The law soon
despatched the affair, and compelled the Sheikh to restore the
purchase-money and take back his slave.
A last observation on Mourzuk, before leaving it behind in this Saharan
navigation. All the Ottoman authorities have treated us with attention
and respect. Mr. Gagliuffi has been hospitable, and the people generally
have proved courteous in their behaviour. It is rare to remain so long
in a place and have so few causes of complaint. Justice, however,
compels me to say, that the British Consul sometimes remembered too
vividly that he was also a merchant, and a Levantine merchant to boot. I
am afraid he is not quite satisfied even with the profits he has already
made out of the expedition. Is it possible, however, for Easterns, or
people who live in the East, to look upon a Government as anything but a
milch cow? Mustapha Bey, who took a very affectionate leave of me, is
now engaged in examining a tremendous case of peculation--something like
a defalcation of two thousand mahboubs. He is quite bewildered for the
time. The Greek doctor came to see us off; but we started in a little
confusion, for Mr. Yusuf Moknee was drunk, as he was nearly all the time
of our stay at Mourzuk.
I left Mourzuk on the 25th of June, late in the evening, and proceeding
until midnight, stopped at a little cluster of palms, with two or three
inhabitants, called Thurgan. Then rising at daylight, and starting at
once, I passed Om-el-Hamam, and reached Tesaoua about nine in the
evening.
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