12 ROUTES ACROSS THE DESERT.

governor-general of the Soudan. Its population is about eight thousand ; and it is the chief port of the Soudan, and the outlet of the great bulk of the trade of the White Nile and Khartoum.

The great caravan-route from Souakim is that which, crossing the desert, strikes the Nile at Berber, a distance of two hundred and forty miles ; not the road to Cassala, which we followed.

Its trade, however, is not increasing, owing to the present low price of gum, its chief export in Europe, and to the restrictions on the slave-trade. Formerly slaves could be purchased with cotton-cloth imported from Manchester ; and the slaves were made to carry ivory, ostrich-feathers, etc., to the coast : now this " branch of industry " is done away with, although more merchandise finds its way to Europe by Souakim than by the other great outlet, that via Berber and Korosko on the Nile, I made the journey up the Nile, from Cairo to Korosko, during the winter of iZjj-jZ, and from thence across the desert to Abou Hamed, following the banks of the Nile to Berber.

The desert journey from Korosko to Abou Hamed is a most severe one : the distance is two hundred and fifty miles of the worst desert imaginable, with nothing for the camels to eat, and only one well, the whole way. The heat, too, during the greater part of the year, is terrific ; and the consequent mortality among the camels that make the transit, very great.

In crossing this desert, we saw two regular slave-caravans, consisting of boys and girls, probably from the White Nile or Darfour, travelling in the direction of Korosko. They were all trudging wearily through the heavy sand, while their owners rode on camels which the slaves led. Many doubtless perish on the journey.

Besides the Berber and Korosko route, and that from Berber to Souakim, there is a third road much used by Soudanese tra-