428 
THE TOWN OF BERBER. 
its price was so much. Upon which, trusting to the 
reputed honesty of the Berberese, I put into his hand 
more than the amount, and he told me to come back 
for the change, as he was too busy to give it me then. 
This I did, and received the balance. The few troops 
here were a tidy set of men, in clean quarters, below 
the town. Their arms were flint-musket and bayonet ; 
their uniform, the fez, white jackets, knee-breeches, 
long white socks, and red shoes. At a short distance 
from their barracks there is a magazine with four high 
walls, a single gateway to the south, a few trees in 
the interior, and towers with embrasures. 
Berber became Egyptian at the same time as 
Khartoom, about forty years ago, when the army ad- 
vanced from Wady Haifa. The present Governor- 
General of the Soudan, Musa Pasha, is the man of 
whom the story is told that when he was sent to 
conquer the country he circumcised every one of the 
Bagara Arabs, and so brought them under his sub- 
jection. We were not fortunate enough to have an 
audience of the Governor-General ; he was absent on 
a tour of inspection, and our friend Ali Bey acted for 
him. The Vakeel of Berber, Rehan Aga, came to call 
upon us : he had lived twenty years in Constantinople, 
and, to my surprise, he had more of the features of 
a Mganda than a Turk. He has a comfortable 
house, well furnished, and he kindly showed us every 
attention. The Sheikh of the desert, a dark, stout, 
middle-aged man, we saw more of, as it was through 
him that we were to obtain camels for our journey. 
He was handsome, with a long black gown and high 
white turban. He thought we might get off in a 
couple of days ; and, in the mean time, he would get 
