Chap. LXX. 
COMMERCIAL RELATIONS. 
17 
Oil my home journey or not; but although I told 
him plainly, that after all that had happened he could 
no longer be my companion, I treated him with more 
generosity than he deserved. 
At the same time, I thought it also prudent to cul- 
tivate the good will of my servant 'All el A'geren, 
although he had almost entirely separated himself 
from me, and left me to my fate, since he had become 
fully aware of the dangerous nature of my position. 
I demanded from him no sort of service, though his 
salary of nine dollars a month went on all the time. 
However, being rather short of cash, and not being 
able to procure a loan from the people to whom I had 
been recommended, I was glad to obtain from a 
friendlv Ghaddmsi merchant, of the name of Moham- 
med ben 'AH ben Tdleb, about 50,000 shells, equal 
to 13 J mithkdl, reckoned at 3800 shells each, and I 
afterwards was obliged to add another small sum, 
making the whole 25 mithkals. 
In this place I think it well to give a short sketch of 
the commercial relations of Timbuktu, though it can- 
not make the slightest pretension to completeness, 
as I did not enter into such free intercourse with 
the natives as would have enabled me to combine a 
sufficient number of facts into a graphic view of the 
commercial life of the city. The people with whom 
I had most intercourse could offer little or no infor- 
mation on the subject. My situation in Kano had 
been very different. 
VOL. V. c 
