Sultan has 8 or 10 Men-of-War several of which are now laying here they are his own private property and in time of peace uses them as merchant men and carries on a brisk trade with Bombay and other English possessions. one of them he sent to the States with a few presents to our President, we met he [sic] Capt who was much pleased to see us as he had been well treated in the states. The sultan capt Musslemen, slaves all dress alike and had I not been told would have thought the sultan was a slave or else nothing more than a common man at furthest. The sultan had 3 sons. the 2d' son is the govenor of the city of Zanzibar and is a complete petty tyrant. he is lame from the [crossed out: lepora leprosy] leperousy [sic] or in other words is a leper or one who can not leap. his 3d son is still a child. his 1st or eldest son is very popular. and is said to be a noble hearted fellow. he is now in exile on account of some difficulty with his father. The story is this. his brother having just returned in disgrace from Melinda, his father raised a large army of Arabs of the desert, and left home to besiege Melinda and Mombas. During the siege a circassian slave fair and beautiful without a blemish, was sent as a present to the Sultan. The Eldest son seeing her fell in love with her and before his father returned Married her and she had a son. The old sultan returned read his letters saw the beauty Modesty and grace of the young slave, he ordered his son to leave his dominions. the next morning he sent a Messenger with money and offered him a frigate and the government of Muscat if he chose it (the sultan was then as he now is living at Zanzibar.) but his son refused and he left and is now with his wife amongst [crossed out: the other wild] wild arabs of the desert who respect and love him as one of them. When he left his 60 wives all ran out of the Harem and went to the sultan in a body and requested beged [sic] and prayed on their knees to let him stay, but the Sultan had ordered it and he was too obstinate and angry to undo one day that which he had done the day before tho it was wrong And even the sultans young wives kicked up a rumpus [?] even under the sultans nose, sure he was a noble fellow for all the ladies loved him, we found several Men of war laying here 3 french and one English. and as this was more than had ever been seen here before it was a busy [crossed out :day] time with the Zanzibar folks. The City of Zanzibar is on a low sandy point and at high water is surrounded with water. it is on the w. side of the isle and is the healthiest place on this coast on the sea beach are several large stone houses some quite neat and pretty one of them is the Harem of the sultan son the other his palace the other the Custom house. The other a house for the reception of the visits of strangers, the others are the houses of Rich Arabs and American