272 JOURNEY TO CENTRAL AFRICA.

stables, all of which were to be had at one hundred piastres a month — an exorbitant price, as I afterwards learned. Before engaging it, I decided to ask the advice of the Austrian Consular Agent, Dr. Reitz, for whom I had letters from the English and Austrian Consuls in Cairo. He received me with true German cordiality, and would hear of nothing else but that I should immediately take possession of an unoccupied room in his house. Accordingly the same day of my arrival beheld me installed in luxurious quarters, with one of the most brave, generous and independent of men as my associate.

As the Consul's residence was the type of a bouse of the best class in Khartoum, a description of it may give some idea of life in the place, under the most agreeable circumstances.

The ground-plot was one hundred and thirty paces square, and surrounded by a high mud wall. Inside of this stood the dwelling, which was about half that length, and separated from it by a narrow garden and court-yard. Entering the court by the gate, a flight of steps conducted ' to the divan, or reception-room, in the second story. From the open ante-chamber one might look to the south over the gray wastes of Sennaar, or, if the sun was near his setting, see a reach in the White Nile, flashing like the point of an Arab spear. The divan had a cushioned seat around three sides and matting on the floor, and was really a handsome room, although its walls were mud, covered with a thin coating of lime, and its roof palm-logs overlaid with coarse matting, on which rested a layer of mud a foot thick. In the second story were also the Consular Office and a sleeping room, The basement contained the kitchen, store-rooms, and servants' rooms. The remainder of the house was only one story in height, and had a balcony looking on the