He did so in a
very dejected manner. During the time he was with the caravan he worked
as hard as any one else in his tattered clothes, and, perhaps, he would
have been of more use than many a sane person.
The other was a madman indeed, a Muslim, with an unpleasant habit of
threatening to cut everybody's throat. Hearing that we were going to
Soudan, he followed us, bringing with him a quantity of old metal,
principally copper, with which he proposed to trade. He gave himself out
as a shereef, or descendant of the Prophet. No sooner had he arrived
than he begun to quarrel on all sides, and, of course, talked very
freely of cutting throats, stabbing, shooting, and other humorous
things. Every one was afraid of him. He fawned, however, on us
Europeans, whilst he had a large knife concealed under his clothes ready
to strike. They were obliged at length to disarm him, and send him back
under a guard to Tripoli. We here took leave of Mr. Reade, who gave me
some last explanations about letters to the interior. It rained
furiously in the afternoon.
We were kept idle a whole day by the rain; but starting on the second,
turned off sharp in the afternoon towards the mountains, and encamped at
length in a pretty place fronting the great ascent of Gharian. The
appearance of the chain here differs in no important particular from
that of any other part of the Tripoline Atlas.
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