 Upon his return from Patagonia , Chatwin discovered a change in leadership at The Sunday Times Magazine and his retainer was not continued . Chatwin intended his next project to be a biography of Francisco Félix de Sousa , a nineteenth @-@ century slave trader born in Brazil who became the Viceroy of Ouidah in Dahomey ( present day Benin ) . Chatwin had first heard of de Sousa during a visit to Dahomey in 1972 . He returned to the country , by then renamed the People 's Republic of Benin , in December 1976 to conduct research . In January 1977 a coup took place , and Chatwin was accused of being a mercenary , arrested , and detained for three days . Chatwin later wrote about this experience in " A Coup — A Story , " which was published in Granta and included in What Am I Doing Here ( 1989 ) . 
