LETTER FROM GESSL 217 her freight at Khartoum she can be resold for at least 8500."

This was accomplished in the same year in which the slave war took place.

In the Bahr-el-Ghazel provinces, and farther south, the idea is not too sanguine that colonisation could be effected ; there are plateaux far above the reach of malaria, with glorious climate and a virgin soil which is capable of producing European grain and fruits. As traffic alone is needed to prevent such an obstruction as blocked Gessi Pasha, a good line of steamers up the Nile and Bahr-el-Ghazel, in addition to a railway across the Nubian Desert, would bring these lands practically within thirty days of the Eed Sea. Greater and more difficult journeys, under worse conditions, are continually performed by emigrants of all nations.

The real obstacles to the total abolition of slavery are the pashas, the army, and the wealthy classes. There is no doubt that its suppression would greatly affect them, and those who advocate this cause must be prepared to meet with bitter opposition. The position of the European Powers as to this question is different to that of a country decreeing the abolition of slavery in its own dominions, or in regions over which it has direct control; and a weak government like that of Egypt must necessarily have greater difficulty in doing what was no easy matter for a strong