64 Seven Years in the Soudan.

country so ricli in resources can have been reduced to such complete misery.

Gordon, having put his affairs in order, moved from Khartoum, and established first the station of Sobat, a point admirably adapted to watch the river and the slave trade. The country suffered from famine, and more than sixty families of agriculturists hastened to settle at that station.

For a handful of doora, a father \'ould sell his own son, and it was necessary to buy them to prevent their falling into the hands of the slavers. The Colonel in this Avay bought two boys for four pounds of doora. He has them with him, and says he is satisfied with them. A governor having been installed at the station, the natives devoted themselves to the cultivation of the surrounding country.