. He got very
angry, and one day in October 1887, he sent troops to the market with
instructions to bring all the goods in the market to the beit el mal. It
was useless to resist; the owners were obliged to look after their own
goods, which were piled up near the big gate of the beit el mal, in the
open, and under a burning sun. Abdullah was now raging, and publicly
made the following curious statement:--

"That unbeliever Gordon induced merchants to accept miserable bits of
paper as equivalents for money, and now I offer you silver and you won't
even take it."

For fourteen days these wretched people sat by the gate, trembling for
their property. All sorts of rumours were flying about. Some said that
the Khalifa intended to throw all the goods into the river; others said
that he was going to burn them, and perhaps the most likely notion of
all was that he intended to confiscate the lot and transfer it to the
beit el mal. By this time the merchants were thoroughly alarmed, and
begged some of their influential friends to mediate with the Khalifa. At
length the latter summoned the principal merchants, and asked them if
they would accept the Makbul dollar at the value of the old dollar,
whereupon they not only accepted gladly, but declared their readiness to
accept any sort of money he chose to issue, even should it be made of
leather.

Thus was a reconciliation effected. The Khalifa treated the merchants
well, gave them plenty of food, and condescended even to eat with them
on this festive occasion. After this episode there were no more
difficulties about making the Makbul dollar current in Omdurman, though
to this day the Arabs refuse to accept it.

But gradually silver became dear, and the Mint began coining bad
dollars, made of two parts silver to three parts copper; consequently
the value of the old dollar has now gone up to 25 piastres. This gave
further opportunities to the counterfeit coiners. The silver-workers in
the Mint began making dollars on their own account, and, those being
different from the others, caused great confusion. These false dollars
were very well coined, and it required a practised eye to notice the
deception; indeed, it was not until a very large quantity of these false
coins had got into circulation that the fraud was found out.

An inspector was now sent to examine all dollars; all false coins were
broken into pieces, and no compensation given to the owners. Thieves and
smugglers purch