"No, no; if I buy him, my sultan will put me in prison."
(They, one to the other.—"Do you believe him?")
"The English had many slaves, but gave them all the âtka; and soon, please God, they will destroy slavery in all the world."
They.—"Ah, ah," (laughing), "that's right; we wish to have the âtka."
I found some were from Soudan, others from Timbuctoo, the greater part from Bornou. About a score of them were present; their greatest delight was in exchanging their various lingos. When they heard I was going to Kanou, one jumped up like a fury, saying, "Oh, I must send something to my mother." This was a poor grey-headed wrinkled-faced old man! His poor mother, alas! may have been long ago whipped to death upon the cotton plantations of South Carolina, where the blood of the slave is poured out to fertilize the fields of pampered republicans, and give tongue to the braggadocio of the free sons of the Model-Republic!
To-day, saw three swallows in a garden for the first time at Ghadames. They darted over the heads and through the foliage of the graceful palms, performing sweet eccentric circles. To me, they were winged messengers from the fair bowers and silvery brooks of Paradise.
To give an idea of the general ignorance of the Ghadamsee people on European geography, I have only to record a part of a conversation with them.
They.—"Where's your country; is it near Rome?"
"No; further to the west and north."
They.—"Did not the English spring from the Arabs?"