increased the severity of the economic conditions.  Scarcity was frequent.  Famines were periodical.  Corrupt and incapable Governors-General succeeded each other at Khartoum with bewildering rapidity.  The constant changes, while they prevented the continuity of any wise policy, did not interrupt the misrule.  With hardly any exceptions, the Pashas were consistent in oppression.  The success of their administration was measured by the Ministries in Egypt by the amount of money they could extort from the natives; among the officials in the Soudan, by the number of useless offices they could create.  There were a few bright examples of honest men, but these, by providing a contrast, only increased the discontents.

The rule of Egypt was iniquitous:  yet it preserved the magnificent appearance of Imperial dominion.  The Egyptian Pro-consul lived in state at the confluence of the Niles.  The representatives of foreign Powers established themselves in the city.  The trade of the south converged upon Khartoum.  Thither the subordinate governors, Beys and Mudirs, repaired at intervals to report the state of their provinces and to receive instructions.  Thither were sent the ivory of Equatoria, the ostrich feathers of Kordofan, gum from Darfur, grain from Sennar, and taxes collected from all the regions.  Strange beasts, entrapped in the swamps and forests, passed through the capital on their journey to Cairo and Europe.  Complex and imposing reports of revenue and expenditure were annually compiled.  An elaborate and dignified correspondence was maintained between Egypt and its great dependency.  The casual observer, astonished at the unusual capacity for government displayed by an Oriental people, was tempted to accept the famous assertion which Nubar Pasha put into the mouth of the Khedive Ismail:  ’We are no longer in Africa, but in Europe.’  Yet all was a hateful sham [’The government of the Egyptians in these far-off countries is nothing else but one of brigandage of the very worst description.’—­Colonel Gordon in central Africa, April 11, 1879.] The arbitrary and excessive taxes were collected only at the point of the bayonet.  If a petty chief fell into arrears, his neighbours were raised against him.  If an Arab tribe were recalcitrant, a military expedition was despatched.  Moreover, the ability of the Arabs to pay depended on their success as slave-hunters.  When there had been a good catch, the revenue profited.  The Egyptian Government had joined the International League against the slave trade.  They combined, however, indirectly but deliberately, to make money out of it. [Egypt, No.11, 1883.]