284 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



was a king and would die as a king. Whereupon Rabeh 

 grew weary and handed him over to his son, Faderellah, who, 

 saying he could manage him, took him away and hanged 

 him. ^ 



It was at this time that Rabeh ha 1 sacked Kukawa, 

 demolishing the northern part of the town, where the old 

 palace stood. This happened in December 1893, and to 

 this day one passes through about a mile of the town where 

 the houses are all in ruins. 



As I related above, the gang of prisoners that we met on 

 the morning of our visit to the Emir were on their way to 

 work at the restoration of Kiari's palace. Their appearance 

 was miserable in the extreme, suggesting semi-starvation, 

 and my imagination would have painted the potentate we 

 were about to have audience of in the colours of an ogre, 

 had not a chance, unofficial sight of him, recorded by my 

 camera when he was mounted at review of his troops the day 

 before, given me a reassuring impression of his personahty. 

 The palace is an imposing building and, though made of mud, 

 has pretensions to architectural design of Egyptian character. 

 It has a frontage of some 60 ft., and faces the broad street 

 of the town leading from the market. On the morning of 

 our visit I could not help being forcibly struck by the pic- 

 turesqueness of the building and its surroundings. In front 

 of us the walls, sun-baked to a hard white, stood sharp- 

 cut against the soft blue sky and, sloping from their base, 

 rose to a height of about 30 ft., which made them seem 

 impressive, in comparison to other houses in the town. 



The palace altogether covers a large area. Besides the 

 living-rooms there are rooms or houses for the dead within 



