384 JOURNEY TO CENTRAL AFRICA.

CHAPTEE XXX.

THE COMMERCE OF SOUDAN.

The Commerce of Soudan — Avenues of Trade — The Merchants — Character of the Imports— Speculation — The Gum Trade of Kordofan— The Ivory Trade — Abuses of tha Government— The Traffic in Slaves— Prices of Slaves — Their Treatment Before taking a final leave of Soudan, it may be well to say a few words concerning the trade of the country. As the Nile is the principal avenue of communication between the Mediterranean and the eastern half of Central Africa, Soudan is thus made a centre of commerce, the character of which may be taken as an index to all the interior traffic of the continent.

European goods reach Soudan through two principal channels ; by the port of Sowakin, on the Eed Sea, and the caravan route up the Nile and across the Great Nubian Desert.

Of late years the latter has become the principal thoroughfare, as winter is the commercial season, and the storms on the Eed Sea are very destructive to the small Arab craft. The merchants leave Cairo through the autumn, principally between the first of October and the first of December, as they travel slowly and rarely make the journey in less than two months and a half. The great proportion of them take the same route