One day he called on me in company with his principal pupils, and earnestly recommended me to change my religion, and from an unbeliever to become a true believer. Feeling myself strong enough in arguments to defend my own religious principles, I challenged him to demonstrate to me the superiority of his creed, telling him that in that case I should not fail to adopt it, but not till then. Upon this, he and his pupils began with alacrity a spirited discussion, in the firm hope that they would soon be able to overcome my arguments; but after a little while they found them rather too strong, and were obliged to give in, without making any further progress at the time in their endeavours to persuade me to turn Mohammedan. This incident improved my situation in an extraordinary degree, by basing my safety on the sincere esteem which several of the most intelligent of the inhabitants contracted for me. While thus gaining a more favourable position, even in the eyes of this unprincipled man, I had the pleasure of receiving a letter from his elder, more intelligent, and straightforward brother, the Sheikh el Bakáy himself, late in the evening of the 13th, full of the most assuring promises that I should be quite safe under his protection, and that he would soon arrive to relieve me from my unsatisfactory position. And although I felt very unwell all this time, and especially the very day that I received this message, I did not lose a moment in sending the Sheikh a suitable answer, wherein I clearly set forth all the motives which had induced me to visit this city, in conformity with the direct wish of the British government, whose earnest desire it was to open friendly intercourse with all the chiefs and princes of the earth; mentioning among other Mohammedan chiefs with whom such a relation existed, the Sultan ʿAbd el Mejíd, Múlá ʿAbd e’ Rahmán, and the Imám of Maskat; and whose attention the region of the Great River (Niger), together with Timbúktu, had long attracted. At the same time I assured him that his own fame as a just and highly intelligent man, which I had received from my friends far to the east in the heart of Negroland, had inspired me with full confidence that I should be safe under his protection. In consequence of the views which I set forth in this letter, I was so fortunate as to gain the lasting esteem of this excellent man, who was so much pleased with the contents of it, that on its arrival in Gúndam, where he was at the time, he read it to all the principal men, Tawárek, Songhay, and even Fullán, in whose company he was staying. Meanwhile, in order to obtain the friendship and to secure the interest of other and more selfish people, I gave away a great many presents; but, from what I learned afterwards, I had reason to suspect that they did not all reach the persons for whom they were intended. Most of them remained in the possession of the greedy Weled Ámmer Waláti, through whose hands they had unfortunately to pass.