130 THE BAKKARA.

his female slaves hewn to pieces by a corporal, in his presence, informing him, at the same time, that a similar fate awaited all his wives and female slaves, if the two hundred oxen demanded were not instantly forthcoming. The sheikh, terrified to the utmost by these proceedings, promised to satisfy their demands, and in a few hours the number of oxen required were delivered to the extortioner.

The cattle was of course shared by those who were privy to the secret.

As the delivery of cattle to Egypt is at present put an end to by order of the Viceroy, the Bakkara have no longer to suffer these torments ; but they are, no doubt, tortured in some other way. The southern provinces, as Dongola, Sennaar, and Kordofan, have, for several years past, been forced to tender twelve thousand oxen annually for Egypt alone ; eight or nine thousand heads being the stipulated portion required from Kordofan. More than one half of these animals perished on the road on account of the bad management with which the transport was conducted, and thus the government suffered a great loss. Sheds where grass or chaff was kept for the transport were, indeed, erected between Deppa and Cairo, at a distance of each day's march ; but these shunes, as they are here termed, were under very bad direction ; for the inspectors sold the greater part of the forage, and thus the cattle were but sparingly fed, and the exhausted beasts were deprived of the opportunity of