164 UGANDA AND TEE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

natives have been so dovpntrodden and oppressed that they have lost whatever manliness they possessed, being now the most miserable wretches it is possible to imagine. They have learnt, only too well, the lessons their vile masters have taught them, and crime and vice are rife amongst them.

In 1878 Sebehr Pasha Bahama wrote to his son, Suleiman Bey, that the time had arrived for throwing off the Egyptian yoke, and for making himself independent.

This was not the first time that the Egyptian government had trouble in these parts. In 1877 there was a revolt in Darfour, and Gordon Pasha was engaged for some months in suppressing it ; and he expected that the slave-dealers would then openly set his authority at defiance, as they had tacitly encouraged the disaffected tribes. At the head of these was Suleiman Bey, the son of Sebehr Pasha.

This Sebehr was a renowned slave-dealer, possessing great riches, thousands of slaves and many troops, who had assisted the Egyptian government in the conquest of Darfour. The Khedive had annexed this country in order to work the coppermines of Hofrah-en-Nahass, in Dar Fertit, which he expected would have been very profitable, but which as yet have not added much to the revenue.

Sebehr was not content with the rank of Pasha,