of the United States; ten pairs of vase lamps of the largest size, of plain glass; one pair of swords, with gold hilt and scabbards,—the latter of gold, not gilt,—shape of blade a little curved.[1]
On the way from Siam to Muscat, to whose sultan Mr. Roberts bore a letter from the President, the Pea- cock touched at one of the ports of the Malayan Peninsula. In exchange of civilities with the officials, the captain of the man-of-war made a present of some tobacco to one of the Mohammedan princes, who expressed his thanks in a letter, from which, as illustrative of the style of correspondence of the place and period, the following extract, in translation, is made: "By the mercy of God: This friendly epistle is the dictate of a heart very white, and a face very clean, written under a sense of the greatest respect and most exalted love, permanent and unchangeable as the courses of the sun and moon; that is from me—a gentleman—Tumbah Tuah of Bencoolen, Rajah, &c. Now may God the Holy and Almighty cause this to arrive before the face of his glorious excellency, Colonel Geisinger, the head man who commands in the American ship-of-war, which is now at anchor off Rat Island. Furthermore, after this, the object of this letter is to acknowledge the present of American tobacco sent to me. Wherefore I return praise to God and my expressions of gratitude—thus much!"[2]
The sultan of Muscat at that day ruled over a large extent of territory in the Indian Ocean, extending from
