496 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XXXVI. 
the " fat-ha," or the opening prayer of the Kuran, with 
them. I have always regretted my refusal, as it 
estranged from me a great many people ; and al- 
though many Christians will object to repeat the 
prayer of another creed, yet the use of a prayer of so 
general an import as the introductory chapter to the 
Kuran ought to be permitted to every solitary tra- 
veller in these regions, in order to form a sort of 
conciliatory link between him and the natives. 
After some other visitors had come and gone, I 
received, about ten o'clock, a formal visit from Mode 
c Abd-Allahi, the foreign secretary, and my friend from 
Mokha, in the name of the governor. Having moist- 
ened their organs with" a cup of colFee, they acquitted 
themselves of their message in the following terms, 
" The sultan " — all these provincial governors bear the 
title of sultan — "had ordered them," they said, "to 
beg me to accept his most respectful regards, and to 
inform me that he was nothing but a slave of the 
sultan of Sokoto, and that I was a far greater man 
than himself. As such a man had never before come 
to his country, he was afraid of his liege lord, and 
begged me to retrace my steps whither 1 had come ; 
but if in course of time I should return with a letter 
from Sokoto, he would receive me with open arms, 
would converse with me about all our science, and 
about our instruments, without reserve, and would 
show me the whole country." 
To this message, which was certainly couched in 
very modest and insinuating terms, I answered that 
