— / :> — I shall never again be strong and lusty as in the days of old, by reason of the machinations of this man (i).

FORTIFICATION OF EL FASHER.

After Ismail Pasha had occupied El Fasher he set to work to make a fortified cantonment on the hill to the west of the town. First he built a square wall of brick of a thickness of three feet, each side being two hundred feet in length. In each of the four corners he erected a tower in which he put guns. Inside the wall he dug a moat fifteen feet deep, surrounding the moat with a palisade of thorn.

This moat was two and a half paces broad, which was too wide for a horse with a mailclad warrior to jump.

Within the wall he built ofifices for the Government, a house for the Governor, and barracks for the regular troops, the irregulars being stationed outside the wall. The buildings in the neighbourhood of the wall he pulled down, thus making a field of fire for a considerable distance. The result was an almost impregnable position. Next he issued a proclamation throughout the land, summoning the people to El Fasher, in order to receive pardon.

Multitudes came from the four corners of the kingdom and, after receiving pardon, they returned each (i) This remark was made when Zubeir was over eighty years of age I