INTERIOR COUNTRIES OF AFRICA. 187 



though the monarch can do nothing contrary to the Koran. He speaks 

 of the soil and productions as his personal property, and of the peo- 

 ple as his slaves. His revenues arise from the tenth of all merchan- 

 dise imported ; the tribute of the Arabs who breed oxen, horses, 

 camels, and sheep ; and some other duties: the sultan is besides the 

 chief merchant in the country, and dispatches with every caravan to 

 Egypt a great quantity of his own merchandise. The name of the pre- 

 sent sultan is Abd-el-rachman. When Mr. Browne was in the coun- 

 try, he was admitted to a great public audience giveu by the sultan. 

 He found him seated on the throne, under a lofty canopy, attended by 

 his guards. The space in front was filled with suitors and spectators 

 to the number of more than fifteen hundred. A kind of hired enco- 

 miast stood on the monarch's left hand, crying out, with all his 

 strength, during the whole ceremony ; ' See the buffaloe, the offspring 

 of a buffaloe, a bull of bulls, the elephant of superior strength, the 

 powerful sultan, Abd-el-rachman-el-rashid ! May God prolong thy 

 life ! O master ! may God assist thee and render thee victorious I s 

 Abd-el-rachman usurped the throne from his nephew, whom he con- 

 quered in battle in the year 1787." 



