32 GOVERNMENT.

him to be the cause of all the oppression under which it groans, as it considers all the acts of injustice, under which it has to suffer, to be perpetrated by his orders. In case of a governor, therefore, rebelling against the government, the whole province would instantly attach itself to his faction, if he merely released them of a portion of their taxation. To re-conquer the country by force of arms would be a more difficult matter than it was twenty years ago ; we know what resistance the negroes of Kordofan and Sennaar offered the Turks, when armed with spears and swords only ; and at present, there are 15,000 muskets in the arsenal at Khartoom, which would give the insurgents no small advantage. Mehemed Ali knows all this very well, and acts very wisely in conciliating the governors : the authority of the latter is, therefore, virtually far greater than that of the Viceroy, and most wofully do they use it to their advantage ; for, with few exceptions, they exert unlimited power, are masters over life and death, as also over the property of the people. A code of laws has certainly been instituted, but these are totally disregarded, and in every case will is law. Judgment is sometimes even passed according to the whim or fancy of the individual in the most unjustifiable manner. During my residence in this country, I had the opportunity of convincing myself of this fact.

A Turk, who travelled with a large quantity of goods, was murdered in the desert of Bahiouda,* * Between Ambukol and Khartoom.