318 JOURNEY TO CENTRAL AFRICA.

voyage. Formerly, it had been very difficult for any Euro* pean to obtain permission to sail on the White Nile, owing to the trade of the river having been completely monopolized by the Pasha of Soudan, in defiance of the Treaty of 1838, which made the river free to merchants of all nations. No later than the previous winter, Count Dandolo, an Italian traveller who visited Khartoum, encountered much opposition before he succeeded in obtaining a boat for the Islands of the Shillooks.

Owing to the vigorous efforts of Dr. Beitz, the monopoly had at last been broken down, and the military guard formerly stationed at the confluence of the two rivers, no longer existed.

I did not even inform the Pasha of my intention to make the voyage until after I had taken the boat and completed my preparations. I then paid him a visit of ceremony, in company with the Consul. He was very affable, and insisted on our remaining for dinner, although we had invited two friends to help us eat a roasted ram. We urged this in excuse, but he cut us off by exclaiming : "I am ruler here, and my commands dare not be disobeyed," and immediately sent a servant to order our guests, in his name, to eat the ram themselves.

He then despatched messengers for Abd-el-Kader Bey, governor of Kordofan, and Buffaa Bey, who were brought to the palace in the same arbitrary manner. Having thus secured his company, he retired for the usual prayers before dinner, leaving us to enjoy the preparatory pipe. Among the manifold dishes served at dinner, were three or four kinds of fish from the White Nile, all of them of excellent flavor. The Pasha continued his discussion of Louis Napoleon's coup d'etat, taking delight in recommending a sanguinary policy as the only course, and could not enough praise Sultan