If, however, you should fear being compromised by a declaration, a report, or other legal statement, address to me a letter for the president of the Geographical Society, which I will convey to him through his Excellency the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
If you should decide to come to Tangier, undertake the journey in such a manner as not to commit yourself, and above all, be circumspect in regard to the religion you have embraced, for the Moors are no triflers on this subject; they are inexorable. Have the goodness, also, to form into a single packet all the daily notes you may have taken during the sixteen months of your arduous journey, and the information you may have collected; request the French agent at Rabat to seal it with his seal, and to send it to me by a courier, according to the directions which the agent will receive from me, in order that these valuable and interesting documents, which shall be preserved for you, may not be lost.
I should think myself happy, Sir, to be the first member of the Geographical Society who should enjoy the advantage of embracing an associate who has successfully passed through all the variety of fortune, hazards, and perils of a journey, in which so many have failed; and to give assistance to a countryman under the numerous sufferings which so much exertion and fatigue must have produced.
I shall wait further intelligence from you before I communicate your arrival to those interested in it.
I request you to believe me, with admiration, Sir, your very humble and obedient servant.
Signed Delaporte, Vice-Consul of France, charged with the provisional administration of the general consulate of his Most Christian Majesty in Morocco.
Extract of a Letter from M. Delaporte, Vice-Consul administering the General Consulate of France at Tangier, to the Commander of the French naval station off Cadiz.
Tangier, 15th September, 1828,
M. Caillié, (Réné-Auguste) has undertaken the painful and dangerous journey from the Senegal and Sierra-Leone to Tangier, passing through the city of Timbuctoo, and has had the good fortune to surmount all the difficulties, which, as you will judge, are inseparable from such an enterprise.
Chance has thrown him upon an agent of his majesty’s government, and a member of the Geographical Society, upon me: I take the best possible care of him; and feel pride in receiving a suffering fellow-citizen, the first European who has acquired for our country a knowledge of the city of Timbuctoo, the search after which has cost so many lives, and so much treasure.