1G2 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

There we find an orderly military rule ; here, until the late war with Suleiman Bey, the government, though nominally Egyptian, was practically in the hands of the slave-dealers. The province extends from the Bahr-el-Arab, on the north, to within four days' march of the Congo, on the south ; the east and west boundaries being scarcely defined ; but, roughly speaking, they may be represented by the territory between 24° and 30° 30' east longitude.

Scattered over this vast area were small settlements of Arabs and dongolowees, and no words can be too strong in condemnation of their conduct and character, their treatment of the natives having been inhuman and brutal in the extreme. Few of the towns were fortified; but there was a kind of civil administration, each of the Arab stations having a vakil or governor, who had under him a few irregular troops, and who was supposed to be responsible for the good order of his district. To him a tax was paid in ivory, and the natives in the neighbourhood had to provide sufficient grain and cattle for the support of the whole settlement.

These small bands of officials were in the habit of plundering all the surrounding natives, and they collected each year a goodly number of slaves ; the young men being generally destined to recruit the ranks of the Egyptian army, while the women and children were sent, via Darfour and Kordofan, to be sold in Khartoum. The sufi'erings these poor