in the ear of the Egyptian, the Arab or the black, "that you, the people, have rights," it will only need some fresh oppression to make them revolt. "Oh," they tell me," the Egyptians are poltroons - don't you believe they will ever rise." There is truth in the statement; but the mere force of numbers must overwhelm the Khedive and his whole government, if he does not undertake a radical change of policy. He is absolute. He is responsible to no one, because he purchases the indorsement of Constantinople by a large tribute. He personally is the commerce and wealth of the country, and as for the Assembly, it is a mere imposition. There is no voice of the people. The Viceroy means well, but his political economy is artificial. He is a student of Napoleon III, and an ardent admirer of the policy which brought France to the deepest pit of humiliation. Of course Egypt will go on and prosper all the same under his government. He is an able and a skillful man, and will, I believe, avert the coming danger by timely measures. There is much that is admirable in his administration, ill-founded and wretchedly conceived as most of it is in its fundamental principles.

While we were sprawled out under the tent, try

negro

ing to cramp ourselves into the narrow shade, a large from Darfour, on his return from Mecca, presented himself for alms. We all feigned sleep. The rascal, undaunted, knelt down by my side and, fingering a string of beads, began to recite a prayer from the Koran in a high key, beseeching Providence to provide the best abode in Paradise for us all, in consideration of which he demanded money and bread. He went away without rendering a receipted bill. Many humbugs adopt the profession of the Faki; and the charlatans, for money, will preach to the mob over the tomb of Mohammed, change into a pander for a few piasters, or become a barber, or drink mixer with equal facility.

At three P. M. we were again under way. Patches of verdure now began to embellish the route, and occasionally a mimosa, or a small shrub. I was not surprised to find vast deposits of remarkable stones; all the hues of marble, all the deposits of slate and great boulders of granite. A mile from the route, a wonderful stone rose perpendicularly from the sand to a height of about fifty feet. It resembled an obelisk. This caprice of nature was surrounded by other clean-shaven rocks, which gave the tout ensemble the appearance of a primitive ruin,

reminding me of the costellated forms of Colorado, produced by the erosive action of water. It may provoke a smile to talk of the treasures of the desert, the porphyry, the marble, the slate, all of which the Orient needs so badly; but one forgets often that these valuable elements of the desert formation are easily accessible to the commerce of the world.

Occasionally Bicherine Arabs, mounted upon dromedaries, bearing merchandise to their tribe, crossed our path, on an average one caravan a day, like a sail at sea, reminding us that an outer world still breathed and moved; but beyond that there was no life on the grand desert. Water alone was our constant solicitude, and there being some forty people in our party did not augment our feelings of security. Four years ago, nearly half way between Berber and Suakin, sixty soldiers perished from thirst. A battalion had been sent by the Viceroy for the garrison of Khartoum. Arrived at Suakin, detachments were sent across the desert. It was to one of these the fatal accident occurred. It seems that the Colonel was in command. A dispute arose between him and the guides, and, of course, the Colonel acted with military decision which was

wrong. He assumed the responsibility, acting on his own judgment against their advice. Each soldier had but one water-skin, and, not knowing that water in the desert is blood, they wasted it extravagantly. They approached the mountains of El Bok, and refusing to be checked by the guides they drank all their water, confident of their ability to reach the well. The heat was consuming. The camels broke down one by one. There was a terrible, general thirst. The men became prostrated. In a few hours the majority had died in horrible agony, after killing the camels for milk, blood and water; but in vain. It is, perhaps, the most frightful of all ends

- to perish with your tongue inflamed, your body on fire, your brain gone! one exhausting delirium !

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE ARABS OF NORTHERN AFRICA.

NEAR noon, on the 29th, much to our surprise, we arrived at a great rain-water basin formed in the rock, four days from Berber. This point is a godsend to the traveler. During the day more than two thousand camels were watered there, and great herds of beeves and flocks of sheep. That evening we arrived at the sand cliffs overshadowing El Bok. We were obliged to ascend and descend four distinct ridges. At the summit of the loftiest I obtained a view I had rarely seen equaled in Africa. Many hundred feet below, and to westward, was the plain we had just crossed, stretching away to one of those gorgeous skies that can only be seen in that clear air; then the caravan, with its motley people, slowly winding up the incline, lost now in a deep shadow, anon tinged by the setting sun; the veins. of colored marble taking a softer tint from the mellow twilight, and the whole face of nature subdued by prodigious space, peopled only by an ardent imagination. The evening is poetry and joy, the