PRESENTS EXTORTED BY THE IMAN ALL 209 
pay tribute to Foutatoro and Bondou ; I likewise demand one 
from thee on account of thy colour," " But I am no mer- 
chant." " That is nothing- to me ; I am now thy king ; give 
me twenty grains of amber ; ten grains of coral ; a parcel of 
glass beads, for my attendants, and eleven grains of amber 
for the chief of the village." Resistance to such peremptory 
orders would have cost me my life ; for at All's command a 
hundred daggers would have been aimed at my heart. I 
therefore obeyed, and as I produced my grains of amber, the 
people who surrounded us burst out into shouts of laughter. 
" Now," said the Iman to me, " thou mayst depart ; I will 
even give thee a guide. What hast thou with thee ? Show 
me thy merchandize ?" Aware that he wished to examine my 
stock, merely to rob me still more, I told him that I knew 
what little I had left, and instantly enumerated the articles 
in a loud voice ; it may easily be supposed that I was not very 
particular about being exact. No one, I think, can blame me 
on this occasion, for not telling the whole truth. " I will 
write on thy passport," replied he ; " thou hast nothing more 
to fear, rise." He then divided with his people what I had 
given him ; some murmured, but the threats and angry looks 
of a tyrant always impose silence on the most mutinous. 
The Iman Ali is a tall thin man; his features are dignified, 
but his laugh is that of hypocrisy ; his eye is full of fire and 
animation ; although he is not forty-five years of age, his 
hair is quite white. He is clothed after the fashion of the 
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