12 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chap. LXX. 
Interesting as was that day's excursion it cost me 
dear ; for being obliged, not only to be armed myself, 
but also to have an armed servant with me, I greatly 
excited the hostile feelings of the merchants from 
Morocco, and especially of that proud nobleman, 
'Abd e' Saldm, who went about among the great men 
of the town, saying, that in Morocco we, the Eu- 
ropeans, or rather the English, were not allowed to 
wear arms. But to show the absurdity of this asser- 
tion, I stated that while travelling in Morocco we re- 
ceived armed horsemen for an escort, while here, 
where there was no settled form of government, we 
had to protect ourselves. He then spread the rumour 
that an armed English vessel had ascended the river 
as far as Gogo ; and this curious report was backed 
with such strong assertions that my own servant, 
'All el A'geren, felt convinced of its truth, and 
thought it strange when I attempted to prove its 
absurdity. 
But notwithstanding this hostile feeling, 'Abd e' 
Salam deemed it prudent to send, next day, his 
friend, Mulay el Mehedi, in order to excuse himself 
for the expressions which he had used a few days 
before with regard to me. It was this man, Miildy 
el Mehedi, with whom I should have liked to be 
able to converse on friendly terms, as he was a 
person of intelligence, and even possessed some 
little knowledge of astronomy. Indeed, I was not a 
little astonished when, conversing with him one day 
about the situation of Timbuktu, he came out with 
