TUB NATIVES OF SOUDAN. 391 As for the native Fellahs of Soudan, they are so crushed and imposed upon, that it is difficult to judge what their natural capacities really are. Foreigners, Frank as well as Egyptian, universally complain of their stupidity, and I heard the Pasha himself say, that if he could have done any thing with them Abbas Pasha might whistle to get Soudan from him.

That they are very stupid, is true, but that they have every encouragement to be so, is equally true. Dr. Knoblecher, who, of all the men I saw in Khartoum, was best qualified to judge correctly, assured me that they needed only a just and paternal government, to make rapid progress in the arts of civilization.