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 Khar-

toum.

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 mer-

chandise 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, dur-

ing 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 mor-

tality 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-