430 Seven Years in the Soudan.

after <i campaign of six months, during which they were repeatedly beaten, they submitted. They now pay tribute, furnish us with porters, and guard the roads. Duri]ig the above-mentioned campaign I took from them two thousand bullocks and cows and two thousand goats, dividing them among the chiefs of Bahr-el-Ghazal, who, because of damages suffered, are now allowed to profit by the milk, the cattle remaining the property of the Government. In this way I have re-introduced the bovine race, which had suffered severely from the rapacity of the irregular troops and Jelabba.

" All the territory of Jangeh between Meshra-el-Rek and Jur, and the country extending from Delgauna parallel to Bahr-el-Arab towards the south, had become a vast desert. The population of these regions, composed of shepherds, were chiefly aimed at in the raids of Suleiman and the Resegat irregulars. A part of the population, escaping from slavery, had emigrated to the Xuer, hiding themselves from the pursuit of the Arabs in the extensive marshes which cover that country. Tt was only when I guaranteed their life and property, that, after an absence of five years, they returned to their country, which now contains more than fort}' thousand families dedicated to agriculture, the seed having been furnished by me, with everything else that I had at my disposal.

" But while these populations were beginning to enjoy the benefits of good government, they were exposed to new persecutions. Five hundred Jelabba, the same number of Besingers, and four hundred cavalry, furnished by Ajiel Bey, Madibo Bey, Dandan and Belleu, and organized at Shakka, crossed the rivers Bahr-el-Arab and Delgauna, and presented themselves in the name of the government, extorting taxes. In order to deceive the lieutenant of the place, Amied Aga, they showed a forged document, by which the Mudir of Darra