I waited on the Sultan to announce to him Mr. Ritchie’s death, at which the hypocrite affected to be much grieved, though he must have been well aware that had his inclination equalled his power to serve us, he might have enabled us to procure the necessaries of life, and thus perhaps have averted, or at least tranquillized the last moments of Mr. Ritchie. I informed him of the additional allowance which I expected, begging him to lend me some money. He talked much of his regard for me, but dwelt a great deal on his poverty; and ended by saying, he might perhaps be able to furnish me with a _little_, which he expressed with particular emphasis, reminding me that I already owed him eight dollars. I was not then, I own, in the humour to remonstrate with such a wretch, and plainly told him I would never more ask for his assistance or friendship; and that according to his law, ingratitude, such as he had so cruelly shown to Mr. Ritchie and myself, was the highest and blackest crime a man could be guilty of, and would one day be visited on him. On my return home, I found poor Belford greatly overcome by the efforts he had made, whilst I was equally so from the exertions of mind I had undergone. The consequence was, that a strong fever confined us both to our beds, at the mercy of any one who chose to pillage us. Before I took to mine, however, I contrived to write despatches to England, which I sent off by a courier. During the whole day a constant succession of visitors came to pay their compliments of condolence, and I seriously thought that, with such an accession of evils, we should in a few days more be hurried to our graves. Yussuf and Hadje Mahmoud attended on us, as did our little girl, who was our principal nurse, and was very humane and careful. We lay ten days in this state, and during that time Yussuf, by my desire, sold about 100 lbs. of our powder, so that we now again obtained a little money; but we were too ill to enjoy any benefit which our riches might procure us. Mr. Ritchie’s horse, which had never recovered its flesh since coming from Tripoli, and which was very old, I sold, through the medium of Yussuf, for seventy dollars, to the Sultan. By the sale of many trifles, which the Sultan no longer made an objection to our disposing of, I cleared, after paying my debts, about 150 dollars, including the money for the horse and powder, and now determined, should I recover, on penetrating still farther to the southward of Morzouk, though incapable of making such progress as I wished, from not possessing sufficient funds for the purpose.