ased the bad dollars at 10 piastres apiece, and then, of
course, every description of bribery and corruption was practised. For
instance, an Arab would agree to sell his camel for 150 dollars, on
condition that the money should be submitted to the examining
commission. The president, who was of course bribed, gave out as his
decision that the dollars were all good, and received a good round sum
from the purchaser for his falsehood; thus it happened that the Arab was
generally defrauded of 40 or 50 dollars. In spite of several false
coiners being punished with the loss of a hand and foot, still the evil
practice continued, and it is only within the last few years, since the
price of silver has increased so much, that false coining has, to a
great extent, ceased.

A printing and lithograph press was also established in the beit el mal;
it had originally been set up in Khartum, and was now used for pulling
off numbers of Mahdi proclamations. Several "Ratibs," or Mahdi's book of
prayers, were also printed and distributed.

A museum of curios also formed part of the beit el mal. It is known as
the Beit el Antikat, and contains numbers of interesting things, such as
trophies from Darfur, Abyssinia, and Egypt. The Abyssinian section is
the largest, and includes King John's throne. Amongst the Darfur
articles are the robes of Sultan Yusef and of the Sultan of Masalit. The
robe of one of the Ababdeh sheikhs, who was made a Bey by the
Government, and then came to Omdurman and submitted to the Mahdi,
represents Egypt.

The beit el mal also contains a dispensary, in charge of an Egyptian
doctor; here are numbers of shelves, laden with medicines, which have
long since gone bad, but the doctor has taken entirely to native
remedies, of which cauterization and burning are the most usual.

Amongst the Khartum survivors was a certain Greek soap-boiler, who had
established a soap manufactory in the beit el mal, and had handed over
to it his large supplies of soda; but gradually other private
individuals began to establish soap works, and soon they began to sell
soap so cheaply that all the beit el mal customers came to them. The
consequence was that the Khalifa at once issued an order that the beit
el mal held the soap-boiling monopoly, and anyone who infringed this
rule would lose one hand, and all his property would be confiscated.

A careful system of accounts was elaborated in the beit el mal showing
all revenue and expenditure.