In the afternoon we went to pay our respects to the sheikh, in honour of the feast. He received us but coolly: and I was scarcely seated on the sand, when I saw near me a little shrief from Marocco, named Hassein, who, though once or twice our friend, I was always in fear of, being aware both of his cunning and his influence. Almost the first question of the sheikh’s was, as to the distance of our country from India: and when told it was four months by sea, he said, “What could induce you to go so far from home—to find it out, and fight with the people?” We replied, “that we had plenty of ships, and were great lovers of discovery; that the French and the Dutch had been there before us; and we were always jealous of our neighbours doing more than ourselves.” “And now it is all yours,” said he, “and governed by your laws!” Our reply was, “that we only kept possession of the part near the sea—that their own laws were in full force—but that even Mussulmans often preferred the English laws to their own.” “Wonderful!” said he, “and you went at first with only a few ships, as friends?” “We are friends now,” said I, “and by trade have not only made ourselves rich, but the natives also.” “By God!” said the Marroquin, “they eat the whole country—they are no friends: these are the words of truth.” We had then a few remarks (not good-natured ones) as to the right of dictating to Algiers and the other Barbary powers. Algiers we described as unfaithful to their word, and little better than pirates. [Illustration: Sketch by Major Denham. Engraved by E. Finden. LANCERS OF THE SULTAN OF BEGHARMI. _Published Feb. 1826, by John Murray, London._] Aug. 11.—Soon after daylight, Karouash, with Hadgi Mustapha, the chief of the Shouaas, and the sheikh’s two nephews, Hassein and Kanemy, came to our huts. Hadgi Mustapha had been one of the original four hundred who commenced the liberation of Bornou from the Felatahs. They were attended by more than a dozen slaves, bearing presents for us, for King George, and the consul at Tripoli. I had applied for a _lebida_[54], after seeing those taken from the Begharmis: the sheikh now sent a man, clothed in a yellow wadded jacket, with a scarlet cap, and mounted on the horse taken from the Begharmis, on which the sultan’s eldest son rode. He was one of the finest horses I had seen; and covered with a scarlet cloth, also wadded. “Every thing,” Hadgi Mustapha said, “except the man, is to be taken to your great king.” He also brought me twelve very beautiful tobes, of every manufacture, from Nyffé to Loggun and Waday, four parrots, and a box of zibet. For the consul he also sent six tobes, and a small box of zibet, worth thirty or forty dollars, with two parrots.