272 CAPITAL OF KORDOFAN ; LOBEID.

them safely to Egyjit ; thus every one in purchasing a male or female slave, looks chiefly to their age, and a boy or girl, beyond the thirteenth or fifteenth year, is seldom sold in the bazaar of Cairo or Alexandria ; every one, in fact, prefers bringing them up according to his own taste, and for this purpose selects the youngest. The older women and men exposed for sale in the bazaar, of the towns above named, are mostly such as are resold by their masters for some particular defect, and it is by no means, therefore, advisable to purchase them.

The soock, or market is the only place of diversion for the European or stranger in general, at Lobeid.

Besides the pleasing spectacle afforded by the bustle of the place, the crowd, and various groups of dealers and Djelabs, all the Turkish oflScers, Coptic secretaries, and the few foreign merchants collect in the market-place, around the single coffee-house we have before mentioned, where each man endeavours to surpass the other in retailing news. Although deep in the interior of Africa, there is no lack of news from the most distant parts of the world ; and even when at the time of the heavy rains the communication with Egypt is interrupted, intelligence may be heard every day from that quarter ; sometimes it consists of a most palpable tissue of lies ; yet it is greedily devoured by many a patient ear, because agreeable to the majority of the audience. The report usually circulates that Mehemed Ali is at war with the Turks in Syria, and carrying on warfare at