198 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA.. Chap. LVIII. 
sultan, and found ample opportunities, owing to the 
monkish character of the latter, for advancing his own 
interests, in the thousand embarrassments which he 
caused me. This was El Bakay, a person who made 
me hate his very name, though it afterwards be- 
came so dear to me on account of my protector in 
Timbuktu being called by the same. However, he 
also was an Arab from the west, and from the tribe of 
the Kunta, but not connected in any way with the 
family of the sheikh. After having tried his fortune 
in several other places along the Niger, especially in 
Zagha and Yelu, he had at length settled down 
here, constituting himself a sort of consul of the 
Arabs, and, in the miserable state into which affairs 
were plunged in this court, soon exercising a great 
influence over the principal and the secondary rulers ; 
for, besides Khalilu, his several brothers enjoyed a 
large share of authority, to all of whom I had, in 
consequence, to make suitable presents besides. The 
most remarkable amongst them were the above-men- 
tioned Haliru and Bii-Bakr Maiguna, the latter an 
aspiring and restless man, who occasionally distin- 
guished himself by acts of great violence, and to 
whom, in consequence, I had to make a more respect- 
able present, in order to ensure myself against any 
predatory proceedings on his part. 
My present to the sultan himself seemed at first 
to have given great satisfaction ; but after a few 
days, matters assumed a different aspect, and I was 
told that the pistols which I had given to 'Aliyu 
