gle; and
the bees-wax is the produce of the only industrious creatures in that
detestable country.

When we regard the general aspect of the Soudan, it is extreme
wretchedness. The rainfall is uncertain and scanty; thus the country is
a desert, dependent entirely upon irrigation. Although cultivation is
simply impossible without a supply of water, one of the most onerous
taxes is that upon the sageer or water-wheel, with which the fields
are irrigated on the borders of the Nile. It would appear natural that,
instead of a tax, a premium should be offered for the erection of such
means of irrigation, which would increase the revenue by extending
cultivation, the produce of which might bear an impost. With all the
talent and industry of the native Egyptians, who must naturally depend
upon the waters of the Nile for their existence, it is extraordinary
that for thousands of years they have adhered to their original simple
form of mechanical irrigation, without improvement.

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
productions 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 navigation next to impossible, camels are the
only medium of transport, and the uncertainty of procuring them without
great delay is the trader's greatest difficulty. The entire country is
subject to droughts that occasion a total desolation, and the want of
pasture entails starvation upon both cattle and camels, rendering it at
certain seasons impossible to transport the productions of the country,
and thus stagnating all