SELFISHNESS OF THE MOORS. 131 
purpose ; you should always ask for something. If they 
give, so much the better ; if they refuse, so much the worse. 
They are infidels, and you should always get as much as 
you can from them. Do you think that the Musulmans who 
are here come to see the whites ? No such thing ; they 
come to get their Guinea cloth whenever they can. Perhaps 
you imagine that I am going to St. Louis to see the town, 
and the christians?" I replied that I concluded he was, as 
he had expressed a wish to that effect, before we quitted the 
camp; "Besides," said I, "what else should you go for?" 
"What should I go for?" said he, "do not suppose that 
I go to see the infidels and their country. I go to try if I 
cannot get some goods out of them, and that you may pay 
me three or four pieces of Guinea cloth and a gun for my 
company." Though I was no stranger to the rapacity of his 
countrymen, yet this confession really surprised as much as 
it incensed me. 1 durst not give vent to my indignation, so 
1 contented myself with saying, that if he had reckoned 
upon my generosity, he would find himself mistaken, be- 
cause he had no claim upon it ; that I thought myself in- 
debted to his brother, and that he alone should receive the 
presents which I intended as a return for his kindness. He 
was disconcerted, and told me that if that was the case he 
should return to the camp and 1 might go to St. Louis by 
myself. I should have been heartily glad to do so ; but 
when he saw me about to embark, he joined me. Before I 
leave the port, I must give a short sketch of the mode in 
which the gum trade is carried on. 
At the appointed time, the government of St. Louis 
sends a king's ship to the port under the command of an 
officer, who is charged with the police of the port, in all 
that concerns navigation, and the stationing of the different 
vessels ; he is also empowered to decide all disputes with 
the marabouts and the Moors. The Moorish king on his 
side sends his plenipotentiaries, who remain at the port to 
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