CHAPTER XVI 



Africa, March 9. 

 I THINK my reader will allow that there is a solemn 

 grandeur of simplicity in this date — an assumption of 

 continental completeness ; as if, by the first step on shore, 

 one had put one's foot into the whole boot of Africa. You 

 would have laughed if you could have seen us land. A 

 quantity of yelling savages, above their knees in the surf, 

 hardly waited for the keel to cleave the sand, before they 

 plunged upon us, like schoolboys over a handful of nuts, 

 and carried us off, after a severe scramble. The three or 

 four, who set me down on the sand, immediately became 

 vociferous for bakshish. To keep them a little at bay till 

 I could get out a small bit of silver, it occurred to me to 

 twirl rapidly round, clearing a circle in the press with the 

 heavy swing of my cloak held by the collar. 



But I have begun in the middle, and ought first to have 

 told you how we got across the Straits. The wind had 

 gradually fallen in the night, and at breakfast a message 

 came from the captain that he was only waiting for us. 

 The felucca which we were to sail in seemed very deep 

 laden. Arriving aboard, the captain asked us if we had our 

 bills of health, which we had not. 



" Then you will have to go back," said he, " otherwise 

 you will not be able to go ashore at Tangier." He sent 

 his mate back with us. 



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