Chap. LXVII. PURCHASE OF CALICO. 443 
I was busily employed in writing letters, which gave 
fresh impulse to my energy. My tormentor Sidi 
Alawate himself seemed anxious to rouse my spirits, 
which he could not but be conscious of having con- 
tributed a great deal to depress, by sending me word 
that he himself would undertake to accompany me 
on my home journey, as he intended making the 
pilgrimage to Mekka : but, having once had full op- 
portunity of judging of the character of this man, I 
placed but little confidence in his words. 
Meanwhile, I began to provide what was most 
necessary for my comfort, and bought for myself 
and my people a piece of good bleached calico, 
u shigge," # or 16 sehen hindi," as it is called here, for 
13,500 shells, and three pieces of unbleached calico 
for 8000 each. At the same time I sent several ar- 
ticles into the market, in order to obtain a supply of 
the currency of the place, 3000 shells being reckoned 
equal to one Spanish dollar. 
* It is a highly interesting fact, that we find this native name, 
which is given to calico in the region of the Niger, already men- 
tioned by that most eminent and clear-sighted of Arab geographers, 
A'bu 'Obaid Allah el Bekrl, in the middle of the eleventh century, 
or fully 800 years ago. For, in describing the manufacture of 
cotton in the town of Silla, which has become so familiar to 
Europeans in consequence of Mungo Park's adventures, he ex- 
pressly mentions that this calico was called "shigge" by the 
natives, ciJL£~!b *U— *J1 j\% (El Bekri, ed. de Slane, 1857, 
p. 173.) Great interest is imparted by such incidents to the 
life of a region which, to the common observer, seems dead and 
uninteresting. 
