APPLICATION TO ENGLISH CAPTAIN. 47 
tolerably near relation of the Emperor of Morocco. 
Astonished at the rapidity with which I filled a page of 
my writing, they imagined, doubtless, that I should write 
as fast in Arabic characters, when it should be requisite 
to transcribe passages from the Koran; and that this 
would form both for me and for them the source of a bril- 
liant fortune, and they besought me, in the most earnest 
way, to become a Mahometan. 
Very little reassured by the last words of the judge, I 
sought means of safety from another quarter. 
I was the possessor of a safe-conduct from the English 
Admiralty ; I therefore wrote a confidential letter to the 
captain of an English vessel, The Eagle, I think, which 
had cast anchor some days before in the roads at Rosas. 
I explained to him my position. “ You can,” I said to 
him, “claim me, because I have an English passport. 
If this proceeding should cost you too much, have the 
goodness at least to take my manuscripts and to send 
them to the Royal Society in London.” 
One of the soldiers who guarded us, and in whom I 
had fortunately inspired some interest, undertook to de- 
liver my letter. The English captain came to see me ; 
his name was, if my memory is right, George Eyre. We 
had a private conversation on the shore. George Eyre 
thought, perhaps, that the manuscripts of my observations 
were contained in a register bound in morocco, and with 
gilt edges to the leaves. When he saw that these man- 
uscripts were composed of single leaves, covered with 
figures, which I had hidden under my shirt, disdain suc- 
ceeded to interest, and he quitted me hastily. Having 
returned on board, he wrote me a letter which I could 
find if needful, in which he said to me,—“ I cannot mix 
myself up in your affairs; address yourself to the Spanish 
