282 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

occasions the festivities continue for some days, unless the girl should die from the effects of the operation, which not unfrequently happens. I was glad to escape more than one night of the revels, as the next morning we continued our journey, three marches bringing us to Tuaisha, which is eighty miles from Dara. The country was uneven, and the path wound in and out, with hills on either hand.

Tuaisha has an evil notoriety throughout all Moslem countries on account of the horrible mutilations which take place there. It is a collection of large villages, and lies at the end of a valley which runs towards the north, and from it a picturesque chain of hills is seen, and we noticed the sites of many villages which had been burnt down when Gordon Pasha was here. We had very good water from the wells, where large flocks of goats, sheep, and oxen were being watered as we passed. There is a small garrison of regular solders under Ali Effendi at Tuaisha.

We were hospitably housed by Abou Bey, the corpulent, loquacious vakil of the place, and having to change camels, a halt for a day was necessary. Abou Bey sold me a good camel for $20, which carried me to Khartoum, and there I sold him for $12, so the expense of my ride was not ruinous. Abou Bey himself had a splendid begin, which had been left behind for dead on one occasion by Gordon