290 TRAVELS IN AFRICA, 
tween Dar~Fur and Sennaar, which is confidered as the moft 
practicable, though not the dire£t communication between the 
the former and Mekka. Nor can caravans pafs from Suakem 
to Fur, as appears, but by the permiflion of the governors of 
Kordofan. The jealoufy of trade therefore is in part the origin 
of their unvaried and implacable animolity. 
Nothing refembling current coin is found in Soudan, unlefs 
it be certain fmali tin rings, the value of which is in fome de- 
gree arbitrary, and which alone obtains at El Fafher. In that 
place they ferve as the medium of exchange for fmall articles, 
for which in others are received beads, fait, &c. Thefe rings 
are made of fo many various fizes, that I have known fome- 
tlmes twelve, fometimes one hundred and forty of them, pafs 
for a given quantity and quality of cotton cloth. The Auftrian 
dollars, and other filver coins, brought from Egypt, are all 
fold for ornaments for the women, and fome little profit at- 
tends the fale of them, but the ufe of them in drefs is far from 
general. 
Gold not being found within the limits of Fur, is feldom 
feen in the market ; when it appears there, it is in the form of 
rings of about one-fourth of an ounce weight each, in whick 
ftate it comes from Sennaar. The Egyptian mahbuh^ or other 
damped money, none will receive but the people of that coun- 
try. The other articles chiefly current, are fuch as belong to 
their drefs, as cotton cloths, beads, amber, kohhel, rhea, and on 
the other hand, oxen, camels, and flaves. 
The 
