62 LEVYING BLACKMAIL.

soon after, hearing a great disturbance going on amongst the camel-drivers, we rushed down to the spot where the altercation was taking place, and found that the caravan had been stopped by some soldiers, who were endeavouring to levy blackmail. The camel-drivers resisted, but, although numerically superior, were no match for the soldiers, with their rifles and sword-bayonets, which they had no hesitation in using.

They had already rendered one man Jiors du combat, by a violent blow in the stomach, when we interfered ; and having heard all sides of the question, — or, rather, the question from all sides, as they all spoke at once, — wc comprehended that the soldiers, having to support themselves, when on the march, as best they can, feel it incumbent on themselves to do so at the unfortunate Arabs' expense, backed by the tacit consent of the authorities ; and, consequently, the appearance of a tarboosh " or fez causes the Arab to fly with his property. We gave strict orders that none of our servants were to wear the "tarboosh " while in this country.

Almost immediately after leaving the camp, wc saw the fresh tracks of elephants, which we followed ; they took us to the Gash, where we found a good deal of water on the surface where the bed was rocky, and narrower than we had previously seen it. This was the only place between Cassala and Haikota where the water in the Gash rose to the surface of its own accord, — what the natives, in their peculiar Arabic, call inoic/i sarkit. MoicJi is the ordinary Arabic for water ; but it is difficult to find an English equivalent for the word sarkit, an expression only made use of in the Soudan, and employed in a great variety of ways. For instance, when we once stood a chance of being lost in crossing a desert, by nearly taking what appeared to be a path, but which in reality was not one, and led miles away into the Sahara ; on asking