44 TUMULT AT COQUE ON THE APPEARANCE OF THE AUTHOR. 
was ready to overthrow all that opposed his passag^e. At 
length several servants of the chief stopped him, and con- 
ducted me to the door of their master. It was not without 
difficulty that I cleared myself a passage through the crowd 
for the purpose of paying him my respects. He desired me 
to sit down by his side, but the multitude, forgetting' the 
respect due to their chief, violated the asylum he had given 
me. Weary of the immense number of people who entered 
at all the doors, he retired to another hut. I saw no other 
means of withdrawing myself from the throng than to return 
to my quarters on horseback. 
The swiftness of my steed alone enabled me to escape the 
fresh uproar which my re-appearance occasioned. Scarcely 
had I reached my hut, when a messenger from the chief came 
to inform me that it would not only be imprudent in me to 
go abroad, but that by so doing I might even expose myself 
to danger. Not content with giving me this kind advice, the 
chief sent me my dinner by his son ; it consisted of couscous, 
with butter and tamarinds. This attention on his part appeased 
the ferment among the inhabitants. Abstracted from their 
view, I became the topic of their conversation. I heard through 
the straw wall of my hut what they said respecting me. My 
neighbours praised or censured my mode of life and dress. 
However, I soon forgot the inconveniences to which I had 
been exposed during this day, for I completed the business 
about which I had lately been so anxious : I bargained with a 
