GREEK TRADERS. 15

be lost, for raising a little money. As he could only squeeze

two thousand dollars out of them, and this did not satisfy him,

he put them in irons.

When we arrived, they had been living a year in the court-

yard in this way, and, although government prisoners, were

obliged to provide their own food. Their camels had died off

in great numbers, and many of the men also had succumbed to

the bad treatment they had received. Some of them (guarded

by soldiers) were allowed to live with their camels, a few

miles out of Souakim, where there was food for their beasts. Achmed Effendi had actually made them lately believe, that, if

they would give him forty dollars, it would help towards freeing

them. They subscribed this amount between them, which of

course went to line the worthy Effendi's pockets, the result to

the Bedouins being nil. They had no shelter from sun or rain

;

and some of the poor little children were suffering from fever,

which our doctor did what he could to alleviate. We left forty

dollars with Mr. Brewster, who promised to expend it during the

winter in food, which he kindly offered to distribute among them.

On our return in April, he told us he had been able to buy a

great deal of rice and dJmri^a with the money, and that the poor

people had been most grateful. We were glad to find the

wretched prisoners flown on our return, as the first act of

Ala-ed-Deen Pacha, on his arrival in the spring, had been to set

them all free, and this he had done before being an hour in

the place : he had moreover allowed them to live somewhere

to the north of the town if they wished to* do so; and many

of them availed themselves of this permission, instead of return-

ing to their own country. It is to be hoped, that, in the many

changes that have recently taken place in the country, they

will not have been oppressed again. We found a number of Greek shops in the town, and the