SERVICEABLE MONKEYS. 59 



Having given this declaration to the Caid, we consid- 

 ered ourselves quit of this functionary ; but he came up 

 to me, undid, without saying a word, the knot of my 

 cravat, took it off, and put it into his pocket. All this 

 was done so quickly that I had not time, I will add that I 

 had not even the wish, to reclaim it. 



At the conclusion of this audience, which had termi- 

 nated in so singular a manner, we made a bargain with a 

 Mahomedan priest, who promised to conduct us to Algiers 

 for the sum of twenty " piastres fortes," and a red man- 

 tle. The day was occupied in disguising ourselves well 

 or ill, and we set out the next morning, accompanied by 

 several Moorish sailors belonging to the crew of the ship, 

 after having shown the Mahomedan priest that we had 

 nothing with us worth a sou, so that if we were killed on 

 the road he would inevitably lose all reward. 



I went, at the last moment, to make my bow to the 

 only lion that was still alive, and with whom I had lived 

 in very good harmony ; I wished also to say good-bye to 

 the monkeys, who during nearly five months had been 

 equally my companions in misfortune.* These monkeys 

 during our frightful misery had rendered us a service 

 which I scarcely dare mention, and which will scarcely 

 be guessed by the inhabitants of our cities, who look 

 upon these animals as objects of diversion ; they freed us 

 from the vermin which infested us, and showed particu- 

 larly a remarkable cleverness in seeking out the hideous 

 insects which lodged themselves in our hair. 



* On my return to Paris I hastened to the Jardin des Plantes to pay 

 a visit to the lion, but he received me with a very unamiable gnashing 

 of the teeth. Think then of the marvellous history of the Florentine 

 lion, the subject of so many engravings, which is offered on the stall 

 of every printseller to the eyes of the moved and astonished passers- 

 by. 



