8 



great and honourable an object, when the war 

 which broke out in Germany and Italy deter- 

 mined the French government to withdraw the 

 funds granted for their voyage of discovery, 

 and adjourn it to an indefinite period. Cruelly 

 deceived in my hopes, seeing the plans which I 

 had been forming during many years of my life, 

 overthrown in a single day, I sought at any 

 risk the speediest means of quitting Europe, 

 and engaging in some enterprize, which might 

 console me for my disappointment. 



I became acquainted with a Swedish Consul 

 Mr. Skioldebrand, who, appointed by his Court 

 to carry presents to the Dey of Algiers, passed 

 through Paris, in order to embark at Marseilles. 

 This estimable man had resided a long time on 

 the coasts of Africa, and being highly respected 

 by the government of Algiers, he could easily 

 procure me permission to visit that part of the 

 chain of the Atlas, which had not been the ob- 

 ject of the important researches of Mr. Desfon- 

 taines. He dispatched every year a vessel for 

 Tunis, where the pilgrims embarked for Mecca, 

 and he promised to convey me by the same oc- 

 casion to Egypt. I eagerly seized so favora- 

 ble an opportunity, and thought myself on the 

 point of executing a plan, which I long formed 

 previous to my arrival in France. No mineral- 

 ogist had yet examined that lofty chain of moun 

 tains, which in the empire of Morocco rises to 



