Chap. LXXXIV. ARRIVAL OF A CARAVAN. 405 
These people had left Fezzdn, under the impression 
that I was dead, and were therefore not a little sur- 
prised at finding me alive, especially that same Mo- 
hammed el 'Akerout, from whom I had received the 
1000 dollars in Zinder, and who was again come to 
Negroland on a little mercantile speculation. This 
caravan also carried 1000 dollars for the mission, but 
it was not addressed to me, as I had long been con- 
signed to the grave, but to Mr. Vogel, although the 
chief of the caravan offered to deliver it to me. All 
this mismanagement, in consequence of the false news 
of my death, greatly enhanced the unpleasant nature 
of my situation ; for, instead of leaving this country 
under honourable circumstances, I was considered as 
almost disgraced by those who had sent me out, the 
command having been taken from me and given to 
another. There is no doubt that such an opinion 
delayed my departure considerably ; for, otherwise, 
the Sheikh would have exerted himself in quite a dif- 
ferent manner to see me off, and would have agreed 
to any sacrifice in order to satisfy my claims. How- 
ever, in consequence of the representations of Abba 
A'hmed, he sent me on the 28th through that same 
Diggelma, to whom I was indebted for the greater 
part of my unpleasant situation, the 400 dollars which 
had come along with the box of English ironware, and 
he offered even to indemnifv me for the loss of the 
articles contained in the box. This however I did not 
feel justified in accepting, as the value of those con- 
tents had been greatly exaggerated by the agent in 
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