124 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. LXXIV. 
and represented me as a spy whose proceedings were 
connected with that expedition from the north. 
They now urgently requested the Sheikh to write a 
letter to the whole community of Tawat, and to sti- 
mulate them to make an attack upon Wdrgeld 
conjointly with the Hogar and A'zgar ; but I did all 
in my power to prevent him from acceding to such 
a proposal, although he thought that I was greatly 
underrating the military strength of the people of 
Tawat. However, although I succeeded in preventing 
such a bold stroke of policy, I could not prevent his 
writing a letter to the French, in which he interdicted 
them from penetrating further into the interior, or 
entering the desert, under any pretext whatever, 
except as single travellers. He also wanted me to 
write immediately to Tripoli, to request that an 
Englishman should go as consul to Tawdt ; but I 
told him that this was not so easily done, and that he 
must first be able to offer full guarantee that the agent 
should be respected. 
In my opinion it would be better if the French 
would leave the inhabitants of Tawdt to themselves, 
merely obliging them to respect Europeans, and keep 
open the road to the interior ; but although at that 
time I was not fully aware of the intimate alliance 
which had been entered into between the French 
and the English, I was persuaded that the latter 
neither could nor would protect the people of Tawat 
against any aggressive policy of the French, except by 
peaceable means, as Tawdt is pre-eminently situated 
