236 TRAVELS IN 
having no longer the appearance of people 
terrified at the approach of an enemy. 
Entertaining a little more uneafinefs than 
thefe walking machines, I was fully fenfible 
of my critical fituatlon ; and on the back 
of my beaft indulged in philofophical re- 
veries. At the diftance of three thoufand 
leagues from Paris, the only perfon of my 
fpecies among fo many natives, furrounded 
and watched by the moft ferocious animals, I 
could not help being filled with admiration, to 
fee myfelf conducting, for the firft time, in the 
defarts of Africa, a favage horde, who, fub- 
mitting voluntarily to my orders, executed 
them blindly, and committed entirely to me 
the care of their prefervation. Taken collec- 
tively, I had nothing to fear from them ; ne- 
verthelefs I faw fome among them who would 
have made me tremble, if, in fingle combat, 
ftrength alone had been to decide the conteft : 
but at bottom I was fully convinced, that here, 
as vvxll as elfe where, it was not the ftrongeft 
but the moft fkilful that commanded. 
We had not advanced very far, when my 
dogs, which were ranging through the bufhes 
on every fide, began to flop and to bark. My 
companions were inftantly filled . with terror ; 
imagining 
