10G 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION 
the matter into the hands of the meleks, but he only 
obtained restitution of a sixth of that of which he had 
been robbed. 
The traveller had merely entered Darfur to cross it. 
He found it would be no easy task to leave it, and that 
in any case he must give up the idea of prosecuting his 
exploration ; he says :— 
“On the 11th of December, 1795 (after a delay of 
three months), I accompanied the chatib (one of the 
principal officers of the country) to the monarch’s 
presence. I shortly stated what I required, and the 
chatib seconded me, though not with the zeal that I 
might have wished. To my demand for permission 
to travel no answer was returned, and the iniquitous 
despot, who had received from me no less than the 
value of about 750 piastres in goods, condescended to 
give me twenty meagre oxen, worth about 120 piastres. 
The state of my purse would not permit me to refuse 
even this mean return, and I bade adieu to El-Fascher 
as I hoped for ever.” 
Browne was not able to leave Darfur till the spring 
of 1796, when he joined the caravan which was about 
to return to Egypt. 
The town of Cobbeh, although not the resort of the 
merchants, was then the capital of Darfur. It was 
more than two miles in length, but extremely narrow, 
each house standing in a field surrounded by a 
palisade, and between each there was a plot of fallow 
land. 
The plain in which the town was situated ran W.S.W., 
to a distance of some twenty miles. Almost all the 
inhabitants were merchants, who trade with Egypt. 
Their number may be estimated at six thousand, the 
larger proportion slaves. The entire population of 
Darfur, Browne thought, could not exceed two hundred 
thousand, but he only arrived at this calculation by 
estimating the number of recruits raised for the war 
with Kordofan. 
“ The inhabitants of Darfur,” says the narrative, 
“ are of various races. Some, chiefly fakeers or priests 
