460 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chap. LXVII. 
ceived the intelligence that I was to send my man, 
e Ali el A'geren, to Ghadames or Tripoli with this 
letter, accompanying it with a note from my own 
hand, while I myself remained behind, as a kind of 
hostage, in Timbuktu, until the articles which the 
Sheikh El Bakay had written for were received. But 
I was not to be treated in this way by intrigues of 
my own people ; and the following morning I sent 
a simple protest to the Sheikh, stating that, as for 
himself, he might do just as he liked, and if he chose 
to keep me as a prisoner or hostage, he might do so 
as long as he thought fit ; but that he must not ex- 
pect to receive so much as a needle from the Go- 
vernment that had sent me until I myself should 
have returned in safety. My host, too, had just 
before intimated to me that it would be best to de- 
liver my horse and my gun into his hands ; but I 
sent him an answer, that neither the one nor the other 
should leave my house until my head had left my 
shoulders. It was rather remarkable that a person 
of so mean a character as the Walati should for a mo- 
ment gain the upper hand of a man of such an excel- 
lent disposition as the Sheikh ; but it was quite natural 
that this clever rogue should continually incite Sidi 
A'lawate to make new demands upon my small store 
of valuable articles. 
Meanwhile, while I was thus kept in a constant 
state of excitement, I was not free from anxiety in 
other respects. A thunder-storm, accompanied by the 
most plentiful rain which I experienced during my stay 
