Mr HOLROYD'S Journey to Kordofn. [1837. 178 operation is principally periormed by Melik Tamar, brother to the late SultAn of Dar-fur. Ile belongs to the tribe of Gunjarah, which tribe is remarkable for having l)lack nails, caused by the natural deposit of the rete muco.sum. For many years he enjoye(l an exclusire xnonopoly of this brutal practice, but., as his success was great, otller persons, frlding they could realize a larger profit by making their captives eunuchs than 1y selling them as ordinary slaves, adopted a similar profession. As Sultan Tamar is a man of considerable celebrity, I visited him; I found him infirm, about seventy years of age, with a haggard countenance, of a jet b]ack hue, and hanng a scanty white beard, which he had dyed red with hinna (Lawsonia inermis). When he spoke he held his hand before his mouth, anxiously concealing his nearly toothlessJawsa He said that he first came to Kordofan 36 years ago, and remained there till the Defterdar subdued it, when he returned to DAr-fur, but, having received a hint that his presence was not a;reeable, and fearing assassination, he remored to Sennar, and when the new government was finally arraned returned to El-'Obeid, where he now enjoys a pension of 6()0 piastres (61.) a-month from Mohammed'Ali PashA. He emasculates from l00 to lo0 slaves almually, and the same number are mutilated by the other operators in Kordofan. Sultan Tamar is always in difficulties, and (which is remarkable) he is very charitable, keeps open house, and his consumption of grain amounts to about 500 ardebs (2500 bushels) a-year. He inhabits a curiouslyarranged straw-built house, and possesses 200 slaves. His slaves, whenever they bring him water or sherbet fall upon their knees, present the cup, and do not rise again till they have left their mighty master's presence. The subjects selected for emasculatiol] are boys from 7 to ll years old. All the organs are removed,* and the operation rarely proves fatals not more than 5 per cent. Tllere is a military hospital at Kordofan; a powder-rnagazine enclosed in a fortification of mud wallsn upon which are mountee1 two pieces of cannon; a mosque recently erected, and about a mile to the east of the Gosernor's house is a large water-tank, made by Rostan Bey when he was governor, on the edge of which he built a summer residences now in ruills, wllere he passed much of his time in the society of his women.

The men of El-'Obeid are well made, spare, and tall. Their features are handsome, and their sk;z of a dark-brown colour. Their hair is slightly curled, and they generally wear it long antl plaited. Their dress consists only of a plece of cotton cloth over the pubis, with a cord round the hips to keep it in its place, or of * The Arabs have a peculiar term for this complete mode of castratioll: former observers howevex have found the moltality ill such cases to be very great. F. S.