iSo LIFE WITH THE HAMRAN ARABS. 



consternation and dismay amongst them, ending in some 

 instances in flight, and complete dispersion of whole vil- 

 lages. Sheik Achmet, who received Emanuel and his 

 party on our first arrival in the country, at once de- 

 camped with all his goods eastward to a territory near 

 the river Gash, but beyond the present boundary of 

 Egyptian rule, and the people under him have fled in 

 different directions. Several families have already dis- 

 appeared from Sheik AghiU's chief village, Gwayha, and 

 he says that he will pack up his traps and be off if this 

 new order should remain in force. The Sheik of Za- 

 hani has moved his quarters near to Kassala, so that he 

 may be directly under Munsinger Pasha. It has inte- 

 rested us much to hear in what high esteem Munsinger 

 is held by these Arabs. They look upon him as a very 

 just man, and the wish is universal that they might have 

 him placed in direct authority over them, instead of his 

 representative at Khartoum. Of Wadd ab Sin they 

 speak in very different terms, believing that half the taxes 

 they pay remain in the hands of himself and his emis- 

 saries. To add force to their opinion of Munsinger, they 

 say that their camels, if they could speak, would ask for 

 him. The present Sheik of Khartoum is one of twenty- 

 four sons of the great Aboo Sin, who at one time 

 governed a large portion of Upper Egypt ; and all his 

 sons have been made Sheiks. The new taxation will 

 amount, our men say, to twenty-four dollars per head, 



