52 CASSALA.

Bey immediately insisted that we did not like our fare, upon which we were obliged to renew our efforts. We were provided with an immense number of dishes, twenty-five courses all told, including the inevitable sheep roasted whole, head and all. Once, when assisting at a similar entertainment, the attentive host gouged the sheep's eye out with his thumb and finger, and was anxious to put it in my brother's mouth, a mark of attention he had some difficulty in resisting.

After dinner we produced a magic-lantern we had brought with us from London, to the great delight of a large crowd of people that had made their appearance after the meal was over, and none of whom had ever seen such a thing before.

Cassala, next to Khartoum, is the largest town in the Egyptian Soudan, and contains a population of about fifteen thousand, besides a considerable garrison of soldiers. It is a walled town, and presents a very animated appearance every morning, when crowds of people, men and women, resort to a large open space, where they hold a market, sitting, many of them, under rough booths formed of matting supported on poles, as some protection against the fierce rays of a tropical sun ; here they sell various kinds of food, cooked and uncooked, beads, gum, pepper, beans, mats, etc.

The province in which Cassala is situated is one of the richest in the Soudan. The country round the town is very fertile ; and a certain amount of cotton of excellent quality is grown, besides onions, which are very large and mild, and somewhat resemble those grown in Spain ; tomatoes also thrive well, and various nondescript vegetables are cultivated.

For some miles up and down the Gash, there are a number of sakceycJiSy or water-wheels, of the same kind as those used so much in Egypt ; by their means a plentiful supply of water for irrigation is obtained.