IN THE YEARS 1838 AND 1839. 327 suffered by the troops of Mehemed Ali, and by the marauding Bakkara, and was in consequence greatly depopulated, was the fii*st challenged to surrender. The sheikh instantly came into camp and delivered himself with all his subjects, consisting of one hundred and ninety-six souls, into the hands of the Turks ; he received his liberty and a present of a dress, but the sheba was put on the young men, and the whole number forwarded on the next day to Lobeid. This sheikh himself told me that when the Turks first entered his village eighteen years before, the population consisted of three thousand souls, but the annual contribution of slaves, augmented by the insatiable Turks to ten times the number, had reduced them to one hundred and ninety-six souls. The prisoners of this hill were treated with some humanity, and not one instance of suicide took place among them, for they had seen the futility of resistance, and voluntarily surrendered to their dismal fate. The troops, however, were now in want of bread, and as they found but a very slight supply of dockn among this impoverished people, they were necessitated to advance. The next hill was attacked, but how were the soldiers disappointed in their expectations when they found the place evacuated ! The inhabitants, apprized of the approach of the corps, had fled, taking all their property and cattle away with them, and had left nothing but the empty huts, which were instantly fired and burnt to the ground. And now