em insensible
to pain.

One could see hundreds of these starving people wandering about, mere
bags of skin and bone, and almost shapeless; they would eat anything, no
matter how repulsive. The skins of the camels which had been killed
after the defeat of the Kababish and Gehena, and which had been used as
coverings for the roofs of the houses, were now taken down, roasted, and
eaten in that condition.

Perhaps the most horrible scenes occurred at the places where animals
were slaughtered. Hundreds of starving men and women would be seen
standing around with cups or gourds in their hands, ready to catch the
blood before it fell, and then, as the animal would be writhing on the
ground in its death-agony, they would fall upon it to catch the blood as
it flowed out of its wound, whilst a crowd would be seen struggling on
the ground for the few drops which had escaped and become mixed up with
the dust and sand; these struggles generally ended in fights, in which
the receptacles were broken, and the people besmeared with their
contents, which added to the grim ghastliness of this dreadful sight. No
power on earth could have restrained these poor sufferers--the pangs of
hunger had driven them mad.

Although famine swept off hundreds, still people poured in from the
provinces. Male camels and bullocks had become scarce, and the females
were now slaughtered without mercy, even should they be with young. Old
bones of animals were ground to powder and made into a sort of bread,
which was eaten with avidity; even the decaying carcases of donkeys were
consumed in this terrible struggle for food.

But in all this wretched misery the Khalifa showed no mercy, pity, or a
desire to relieve these terrible sufferings. He took good care that his
Baggaras should be fed, but for the others he cared not a jot. Hunger
certainly had the effect of bringing to the front all manner of
inventive genius; as it was now no longer possible to rob and steal, the
khatafin decided to let the sellers alone, provided they would not
hinder them in their attempts to get what they could out of the buyers.

Omdurman was full of strangers who had no notion of the existence of the
"khatafin," and would carelessly go to market to buy their food; but no
sooner had they placed their money in the shopman's hands than the
"khatafin," with wild yells, would seize the money in a trice, and leave
the purchaser standing with empty hands. Naturally, the shopmen would