16 
TRAVELS m AFRICA. 
Chap. LXX. 
tector forget all the thoughts of my immediate de- 
parture. 
Besides this circumstance, nothing of interest hap- 
pened for some days, all the people exhorting me to 
patience ; and, my departure being again put off, fresh 
attempts were made to convert me, even by my 
friends, who from sheer friendship could not bear to 
see me adhere to a creed which they thought er- 
roneous. But I withstood all their attacks, and at 
times even ventured to ridicule freely some of their 
superstitious notions. I was far from laughing at 
the chief principles of their doctrine ; but, as they 
always recurred in their arguments to their belief 
in sorcery and demons, I declared one day that, 
as for us, we had made all the demons our " kh6d- 
deman." This is an expression with which these 
people are wont to denote the degraded and servile 
tribes; and I represented the Europeans as having 
obtained a victory over the spirits, by ascending in 
balloons into the higher regions, and from thence 
firing at them with rifles. The idea that the 
Christians must have subjected to their will the de- 
moniacal powers, occurs very easily to the mind of 
the Mohammedan, who does not understand how the 
former are able to manufacture all the nice things 
which issue from their hands. 
Meanwhile I was glad to break off my relations 
with my former friend the Walati, who had recently 
returned from a journey to A'ribinda, and who came 
to ask me officially whether he was to accompany me 
