Chap. LXXII. POLITICAL CRISIS. 
69 
campment of the Sheikh, such as the Kel e' Sherfa, 
the Kel-antsar, the Tdendn, and the Kel-iilli. My 
protector himself was again to return to the tents 
on the morning of the 15th, when a serious business 
arose, the Fullan insisting with great pertinacity that 
I should leave the town this day, or else they would 
certainly kill me ; for they would rather, they said, 
that the " tabu " should annihilate them all, than 
that I should remain a day longer in the town. 
Next morning the Fullan and the merchants from 
the north assembled in the house of Mohammed el 
Ferreji, and discussed with great energy what means 
they should adopt to drive me out, binding themselves 
by an oath that I should not see the sun set over the 
town. The othcer Hamedu, the son of Mohammed 
Lebbo, even went so far as to rise in the assembly 
and swear that he himself would certainly slay me if 
I should stay any longer. The alarm which this 
affair caused in the tovv^n was very great, although 
matters of this kind in Negroland are never so serious 
as in Furope. A'lawate, therefore, being informed of 
what was going on, entered the assembly and made 
a formal protest that I should see both sunset and 
sunrise in the town, but he pledged his word that I 
should leave it before the sun reached that height called 
dahhar (about nine o'clock in the morning) by the 
Arabs, and if I remained after that time they might 
do what they pleased with me. 
I had lain down rather late, and was 
still asleep, when Sidi Mohammed, before 
F 3 
