426 A PLEASANT COMPANION. 



the rescue, fall an easy prey to the slimy-tongued 

 invader. The pangolin materially assists the porcu- 

 pine in obtaining his food, for after the destruction of 

 the little animals by the former, he takes advantage 

 of the excavated passage, and possesses himself of the 

 hoards of grain and other seeds, collected by these 

 industrious insects. This, at least, appears to me 

 the most reasonable mode of accounting for the 

 presence of the porcupine, so frequently found in 

 the neighbourhood of a burrowed, and, conse- 

 quently, a ruined ant-hill. 



During our march, Adam Bur rah gave informa- 

 tion to Ohmed Medina, that one of my escort, 

 Esau Ibrahim, had threatened to take my life, 

 in revenge for Ohmed Mahomed having denied 

 some tobacco he wanted. I never liked this 

 Esau ; he always showed such unnecessary obse- 

 quiousness, that I had long suspected, he intended 

 something more than he wished me to have any 

 idea of. I was, therefore, not surprised when 

 Ohmed Medina told me to take care of him ; but I 

 had nearly managed it very badly by suggesting, in 

 reply, that he should be got rid of somehow or 

 another. It was fortunate, both for himself and 

 me, that I added almost immediately, I had thought 

 of a plan, which was to send him with a letter to 

 Shoa to announce my arrival, to do which I had 

 been requested the two previous days by Ohmed 

 Mahomed, and I now thought that two dollars 

 could not be better expended, than by sending Esau 

 out of the way on that errand. The same money 



