246 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XXVIII. 
of my extreme poverty. Mr. Richardson's other ser- 
vants, to my great regret, had gone off the day before, 
unpaid as they were, in order to regain their various 
homes. 
I now ascertained that the pay due to Mr. Richard- 
son's servants amounted to more than three hundred 
dollars ; besides which there was the indefinite debt 
to the Sfaksi, amounting in reality to twelve hundred 
and seventy dollars, but which, by the form in which 
the bill had been given, might easily be doubled. I 
did not possess a single dollar, a single bernus, nor 
anything of value, and moreover was informed by 
my friends that I should be expected to make both to 
the sheikh and to the vizier a handsome present of my 
own. I now saw also that what the sherif el Habib 
had told me on the road (viz. that all Mr. Richardson's 
things had been divided and squandered) was not 
altogether untrue. At least, they had been deposited 
with the vizier on very uncertain conditions, or 
rather had been delivered up to him by the two in- 
terpreters of our late companion, intimating to him 
that I and Mr. Overweg were quite subordinate peo- 
ple attached to the mission, and that we had no right 
to interfere in the matter. 
Seeing how matters stood, I thought it best, in 
order to put a stop to the intrigues which had been 
set a going, to take Mohammed ben Sad into my ser- 
vice on the same salary which he had received from 
Mr. Richardson. Besides, I pledged my word to all 
that they should each receive what was due to him, 
