52 LIFE WITH THE HAM RAN ARABS. 



tarboosh on his head, was mounted on his favourite 

 donkey, whilst two of us had horses, and two donkeys. 

 Four soldiers marching in front and four behind, armed 

 with Remington rifles, formed his guard, and so we went 

 round the town. 



Ten years ago there was a mutiny of the whole army 

 here, numbering at the time four thousand men, and for 

 two months they held one half of the to\vn, but they 

 were then dislodged by troops sent from Cairo and 

 Khartoum, and all perished excepting four hundred. 

 Some of these were sent to the White Nile, and others 

 are now employed on the telegraph line across the 

 Desert to Souakim. As we passed amongst the straw 

 houses in the poorest districts, it was almost surprising to 

 see with what very marked respect Munsinger Pasha was 

 received by the various tribes, every man standing up 

 and bowing low before him, whilst the women shouted in 

 their own peculiar way from within their houses in order 

 to do him honour. He first took us to a large cotton 

 manufactory, in which he takes great interest, as he 

 thinks it will prove a complete success. The machinery 

 was made in England, but the chief engineer is a French- 

 man. The building is made of bricks, baked in a kiln 

 close by; but many failures took place before the proper 

 amount of sand to mix with the clay could be decided 

 upon to ensure a good brick. A large acacia-wood 

 behind the Kassala mountains supplies the material for 



