28o Seven Years in the Soudan.

companions, Suleiman's Besingers had wounded him and robbed him of his clothes and a piece of linen. He had indeed no shirt, and no petticoat called the gelabbia, and was little better than naked. But he had only met with the treatment he deserved.

At midda} we entered a village, a great part of which had been burned, and where we could not find a single ration of corn. A boy showed us the spot Avhere Suleiman had passed the night two days before, and also was able to indicate the direction he had taken. A mile further on we met with another seriba, which was enclosed by a great hedge of thorns, prickly bushes and trees, and was destined for captured slaves and their keepers.

Calculating each family at five persons, this station might have contained about a thousand Jelabba. All these seribe were entirely unknown to the people of Bahr-el-Grhazal. To the south of Dem Suleiman there were two of the principal factories of the slave traders, with well -furnished depots. The infamous commerce was carried on on the road to Baku and the copper mines.

The richest proprietor of these seribe was called Sangiak Mussa Wad-el-Hag. He had been a chief of Besingers under Ziber Pasha when the latter conquered Darfour ; he had then deserted and taken service under the Egyptian Government in the quality of Sangiak, or captain of irregular troops.

The Grovernment, with the intention of gradually diminishing Ziber's force, received all these chiefs, giving them a post in the army, or other employment. Thus a certain Said, after having left Suleiman, was made Bey and Governor of Shakka.

Others, like Etman Taialla, Mussa "Wad-el-Hag, Yacub, and Abdulgassim, were made head Sangiaks. When they deserted from Suleiman, they took with them their own men, and in this way Suleiman's ranks were emptied.

But the desertion of these chiefs was of little