THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 249 



The men did not share in the dance, but squatted upon the 

 rocks in great numbers to admire the music, and to witness the 

 efforts of their wives and daughters. The men of Shooli and 

 Fatiko are among the best proportioned in Africa ; without the 

 extreme height of the Shillooks or Dinkas, they are muscular 

 and well knit, and generally their faces are handsome. 



ESTABLISHING A GOVERNMENT. 



INQUIRY developed. the fact that the country had been almost 

 ruined by Abou Saood, who had, generally by various alliances, 

 despoiled the people of their cattle and ivory and made slaves of 

 nearly one-half the population. He had heard of Baker at Gon- 

 dokoro, and knew the purposes of the expedition, but he had no 

 doubt that by inciting the Baris to resist his advance and fight 

 him constantly, he would be forced to renounce his intentions and 

 return to Gondokoro. But the old rascal had miscalculated. 

 The chiefs quickly tendered their allegiance to Baker, who was 

 thus enabled to establish a strong government under the Khedive 

 and enforce a suspension, at least, of the slave trade. 



At Fatiko he met with several messengers from Unyoro and 

 Uganda, from whom he heard that Kamrasi had been dead more 

 than two years, and was succeeded by his son, Kbba Rega, a 

 man of less cupidity and of very much more intelligence, who 

 was anxious to establish legitimate trade between his people and 

 the whites. Other reports were to the effect that Mtesa, king of 

 Uganda, had vastly improved through communication with the 

 traders at Zanzibar. He had become a Mohammedan, and had 

 built a mosque. Even his vizier said his daily prayers like a good 

 Mussulman, and Mtesa no longer murdered his wives. If he cut 

 the throat of either man or beast, it was now done in the name 

 of God, and the king had become quite civilized, according to the 

 report of the Arab envoys. He kept clerks who could correspond 

 by letters in Arabic, and he had a regiment armed with a thou- 

 sand guns, in addition to the numerous forces at his command. 



ENROUTE FOR UNYORO. 



ABOU SAOOD'S power was completetely broken, his slaves 

 released, and his actions reported to the Khedive. All tL 



