could, some of our spies came in and informed us that several of them were hesitating; they had heard of the large forces likely to come, and might therefore possibly be in a humour to negotiate. A letter was consequently written to Mahomed Aly to try his hand with them.

CHAPTER VIII.

LIFE AT SUAKIM.

APPOINTED MESS-PRESIDENT CAMEL MEAT - DIFFICULTIES OF BAZAAR ACCOUNT-THE LINES OF DEFENCE AT SUAKIM-THE WATER SUPPLY-CAMELS LIKE SALINE WATER BEST-THE BASHI-BAZOUKS REFUSE TO DRILL-ATTEMPT AT MUTINYTHE PERSUASIVE KOORBASH-EVERYBODY SATISFIED EXCEPT THE GOVERNOR OF SUAKIM-SUAKIM DONKEYS-UNDER FIREA COUNTRY RIDE-MAGNIFICENT SUNSETS-COOK-SHOPSUNDER FIRE AGAIN-ISMAIL FROM MADAME TUSSAUD'SZEBEHR PASHA'S NEPHEW-PRISONS AND PRISONERS IN SUAKIM -PROVISIONS SCARCE-MY HUSBAND PROPOSES TO MARCH OUT

TO

RELIEVE SINKAT-PLAN OF SORTIE-GENERAL BAKER'S
CONSENT NECESSARY-INSPECTION OF
OF TROOPS-QUALITY OF
SOLDIERS MAJOR GILES AND THE ENEMY'S SPIES-SHARKS IN
HARBOUR-HEROIC CONDUCT OF KROOMAN ARRIVAL OF
EURYALUS WITH ADMIRAL HEWETT - GENERAL ASPECT OF
AFFAIRS-MAHMOUD ALY FAILS TO RELIEVE SINKAT-NUMBER
KILLED IN MAJOR CASSIM'S FIGHT-BEHAVIOUR OF OLD SOLDIERS
OF SUAKIM GARRISON-COMPLAINTS ABOUT A MOSQUE BEING
USED FOR STORES-MR. BREWSTER APPOINTED CHIEF OF THE
COMMISSARIAT-ARRIVAL OF A SPY FROM SINKAT HIS AD-
VENTURES-SOCIAL CUSTOMS OF ARABS-THREAT OF ATTACK-
OSMAN DIGMA'S HOUSE AT SUAKIM- -EMBROIDERED MAT AND
CAMEL'S ORNAMENTS-INNER FORTIFIED LINES-ARRIVAL OF
MAHALLAH WITH EUROPEAN POLICE-TEA ON BOARD THE
RANGER.

THIS morning, the 10th of December, I proposed to Mr. Wylde to look after the house for him, as he always had his house full, and I have nothing to

do. Nearly all the English here came in during the morning, and we agreed to set up a mess, of which I was to be president. I therefore began to ask what there was in the house, and what could be got in the market. To my disgust I found that there was little in the house, while in the market a small quantity of camel meat was the only thing available. I did not know what to do, and began heartily to repent of my mess-presidency, for it was only now I really found out that we were in a besieged town. Fortunately, Mr. Wylde had a sheep or two, but there were no vegetables of any kind, no milk, no eggs, and so we had to fall back for the moment on tinned things. We sent a dhow to Jedda as soon as possible, but its return could not be counted upon to any exact date, because though the wind at this time of the year is fair there, yet it will have to tack on its return, thus making it a long affair, especially as the navigation amongst the reefs requires to be most carefully done. Fortunately, we have enough flour for a few days, so hope not to run out of bread. The idea of being reduced to that nasty, brown, soldier's biscuit is by no means appetizing.

The bazaar account was far more difficult than in India, and here I may as well put down my experience after ten days' trial. It is kept, to begin with, in dollars and piastres, 37% of the latter being equivalent to one of the former. But the piastre is a name for coins of very different kinds; there are, for instance, the Government, the bazaar,

the current, and the copper piastre, all and each of them representing completely different values. Sometimes it is, as above, 37 to the dollar, at other times 123. The piastre tariff is always worth double of the piastre current. The servants have a nasty trick of paying in the piastre current, and charging in the piastre tariff. The dollar represents, in English money, three and sevenpence, and is the only recognized big coin in the Soudan. I give as an illustration a list of a ten days' bill. The cloth to the Tokar postman is a present to the man who had brought us a letter from Tokar, and had narrowly escaped with his life; then there is hire for a canoe for my husband's servant; next a peculiar vegetable called ladies' fingers, etc., etc. It has been amusingly illustrated by Major Giles. I had been teasing Mr. Wylde about a sketch map of Abyssinia that he had drawn, on which the marks he had made to represent mountainranges, looked so much like scorpions that I could not resist the temptation of writing over them, scorpion No. 1, scorpion No. 2, etc. So, in revenge, he caught hold of my account-sheet, drew first a representation of a supposititious clerk to Osman Digma, then below it a caricature of myself, as chief clerk to the staff, as I copied all my husband's correspondence. Major Giles, coming in at that moment, said, "Oh, Mrs. Sartorius, we will take it out of him!" and sketched in the two lower caricatures of Mr. Wylde and his thoroughbred (Mr. Wylde being our general guide).

Looking over the list of marketing, I see sheep for a pound a piece, which is very dear for the country, the ordinary value being a dollar and a quarter. Of course they are not like English sheep; they only weigh twenty-five or thirty pounds at most, and are so small that one roasted whole can be put on the table. Eggs came from Suez, chickens from Jedda, salt from Massowah, grain from Tokar, fish from the harbour, potatoes from Greece, charcoal sometimes from Jedda, more often from Massowah, onions from Egypt, petroleum from America, beer and butter from Germany and England, vegetables and fruit from Egypt; and yet, in spite of being served by all these various countries, we are very often hard driven for next day's food.

On my first day in office, I made what arrangements I could, and then in the afternoon we went up to the fortified lines. These latter are only a small ditch, about four feet deep and three feet wide at the top, with the earth thrown up behind to a height of five or six feet. Into this parapet were driven six-feet-long stakes, at about six inches apart; they were further bound together by a long line of transverse poles. The small forts, composed of detached buildings, each surrounded by an extra large and deep ditch, were connected together by these lines. The most important was the flag-staff fort, and the small barrack next to it. The first of these two had a small upper room, which my husband occupied as head-quarters of the 1st Division, while the