KNAVERY OF A MANDINGO. 
147 
heard me repeat many passages of the Koran^ and saw me 
join with them in performing the salam ; at last they said to 
one another that I was really a good Musulman. Need I 
say that in secret I addressed my fervent prayers to the God 
/of the christians to favour my undertaking ? 
^ The Mandingoes, deceived by my apparent anxiety to 
observe all the ceremonies of their religion^ confided in me 
entirely. Our acquaintance ripened into intimacy, and they 
seemed as if they could never be happy without me ; every 
day I was invited, to my great annoyance, to dine with them 
upon boiled rice and palm-oil. It will be seen by what fol- 
lows how far these effusions of friendship were to be trusted. 
One day, when I was going home, I was accosted in 
the street by one of my new friends, the Mandingoes, who 
asked me if I had not taken a silver toothpick which he had 
lost ; the rogue added, aside, " Do not make a noise ; give 
me back my toothpick, and 1 will say nothing about it." 
Imagine my surprise and indignation ! I had no difficulty 
in understanding what the fellow meant ; I reproached him 
for this shameful behaviour to a brother, without protection, in 
a foreign country ; then, transported with anger, 1 followed 
him home and appealed to the merchants who were as- 
sembled there ; but they all refused to interfere in the busi- 
ness. I then went to fetch a negro who spoke English and 
Mandingo, that we might the better understand on€ another. 
When my accuser saw the interpreter, he was alarmed, and 
said I had mistaken his meaning, and that he only came to 
inquire whether by chance I had found the article which he 
had lost, adding, that he should be miserable to have any 
dispute with me. I was satisfied with this explanation ^ but 
I left my former companions with looks of scorn, and told 
them that they had taken the wrong way to gain any thing 
from me. Recollecting very soon that I might meet some of 
these Mandingoes on my journejr, I thought it best to appear 
L 2 
