'Travels in Beloochistan and Sinde; accompanied by a geographical and historical account of those countries, with a map.' [‎175] (217/476)

BUNPOOR. 175
consume by halting a day or two with him, I was ready to set off
for Basman that very instant; he however left me, without taking
any notice of this proposition ; and about an hour after, I had a
message from him, demanding the pistols he had seen. At first I
positively refused to comply with this unauthorized demand, and
bade the bearer of it tell his master that I was confident he would
not have made it, had he reflected for an instant on the dangers of
the road I had to travel, and knew that they were my only means
of defence. This appeal to the feelings of the savage had no effect,
and at length by the advice of Futtuh Mohummud, I sent him a
single one, which was instantly returned, with the Khan's Sulam
(compliments), and he must either have both or none. Matters thus
rested the whole of the day, as I was resolved to hold out for a short
time, to try what advantage might accrue from it. In the evening
we had no dinner, which scurvy omission of the duties of hospitality
I interpreted as a prelude to the old rascal's continued obstinacy, or
perhaps ill treatment of me, and I lay down to sleep hungry and
dispirited. The poor Goosayen, who had come with me from
Puhra, and anticipated a share of my dinner, was determined not to
take the disappointment so calmly; and he sallied forth to beg, re
turning in the course of half an hour, with his wallet crammed with
scraps of biead and dates,- of which he and my two Brahooes made
a most comfortable supper.
17//; April. Before it was clearly light this morning, a man came to
me with great affectation of secresy, and said that his friendship for my
relation Grant, with whom he had been on the most intimate terms,
induced him to take that method of apprizing me, that the Khan had
come to the determination of not furnishing me with a guide, and in
short, not allowing me to leave the place, until I let him have the
pair of pistols, i was exceedingly averse to being thus, in everv
sense of the word, forced to give them up, and offered my informant
and avowed well-wisher a trifling reward, to be my conductor to
Basman, but he denied any knowledge of the route, and likewise
said that he might as well be banished, as he never dare return to