Chap. LXXI. BOOKS SENT OUT TO CENTRAL AFRICA. 43 
which I used to defend myself from attacks in 
this respect ; viz. that while we believed religion to 
concern the soul and the dealings of men towards 
each other, we thought all that regarded food was left 
by the Creator to man himself; but, of course, he 
would have been greatly shocked if he had beheld 
the scenes exhibited every evening by gin palaces in 
the midst of the very acme of European civilisation. 
At other times again, taking out of his small 
library the Arabic version of Hippocrates, which he 
valued extremely, he was very anxious for informa- 
tion as to the identity of the plant smentioned by the 
Arab authors. This volume of Hippocrates had been 
a present from Captain Clapperton to Sultan Bello of 
Sokoto, from whom my friend had received it among 
other articles as an acknowledgment of his learning. 
I may assert, with full confidence, that those few 
books taken by the gallant Scotch captain into Cen- 
tral Africa have had a greater effect in reconciling 
the men of authority in Africa to the character of 
Europeans, than the most costly present ever made 
to them ; and I hope, therefore, that gifts like these 
may not be looked upon grudgingly by people who 
would otherwise object to do anything which might 
seem to favour Mohammedanism. 
We staid at the tents till the 14th ; the time, on 
this occasion, hanging less heavily upon my hands 
than formerly, in consequence of the more cheerful 
and communicative disposition of my host, and because 
I was able to gather some little information. The 
