Chap. LXIX. LETTER FROM HAMDA-ALLA'iXI. 495 
protest, that he would receive the emir of Ha mil a, - 
Allahi's letter only in Timbuktu, the messenger 
arrived ; but the latter being a man of ignoble birth 
called Mohammed ben Said, the character of the mes- 
senger irritated my host almost more even than the 
tenor of the letter, which ordered him to give me 
and my property up into the hands of his (the emir's) 
people. After having given vent to his anger, he 
sent for me, and handed me the letter, together with 
another which had been addressed to the emir Kauri, 
and the whole community of the town, Whites as well 
as Blacks (el bedhan u e' sudan), threatening them 
with condign punishment, if they should not capture 
me, or watch me in such a manner that I could 
not escape. 
The serious character which affairs had assumed, 
and the entire revolution which my own personal busi- 
ness caused in the daily life of the community, were 
naturally very distressing to me, and nothing could 
be more against my wish than to irritate the fanatical 
and not powerless ruler of Hamda-AUahi. It had 
been my most anxious desire from the beginning, to 
obtain the goodwill of this chief by sending him a 
present, but my friends here had frustrated my de- 
sign ; and even if in the beginning it had been pos- 
sible, a supposition which is more than doubtful, 
considering the whole character of the Fiilbe of 
Hamda-Ailahi, it was now too late, as Seko A'hmedu 
had become my inveterate enemy, and I could only 
cling with the greater tenacity to the only trustworthy 
* 
