62 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XXIII. 
merchant, saying that this was the "dawa" (the curse) 
attending our (the English) proceedings against the 
slave-trade. And it must be confessed that the mer- 
chants of Ghadames have suffered a great deal from 
the abolition of the slave-trade in Tunis*, without 
being compensated for this loss by the extension or 
increased security of legitimate commerce. Seeing 
that the slave-trade is still carried on in Niipe or Nyffi, 
where, they are persuaded, the English could prevent 
it if they would, and that it is there carried on not 
by Mohammedans but by Christians, they have plau- 
sible grounds for being angry with the English nation. 
I had a highly interesting discussion with my 
old fanatical friend Bel-Ghet. It seems that after I 
had protested against his calling me " kafer " the 
other day, he had held a consultation on the sub- 
ject with some people of his own faith ; and his zeal 
being thus revived, he returned to day to urge the 
point. He began with questioning me about the dif- 
ferent nations that professed Christianity, and which 
among them were the " kofar ;" for some of them, he 
was quite sure, were, and deserved to be, so called. I 
replied that the application of the word depended on 
the meaning attached to it, and that if he understood 
by the word kafer anybody who doubted of the mis- 
sion of Mohammed, of course a great many Christians 
were kofar, but if, with more reason, he called by this 
* The recent abolition of the slave-trade in Tripoli and Fezzan 
will certainly not soothe their wrath. 
