I had almost
engaged a very excellent person at Tripoli, the captain of the vessel in
which I arrived; but when he called at the Consulate on the subject,
some minor official ordered him off with a contemptuous "Barra! barra!"
and he accordingly yielded to the solicitations of his crew and embarked
without seeing me. There is too much of this self-sufficiency and
off-handedness in all Consulates in the Levant, where a grain of
authority is apt at once to magnify a man, in his own estimation, into a
mighty potentate. I regret my Jerbine captain very much; he originally
volunteered to accompany us, and entered into my plans with an
enthusiasm and intelligence rare among Muslims.
These small details of our expedition are interesting to me to record,
though probably many will think them superfluous. Perhaps they will
serve to give a true idea of the magnitude of the undertaking, and of
the great responsibility which weighed upon me, and thus prove an
anticipatory excuse for any accusation of shortcoming or dilatoriness
that may be preferred against me. I will not, however, enter further
into the business-details of the expedition--merely observing that,
among other things to which I had to attend during my stay in Mourzuk,
were, in the first place, to collect provisions and stores for a journey
that may last two years; secondly, to purchase presents for the princes
and other distinguished persons of the interior; and thirdly, to provide
against the casualties of the journey, payment of salaries, &c.
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