102 A TROPICAL DEPENDENCY enabled to carry on their speculations with the greatest success ; their wealth increased, and their importance waxed every day greater." An account is then given of how on one occasion in Aiwalatin, when the neighbouring Sultan of Tekrour attacked and took the town, the property and lives of the Arab merchants, including those of the Makkari company, were placed in great danger. " But my ancestors, being men of great courage and determination, would not consent to witness their ruin. They assembled all their servants and dependents, and such traders as happened to be in Aiwalatin at the time, and having distributed arms among them, they shut themselves up in their warehouses, and decided to fight, if necessary, for the defence of their goods and chattels." Catastrophe was averted, however, by an interview between the senior partner and the invading king, who agreed to extend his protection to the company, and who treated them from that time with the utmost favour and distinction. " He frequently after this wrote to the partners at Telem9an, applying directly for such goods as he wanted for his own consumption, or such as were most sought for in his dominions." This political development seems to have greatly enlarged the scope of the operations of the Makkari firm. "The moment my ancestors perceived that they could trust and rely on kings, such difficulties as might have existed before were speedily removed. . . . The desert and its dangers seemed no longer the scene of death and misery, and they began to frequent its most lonely and dangerous tracts, their wealth thereby increasing so rapidly that it almost surpassed the limits of computation. Nor," says the account, " were these the only advantages arising from their enterprise ; the natives with whom they traded were considerably benefited by it. For it must be understood that the trade with the desert was in the most deplorable state before the people of Makkareh engaged in it. Merchants, totally unacquainted with the real wants