TRAVELS IN BARBARY. 
tions. He tried their temper by furious beating, 
and sometimes laid forty or fifty at his feet sprawl- 
ing in their blood ; when such as shewed any sen- 
sibility to such treatment, were considered wholly 
unworthy of being attached to the person of his 
majesty. These negroes, on the slightest signal, 
darted like tygers on their victim ; and not con- 
tent with killing, they tortured him with such 
fury, as reminded the spectators of " devils tor- 
" menting the damned." A milder fate awaited 
those whom the emperor killed with his own hand. 
He merely cut off their heads, or pierced them at 
one blow with a lance, in the use of which instru- 
ment he was very skilful, ** seldom letting his 
" hand go out, for want of practice." When he 
came out in the morning, an awful observation 
was made of his aspect, his gestures, and even the 
colour of his clothes ; yellow being his " killing 
" colour." When he killed any one through mis- 
take, or momentary gust of passion, he made an 
apology to the dying man, saying, that he had not 
intended it ; but that it was the will of God, and 
that his hour must have been come. Those, how- 
ever, who had an opportunity of closely observing 
him, reported that he was agitated by frequent 
and terrible remorse ; that in his sleep he was of- 
ten heard starting wildly, and calling upon those 
whom he had murdered. Not unfrequently, even 
when awake, he would ask for persons whom he 
