On No Occasion Do We Remember That We Ever Saw A Smile Sit Upon His Countenance, And As To A Laugh, It Appeared To Be An Act Which He Dreaded To Commit.

He seemed always to be brooding over some great and commanding idea, which absorbed the whole of his mind,

And which he felt a consciousness within him, that he had not the ability to carry into execution, at the same time that he feared to let a word escape him, which could give a clue to the subject, which was then working within him. In this respect, he was not well fitted for a traveller in a country where, if his nature would not allow him, it became a matter of policy, if not of necessity, to appear high-hearted and gay, and frequently to join in the amusements of the people amongst whom he might be residing. Lander himself was not ignorant of the Arab adage, "Beware of the man who never laughs;" and, therefore, as he was likely to be thrown amongst those very people, he ought to have practised himself in the art of laughing, so as not to rouse their suspicions, which, it is well known, if once roused, are not again easily allayed.

To return to the narrative, one of the fetishmen sent them a present of a duck, almost as large as an English goose; but as the fellow expected ten times its value in return, it was no great proof of the benevolence of his disposition.

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