38o Seven Years in the Soudan.

" I am expecting tlie steamer daily, which I calculate ouofht to have reached Meshra-el-Rek lonof ago. Its delay makes me fear it may have encountered some obstruction. I have sent the necessary orders in case of Captain Casati or Signor Fraccaroli being on board, and I regret that the state of my foot will prevent me from going to meet them. In Wau two large nuggars are ready to descend to Meshra, and I should like to go on to Khartoum, but I cannot leave my post without having first obtoined permission ; and secondly, I should not like to leave without setting Casati on his wa}'.

" The Horbans of Resegat have attempted an attack on Jangeh, Avhicli forms part of Bahr-el-Ghazal. These robbers wanted to profit by the weakness of the garrison (twenty-five men, of whom twenty are ill, as I said before) to carry off some slaves.

But, warned b}' the preparations they were making, I had stationed a force of about four hundred men with guns near Delgauna. Informed in good time that the Horbans were advancing, our troops made a charge and put them to flight, with severe loss. It is time that the Government should think of disarming these Beys, who each can dispose of four to six hundred guns.

" The Resegat have submitted to the Government ; their country is occupied, and I ask myself why they still keep up some small troops, which, in former times, only served to capture slaves near the mines and in Bahr-el-Ghazal. Xow these times are over, and my frontiers are closed and rigorously guarded, and all the invasions attempted have been repulsed with great loss to them. Lately three Horbans came to prove the ground, but were arrested, and are now at hard labour in Wau. The new Governor-General will have too much to do to occupy himself at once with all these questions, but I will soon point out to him that it is a constant peril to leave these Beys with armed men at their disposal. In a future letter I