CHAP. I.] 
THE SOUDAN. 
11 
gating machinery that would give a stimulus to culti¬ 
vation, and multiply the produce of the country; but 
the only rule without an exception, is that of Turkish 
extortion. I have never met with any Turkish official 
who would take the slightest interest in plans for the 
improvement of the country, unless he discovered a 
means of filling his private purse. Thus in a country 
where nature has been hard in her measure dealt to the 
inhabitants, they are still more reduced by oppression. 
The Arabs fly from their villages on the approach of 
the brutal tax-gatherers, driving their flocks and herds 
with them to distant countries, and leaving their 
standing crops to the mercy of the soldiery. No one 
can conceive the suffering of the country. 
The general aspect of the Soudan is that of misery; 
nor is there a single feature of attraction to recompense 
a European for the drawbacks of pestilential climate 
and brutal associations. To a stranger it appears a 
superlative folly that the Egyptian Government should 
have retained a* possession, the occupation of which is 
wholly unprofitable; the receipts being far below the 
expenditure, “ malgre ” the increased taxation. At so 
great a distance from the sea-coast and hemmed in by 
immense deserts, there is a difficulty of transport 
that must nullify all commercial transactions on an 
extended scale. 
The great and most important article of commerce 
as an export from the Soudan, is gum arabic—this is 
produced by several species of mimosa, the finest quality 
being a product of Kordofan; the other natural pro¬ 
ductions exported are senna, hides, and ivory. All 
merchandise both to and from the Soudan must be 
transported upon camels, no other animals being 
adapted to the deserts. The cataracts of the Nile 
between Assouan and Khartoum rendering the navi¬ 
gation next to impossible, the camel is the only medium 
of transport, and the uncertainty of procuring them 
without great delay is the traders greatest difficulty. 
The entire country is subject to droughts that occasion 
