366 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. LXXXIII. 
tention of attacking the people in the English steamer 
with a large force, I took the opportunity of protest- 
ing, in this letter, against such proceedings, giving 
the chief a plain statement of the peaceable intentions 
of the expedition. 
The parcel which my servant had brought me from 
Zinder seemed also to hold out the prospect of material 
aid ; for the letter from Mr. Dickson, dated the latter 
part of 1853, wherein he at the same time informed 
me, to my great disappointment, that he was about to 
leave his post for the Crimea, contained two letters 
of recommendation to a couple of Ghaddmsi merchants, 
of the names of Hdj A'hmed ben Slimdn and Moham- 
med ben Miisa, who, as he informed me, had property 
of his own in their hands, in order to assist me in 
case I should be in want of money. But when I sent 
these letters to their destination they were very coldly 
received, and it was intimated to me that I could not 
be accommodated. The disappointment which the 
awkwardness of my pecuniary circumstances caused 
me, was soothed in some degree by the offer which 
the Fezzdni merchant Khweldi, whose kindness to 
me I have mentioned on a previous occasion, made 
me at the same time, of lending me 200 dollars in 
cash. In the afternoon of the 14th, a servant of his 
arrived with the money, which, however, did not suf- 
fice for my actual wants, as I had to return to Sidi 
'All the 111 dollars which he had paid to my servant 
'All el 'Ageren. After having made a suitable pre- 
sent to the messenger, I had therefore only a very 
