54 
ILLNESS FROM WANT. 
accustomed to do ; I received nothing from her but a little 
milk morning and night, and was tormented with hunger. 
The king had told me, it is true, to ask him for every thing I 
wanted ; but I got no more for that ; and the milk, instead of 
satisfying me, gave me the colic, and impaired my strength. 
This evening a Moor, called Moxe, arrived at the camp ; 
he is the interpreter in ordinary to the king when he goes to 
the coast, and speaks French perfectly well. Hamet-Dou 
sent for me to question me again, and I gave him the same 
replies as before. Moxe told me that he was come from 
Galam, where the agent of the commercial society had given 
him a piece of Guinea cloth and a gun, and that he should 
return very soon 5 he proposed that I should accompany him, 
adding that four or five days would be sufficient for the 
journey. I should have been very glad to take this trip, and 
alleged, as a pretext for it, the great need I had of some new 
clothes. I asked the king if he would lend me a camel for 
the journey, and he promised he would when the waters had 
subsided 3 for, he said, the roads are impassable at this 
season. At night he sent me a piece of mutton for supper. 
On the 25th of September, while I was at prayer, I felt 
myself ill from exhaustion : Moxe asked me if 1 had a fever, 
and I told him the cause of my illness, adding, that I had 
great difficulty to support this way of living ; but I hoped, 
nevertheless, that I should become used to it in time. After 
prayer the king offered me a sheep, advising me to cook it 
myself, because, if I trusted to the Moors, they would devour 
it all. I accepted the offer; but, no doubt, fearful lest I 
should not take his advice, and with a view to save me from 
the rapacity of his subjects, he took care not to send me the 
sheep ! It is probable that I owed this good turn to Moxe ; 
for I was told by Fatme-Anted-Moctar, that Moxe had en- 
deavoured to prejudice the king against me : he insinuated, 
as I found, that it was not the love of God, but curiosity, 
which had brought me among them, and that 1 should not be 
