385 
requisite, as, upon, the, affair. being 
made public, persons connected, with 
the government, duly appreciating that 
the real. motives.of; the possessor were 
a love for the late king, pursued every 
means.to find him. out; but, so, effec- 
tually had Mr. Potter disguised. him- 
self as one of the cut-throats of that 
period, that he luckily escaped the 
vigilance of his pursuers; for, had he 
been identified, there is little doubt 
but that hishead would have been for- 
feited for his officious temerity. 
Some years afterwards, when con- 
cealment no longer became necessary, 
these facts were related to his late 
Majesty George the Third; who, 
upon ascertaining the veracity of these 
statements, expressed a wish to pos- 
sess a small portion of the hair, for 
the purpose of being set in a ring; 
application was accordingly made to 
Mr. Kit Potter, by his brother of Cha- 
ring Cross, when a lock was transmit- 
ted to England, fastened at the extre- 
mity, within a letter, with black 
sealing-wax, impressed by a coronet, 
and containing a verification of the 
authenticity of the hair, in the hand- 
writing of Mr. Potter, which letter, 
together with its contents, was shown 
to the writer of the present, prévious to 
its being conyeyed to the hands of 
royalty. VERITAS, 
a 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
AS I perceive in a late number of 
“the Modern Voyages and Tra- 
vels,” containing an interesting narra- 
tive of the wreck of the Sophia, and 
the subsequent sufferings of the crew, 
in the interior of Africa, that the editor 
has omitted (no doubt on account of 
its being a digression from the narra- 
tive,)_ a very curious account of the 
famous city of Timectou, I send it to 
your Magazine, persuaded. it will be 
very acceptable toits numerous readers. 
During my horrible confinement in 
the dungeon of Ouadnoun, (says the 
author,) I one day observed.a traveller 
arrive in the court or yard adjoining 
to our prison, which court was the. ge- 
neral rendezvous for all travellers who 
came to partake of the hospitality of 
Beirouc, one of the two sheiks. or chiefs 
of Ouadnoun. This traveller, accom- 
panied by his son, a youth. about 
eighteen years of age, bad just arrived 
from Timectou.. He had been: four 
months in crossing the desert, and had 
Original Account of ‘Timect ot. 
vacy possible,; , a, proceeding highly . 
{Jone tf, 
that) niorning .quittéds the | caravan!/of 
which he hadbformed acparty:: The de+» 
sire of obtaining:some /information re= 
specting this) ahysteriously:celebrated: 
city, induced me to address some ques-"' 
tions to him. Every day aftermyavrival 
at Ouadnoun, | was ins the habitof 
going, at the approach of night,-and 
seating myself by the side of Hamar, 
on a bench adjoining the door of our 
prison. Iwas sufficiently acquainted: 
with Arabic to be enabled to under 
stand him; and it was in this manner 
that I sometimes found a great relief 
to my sorrows. : 
Hamar, faithful to his promise, began 
his relation in the following terms :-— 
“A merchant of Rabat, whom I was 
acquainted with at: Tetuan, about 
seven years ago, took me into his ser- 
vice, and proposed that I should 
accompany him as far as Timectou. » E 
accepted his offer with pleasure ; and, 
two months afterwards, we set out 
with an akhabah or caravan, which 
left Fez in order to cross the desert. 
We soon arrived at Quadnoun, where 
we learnt that a caravam had beem re 
cently swallowed up in the midst ef 
sands, which had been heaved up by 
the winds. This intelligence, and the 
fear of exposing myself to a similar 
peril, changed my original determina~ 
tion; and, instead of continuing my 
journey with the merchant, who pur= 
sued his route, I accepted the proposi+ 
tion made me by the Sheik Beirouc, 
and entered into his service. | 
“The desire of enjoying that» per- 
sonal liberty, of which we are deprived 
in the empire of Soliman, had alone 
induced me to remove from Tetuan- 
At Ouadnoun I obtained the object of 
my wishes, and I can enjoy here the 
most perfect liberty; because, not- 
withstanding the authority which the 
Sheiks Ibrahim and Beiroue exercise, 
there is here no true king but God 
himself;— Allah Sultan Mouslemines, 
(God is the king of the Mussulmans),” 
said Hamar to me, smiling, and ex- 
tending his hands, towards heaven, 
He then continued: ‘‘ Beirouc, whom 
you have so much reason to: hate, -be- 
cause he treats. you with so much 
cruelty, and detests the very name of 
Christian, is not ill-disposed towards 
us; and you. may: think: yourselves: 
happy in being his slaves, rather’ than 
those of the Sheik Ibrahim, who would 
be ‘much. more»/unmerciful.: “These 
two brothers possess great influence at 
Ouadnoun, and they owe it as muck 
te 
