THE TREATY COUNTRY OF SHEIKHS. 169 
present in Gliat only the Sheikh Jabour, Waled 
Shafou, Sheikh Hateetah, Sheikh Oaweek, and 
Haj Ahmed, the governor of the town. The Sultan 
Shafou himself is on the road to Soudan, and we 
shall probably meet him in a few days on our way. 
I have, however, sent this aged chieftain a hand- 
some sword from the English Government, by his son, 
to whom I gave it in one of the public meetings. 
With reference to the treaty, it may, perhaps, 
be considered in a fair way to be finally accepted. 
At the winter souk every person of influence and 
authority in the country will be present, and in the 
form in which I have presented it, I believe it will 
provoke little or no opposition. The clauses with 
reference to religion and the slave-trade have, of 
course, been left out ; the first as unnecessary, the 
second as dangerous at this early stage of our pro- 
ceedings. Even already it may be said that the 
market at Ghat may safely be visited by British 
merchants ; for although Hateetah may require 
heavy presents, he will certainly protect them. 
However, we must bear in mind, that in a 
country governed in so irregular way, it is very 
difficult to answer for the future. The governor, 
Haj Ahmed himself, told me in a deprecating man- 
ner, " Ghat is a country of Sheikhs ! " and Hateetah 
says, half jocularly, "Ghat has thirty Sultans!" 
Fortunately, however, it is the interest of the rulers 
of this part of the desert to encourage traffic ; they 
