Baron Roger, Larenaudière, Amédée Jaubert, Cadet de Metz, J. B. Eyriés, Jomard, Reporter.
CORRESPONDENCE.
[The following letter is an answer to the first letter written by M. Caillié, on his arrival at Arbate, to the Consul of France.]
GENERAL CONSULATE OF FRANCE AT MOROCCO,
To M. Caillié, at Arbate.
Tangier, 28th August, 1828.
Sir,
I have the honour to be a member of the Geographical Society; you will therefore believe with what pleasure I must have perused the letter which you addressed to me, dated the 21st of this month, through the medium of the agent of France at Rabat, and how satisfactory to me must be the arrival in safety of such a traveller as yourself, Sir, who may have solved the great problem of the possibility of traversing Africa. It gives me pleasure to believe that you have visited the towns you mention in your interesting letter, and particularly the city of Timbuctoo, the rock upon which, for two or three generations past, so many intrepid travellers have been lost; but the proofs which you furnish are not sufficient to confirm my faith: you know how far impostors are capable of deceiving us. Have the goodness, then, to supply me with more ample and precise information, that I may make use of it with our government, the patron of great enterprises, and with the Geographical Society, to the gratitude and admiration of which you will have acquired such unexceptionable titles.
I shall write to the agent of France at the place where you have so miraculously arrived, desiring him to give you all the assistance which your situation demands, to receive such declarations as you may wish to make, respecting the difficult and interesting journey you have just completed, and to furnish you with the means of conveyance to Gibraltar, or to me, if you should prefer coming hither.