JEALOUSY OF THE NATIVES. 
55 
likely to remain very long. Fortunately^ some of the mara- 
bouts took my part^ and the king said himself^ that he could 
not believe that curiosity alone would have induced me to 
come amongst them to suffer such privations, and that God 
must have wrought a miracle in my behalf in operating my 
conversion. I thought I could perceive a little jealousy in 
Moxe's conduct with respect to me^ and he probably feared 
that my presence, when I should have learned Arabic^ would 
render his own needless. No doubt this was what also 
induced the negro^ whom I mentioned as my interpreter in 
the first conversation 1 had with the king, to tell him I had 
not been shipwrecked, but that I had committed some atro- 
cious crime among the whites, who had expelled me for it. 
Although the king laughed at all this, it did not fail to 
diminish his confidence^ and I could perceive from day to day 
that I lost something of the esteem with which 1 had at first 
inspired him. I was extremely desirous to leave the camp, 
not only on this account^ but because I could learn nothing ; 
it consisted entirely of warriors, who did not trouble their 
heads about study, and my marabout was too much engaged 
to give me lessons. I opened my mind to the marabout, 
who entered entirely into my views, and persuaded me to 
ask the king for a beast of some sort to convey me to his 
camp, where his son, he assured me, would undertake to in- 
struct me. Hamet-Dou told me to wait a few days and he 
would send me thither. 
On the 30th of September, the camp broke up, and we 
advanced nine miles to the north, over a sandy soil covered 
with khakham. As 1 wore sandals only, after the Moorish 
fashion, I suffered extremely from the prickles of this plant, 
and my feet and legs were covered with blood. I asked 
several of the Moors to take me up behind them on their 
camels, but they said that their beasts were weary, and I 
must apply to the king who would furnish me with one. 
The king was gone on before, and 1 had lost sight of my 
