448 
THE AUTHOR'S STORY. 
it. One of them, a man of about forty, was much whiter 
than myself. 
My companions, without any ceremony, told them who 
I was and whence I had come, adding that my resources 
were exhausted and that I appealed to them for hospitality. 
Their astonishment was extreme. They gazed at me with 
curiosity and said one to another : Aich kount liad4 ? (what 
means this ?) I saluted them : they returned my salutation 
and gave me their hands. They then again asked me who 
1 was. I told them as well as 1 could, for I spoke their 
language very imperfectly, that I was an Arab and a na- 
tive of Alexandria. I added that my father, a zealous 
Musulman and a very rich merchant, had ships like those 
of the christians ; that 1 had been made prisoner when 
very young by the French ; but that J had escaped from 
them, with the determination of returning to my country 
and embracing the religion of my fathers ; that I was al- 
most destitute and had come to claim their protection 
to enable me to reach Timbuctoo, whence I should 
proceed to Alexandria, my native city. They paid great 
attention to all that I said ; but they did not appear to be 
quite convinced of the truth of my story. They observed 
that Alexandria lay to the east, and that I had come from 
the west, and they asked me how I had effected my escape 
from among the christians. Fortunately, I was prepared 
with an answer : I related a long story in which I said 
that the christians, having captured me at Alexandria, 
conveyed me to their country, which is in the north ; that 
they had educated me, and that when I grew up, the chris- 
tian to whom I belonged took me with him on board a 
ship, which, after two months' voyage, brought us to the 
coast of the negro country. " The whites," continued I, 
" possess little villages on the coast, where they have 
commercial establishments, in one of which I remained a 
considerable time. I had the care of a store-house and 
