408 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chap. L. 
great number of years, for which I found the state 
of my health entirely insufficient, besides a body of 
trustworthy and sincerely attached men, and a con- 
siderable supply of means. Moreover I found, to my 
surprise and regret, that the sum of 800/. placed at 
my disposal by Lord Palmerston remained a dead 
letter, none of the money having been forwarded from 
Tripoli, — a sum of about fifteen hundred dollars, 
which had been previously sent, being regarded as 
sufficient. 
In this perplexity, produced by nothing but good- 
will and a superabundance of friendly feeling, I was 
delighted to find that Her Majesty's government, and 
Lord Palmerston in particular*, held out a more 
practicable project by inviting me to endeavour to 
reach Timbuktu. To this plan, therefore, I turned 
my full attention, and in my imagination dwelt with 
delight upon the thought of succeeding in the field of 
the glorious career of Mungo Park. 
For the present, however, I was still in Bagirmi, 
that is to say, in a country where, under the veil of 
Islam, a greater amount of superstitious ideas prevail 
than in many of the pagan countries ; and I was 
revelling in the midst of my literary treasures, which 
had just carried me back to the political and scientific 
domains of Europe, and all the letters from those 
distant regions were lying scattered on my simple 
couch, when all of a sudden one of my servants came 
* See the Despatch in the Appendix, No. V. 
