ment delivered in his
favour, while his opponent received the kourbash. The symbol of
authority might well have been a kourbash, which corresponds to the
English cat-o'-nine-tails. Men were often kourbashed for no other
reason than that they would not, or could not, bribe any official who
had the power of administering this form of punishment not to inflict
it on them. Nor must it be supposed that an ordinary flogging, such as
we understand by that term, would satisfy these tyrannical perpetrators
of cruelty. Often the use of the kourbash meant that the victim was
maimed for life, and the unfortunate one might always consider himself
lucky if he escaped without any permanent injury. In many cases it
amounted to nothing more or less than a form of torture, such as used
to be inflicted in England in the barbarous Middle Ages, and if the
sufferer had not actually got the money he was supposed to have, he
would often have to borrow as much as he could of the required amount,
in order to avoid further torture. We can imagine how Gordon's blood
must have boiled with indignation at such gross miscarriages of
justice; and during the whole time he served the Khedive, his object
was to do away with this kind of tyranny. Often his journeys from place
to place were marked by signs of fallen greatness, as he would not
tolerate tyranny. "In one month," he says, "I have turned out three
generals of division, one general of brigade, and four lieutenant-colonels.
It is no use mincing matters."

He allowed every one to approach him and to make complaints. A box
always stood at his tent or palace, into which any one who had a
grievance could drop his written complaint, with a certainty that it
would receive immediate investigation. Such a method gave publicity to
instances of cruelty and oppression, and often, directly Gordon heard
of cases of this kind, he would jump on his camel, pay a personal visit
to the individual concerned, and having investigated the case on the
spot, would deal out justice upon the culprit. Of course, in such an
extensive province as his, without railways, it was absolutely
impossible to investigate all the cases, but by taking the more
prominent and the grosser ones, he could strike terror into the hearts
of evil-doers in high places; and in this way he considerably reduced
the evil of tyrannical rule, and taught the oppressed people that they
had as much right to live as their oppressors had.

Of course Gordo