MAJ OR LAING. 
81 
cafir, and infidel, but, without ill treating him, left him free 
to think and pray in his own way. Sidi-Abdallahi, whom I 
often questioned as to whether the major had been insulted 
during his stay at Timbuctoo, always replied in the nega- 
tive ; shaking his head, to give me to understand, that they 
would have been sorry to annoy him. 
This toleration may be accounted for by the fact, that 
the Moors who reside at Timbuctoo come from Tripoli, Al- 
giers, and Morocco, and that, being in the habit of seeing 
christians in their own countries, they are less liable to be 
offended at their worship and their manners. For instance, 
Sidi-Abdallahi, who came from Tatta, a town near Cape 
Mogador, was not inimical to the christians. Thus it may 
easily be conceived that the major was free to inspect every 
part of the town and even to enter the mosques. 
It would appear that, after he had made himself com- 
pletely acquainted with Timbuctoo, he wished to see Cabra 
and the Dhioliba. But had he left the city in the day time 
he would hav€ incurred the greatest danger from the Tooa- 
riks, who are continually roaming about the environs of 
Timbuctoo, and whose attack he had too much reason to re- 
member. He determined to set off during the night. This 
was wise, for though the Tooariks dared not touch him 
while he staid in the town, they would have wrecked their 
vengeance on him had they caught him beyond its limits, and 
murdered as well as robbed him. 
Taking advantage of a dark night, Major Laing mounted 
his horse, and, unaccompanied by a single native, reached 
Cabra, and even, it is said, the banks of the Dhioliba, without 
accident. On his return to Timbuctoo, he ardently wished, 
instead of proceeding to Europe by the desert, to travel 
by Jenne and Sego, ascending the Dhioliba, whence he 
might have reached the French factories on the Senegal. 
But, no sooner had he communicated his plan to the Foulahs 
VOL. II. G 
