36o Seven Years in the Soudan.

satisfy the Arabs, who believed that, as a reward for the services rendered during the war, they would be permitted, as usual, to dispose of the life and property of the natives.

" I had already disarmed about a thousand Arabs on the pretence of economy, sending them by degrees to Jur Gattas, on the wa}' to Khartoum, when a report arose all through Bahr-el-Ghazal that the Grovernment had recalled me, and that an Arab was on the way to take my place. This news overjoyed all the Arabs and spread like lightning to the remotest parts of Sandeh.

"A few days after I liad given the above disciplinary directions, three Arabs who had killed three slaves were arrested. Their guilt proved, they were all three hanged in public. The discontent of the Arabs increased. They could not understand how one of themselves could be condemned to death for killing a slave, avIio, after all, was considered as exclusive property which they could dispose of as they liked.

" I have already stated that when the rebels were beaten, many Jelabba had joined Suleiman and fled into Sandeh. About two thousand died of himger because the natives burned or carried away all the provisions. Suleiman himself had had to kill even his horse and dry its flesh for his own particular use.

He had then occupied Tuesha with the object of attempting a union with Sultan Haroun, who had then not yet submitted. Five hundred Jelabba joined Suleiman, while six or seven hundred went to another part of Sandeh where they knew they would find means of subsistence. These last were informed not onl}'' of my recall, but were assured that T had already departed.

" The sheikhs of the country came to inquire if the news Avere true. They Avere very sad, and many of them showed a desire to follow me with their families. T learned from them that the Jelabba were on the way to retake their villages near