130 
now that God had permitted them to get safe through 
the eclipse.* 
I cheered the mind of this young man as well as I was 
able, and he retired at last easy and satisfied. 
It is impossible to convince these people that a man 
may know how to calculate astronomical events with- 
out being an astrologer or a prophet. I met every day 
with some people, who desired me to tell them their for- 
tune, or to enable them to recover lost or stolen things; 
others wanted me to cure diseases, and some were mo- 
dest enough to request only my prayers or a small keep- 
sake: such is the ignorance of a people whom I endea- 
voured by all possible means to instruct, and to cure of 
their simplicity. 
I fixed my departure for Morocco, though my friends 
did their utmost to keep me with them; prayers, 
offers, cabals, and intrigues were employed on all sides, 
but I withstood them. I issued my orders, bade them 
farewell, and fulfilled the promise I had given to the 
sultan. 
CHAPTER XII. 
i 
Departure from Fez. — Journey to Rabal. — Description of this City 
Every thing being ready, and my caravan having ad- 
vanced out of town, I left my house on foot on the 27th 
February 1804; and was accompanied by the principal 
sherifs, and the respectable Emkaddem Hadj Edris. 
Passing through the crowd which surrounded and filled 
the yards of my house and the streets, we directed our 
* An eclipse is looked upon in this country as a great misfortune* 
