288 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

heard on all sides ; however, our sergeant and a soldier who accompanied us kept them at a respectful distance. The method of buying and selling is very different to the European style of trading.

The intending purchaser goes to a shop and finds the owner sitting down smoking ; he sits down near him and inquires as to his health and welfare. These compliments are returned, and then coffee and a pipe are brought. After some time the shopkeeper may perhaps ask the buyer what he requires, but not always ; generally he waits patiently until the purchaser makes his wants known, and then the bargaining begins, and is carried on in a most excited fashion; the buyer often going away and coming again two or three times before he concludes the transaction, perhaps paying a third of the sum first asked. The cloth merchants exchange cloth for money, but everything else is bought for cloth. Oxen and sheep are slaughtered in the market, and then cut, or rather hacked, up and sold in small pieces. A small coffee-shop must not be forgotten, where a brisk and continuous trade was carried on. We had some difficulty in buying dried kisreh for our journey to Obeid. Indeed, we required so much that we bought up the whole stock, and a great deal of chafi'ering it cost before we could obtain it ; for although we offered a good price, the people were not willing to disappoint their regular customers ; and in the end we were obliged to get