420 THE NATIVE MANUSCRIPTS iv.dt.ccxii.

"Djamelyehs" refers to the Gamu'i'a. "Leur chef fut tue. . .on leur prit trois cents chameaux, beaucoup de boeufs, et de moutons."

Idris el Mihayna was related as follows to the present mek of the

Gamu'i'a, Nasir: Sulayman I I Mihayna Babikr "i I Idrfs Ibrahim

'Abd el Kadir Nasir el Mek Makbul

The Muhammad Sa'id Effendi mentioned is the same as the "Diwan

Effendi Sa'id" of paras ccxiv, ccxv, for Cailliaud mentions that "Divan Effendy" commanded this expedition,

ccxiii The reading Jj^^ occurs in other MSS.

Cailliaud accompanied the expedition to Fazoghli (Cailliaud, Vol. ii. Chaps. xxxvi-XLiii).

There is no other record, so far as I am aware, of the taxation fixed by

Isma'il Pasha: Cailliaud gives no information on the subject. There was no regular budget until 1881 (see Deherain, p. 181), and nothing is known of the details of taxation previous to the time of Khurshid Pasha (for which see Deherain, p. 182).

A rial at present is worth, in the Gezira, 10 piastres (2s.), and in most other parts {e.g. Kordofan) 20 piastres. An exhaustive note on the subject

of the currency in use in Egypt in 1845 is added to his edition of el Tunisi's

Voyage au Ouaday by Dr Perron (see pp. 675-682). Among the silver coins there were (i) the "rial abu madfa'a" (the Spanish dollar of Charles IV, value 20 pt. 28 paras), (2) the "rial ^aguz" (a worn and defaced coin), (3) the "rial abu arba'a" (the same as No. i, except that iiii occurs instead of IV. Date 1798. " Tres recherche au Soudan "), (4) the " rial abu shubbdk," or " rial abu ibra" or " rial abu nukta " (Austrian), (5) the " rial abu iayra " (Russian), the "rial chinco" or "abu shagera" (5-franc piece). Nos. 4 (the Austrian thaler, or talari) and 5 were also known as "rial kushli" (value 20 pt.).

Cailliaud writing of Berber in 182 1 similarly says " Les piastres d'argent d'Espagne, sur-tout celles de Charles IV, y sont preferees: mais celles oil le nom du prince est ecrit Charles IIII, par quatre I, et qu'ils nomment 'real France abou-arba. . .' obtiennent sur les autres un surcroit de valeur

qui va a 2 francs et plus" (Vol. ii, 118); and again (Vol. 11, 296), writing of Sennar, "I'argent qui a cours dans le pays sont les piastres d'Espagne: mais ici, comme au Barbar, celles qui portent I'empreinte de Charles IIII, par quatre 1, obtiennent une preference marquee."

If the rial be reckoned at its very lowest possible value, viz. 10 pt., the taxation specified in para, ccxiv still appears almost unbelievably onerous, and to amount to something approaching confiscation.

As no mention is made of camels, which presumably were not taxed per head because there was no means of counting them, we may assume that a tribute was, in the case of the nomads, demanded from the whole