362 REMARKS ON TRAVELS 
the point of sending to him some instruments, when he 
was suddenly implicated in the political movements of the 
court of Morocco. The Moors and Jews, always intriguing, 
suspected some secret designs on his part, and denounced 
him as belonging to the party opposed to the prince. His 
trial was summary, and Piloti was beheaded. Such is the 
jealous distrust manifested by the mercenary race, against 
any stranger, who, making himself acquainted with the 
localities, should attempt to deprive them of any portion of 
their commerce with the interior. M. Caillie, ignorant of 
this adventure, was more fortunate ; he did not continue 
long enough exposed to the suspicions of the Moors, or 
by prudence and sacrifices he contrived to escape the 
effects of them. 
On the first arrival of the letters which I received 
from M.DelaporteandM. Caillie himself, I entertained some 
doubts of the authenticity of his narrative, and I immediately 
arranged some questions by way of trial, on the language 
spoken atTimbuctoo, the customs of the country, its natural 
productions, the nomenclature and distance of places, &c. : 
but meanwhile I attentively compared the two letters, and 
found the result so conformable to the most established 
notions of science, that I determined to publish on that 
very day the news of the journey to Timbuctoo. Many 
were incredulous ; I expected it. I requested the traveller, 
who in the interval had landed at Toulon, to commit to 
paper without delay his recollections respecting the ques- 
tions which I held in readiness for his arrival^ but to which 
