Note (return) — APPENDIX;

Dehebby 318, sanguinary and cruel when sober, was mild, affable, and humane when intoxicated: unlike Muselmen, he believed not in predestination, but had always several surgeons and doctors in his suite, and consulted them with the most unlimited confidence when ill. He decorated the palace of Marocco: in one of the apartments of the seraglio, of which he had had painted, in a superior style, the twelve signs of the zodiac; for which his ignorant and bigoted subjects accused him of having conspired against the Deity, in imitating, by gross and ill-formed images, the works of the Almighty. This prince was an intolerable drunkard; so that the Marabets and chiefs of the empire called Abdelmelk to the throne, whom they enabled to take possession of Mequinas. This prince, anticipating the revenge of Dehebby, proposed to deprive him of his eye-sight; but the Marabets and chiefs opposed this resolution and replied to him in the following words:--"It is not for his crimes that we have deposed thy brother, but for his continual intoxication, which prevented him from watching over the government and his officers: he has therefore only been guilty of weakness, which is not a punishable crime." Abdelmelk dared not push his point, but was contented to send his brother to the (Bled Shereef), country of princes, i.e. Tafilelt. Before Dehebby was dethroned, he marched with a numerous army across Sahara, to Timbuctoo, of which he took possession, and brought home immense quantities of gold.