English, he answered me in a mixture of Arabic and broken
English, and sometimes in Arabic only. At this early
period I could not help remarking that his pronunciation
of Arabic resembled that of a Negro, but concluded that it
was occasioned by his intercourse with Negro slaves.
P Like most other Christians after a long captivity and
severe treatment among the Arabs, he appeared upon his
first arrival exceedingly stupid and insensible; and he
scarcely spoke to any one: but he soon began to show
great thankfulness for his ransom, and willingly assisted in
arranging and cultivating a small garden, and in other employment,
which I gave him with a view of diverting his
thoughts. About ten or twelve days afterwards his faculties
seemed pretty well restored, and his reserve had in a great
measure worn off; and about this period, having been
informed by a person with whom he conversed, that he
had visited the Negro country, I began to inquire of him
the extent of his travels in the Desert; suppressing every
appearance of peculiar curiosity, or of expecting any thing
extraordinary from his answers. He then related to me,
with the greatest simplicity, the manner in which he had
been wrecked, and afterwards carried away to the eastward,
and to Timbuctoo; the misfortunes and sufferings of the
party which he accompanied, his return across the Desert,
and his ultimate arrival at Wed-Noon. What he dwelt
upon with most force and earnestness during this recital,
were the particulars of the brutal treatment which he experienced
from the Arabs at El Kabla and Wed-Noon. He
did not appear to attach any importance to the fact of his
having been at Timbuctoo : and the only strong feeling
which he expressed respecting it, was that of dread, with
which some of the Negroes had inspired him, who, he said,
were sorcerers, and possessed the power of destroying their
enemies by witchcraft.
“ The probability of the events, the manner of his relating
them, and thè correspondence of his description of
places: with what information I possessed respecting them,
led me to attach a considerable degree of credit to
his Narrative. After repeated examinations, in which I
found him uniformly clear and consistent in his accounts,
I sent for several respectable traders who had been at
Timbuctoo ; and these persons, after examining him respecting
the situation of that city and of other places, and
respecting the objects which he had seen there, assured
me that they had no doubt of his having been where he
described. So strongly was my belief in the truth and
accuracy of his recital now confirmed, that I wrote a detail
of the circumstances to Mr. Simpson, Consul-General of
d