had beheld a vision, in which he had seen hell, and Ibrahim Adlan
suffering untold agonies in the lowest abyss, with a long chain fastened
round his neck; Nur was shackled to the other end of the chain, and
Adlan was trying to drag him down into the abyss; but the Khalifa had
unfastened the chain and released him.

Thus was Nur completely overawed, and did his utmost to comply with the
Khalifa's and Yakub's wishes. He discharged all the Copts employed in
the beit el mal, and replaced them by blacks. Awad, formerly head clerk
of the Kassala Mudirieh, he appointed as his assistant, and through his
astuteness and knavery he lost no opportunity of forcibly extracting
money from the people.

CHAPTER XIX.

SOCIAL LIFE AT OMDURMAN.

System of public security and justice in Omdurman--The court of
small causes--Bribery and corruption--The story of the slave and
her mistress--How the Khalifa deals with quarrelsome
persons--Thieves and pickpockets--The story of Zogheir--Usurers and
their trade--The chief of police--Brigandage--Disproportion of
males to females in Omdurman--How the Khalifa overcame the
difficulty--Immorality--The marriage ceremony.

It may be imagined that fear of the Khalifa and his tyrannical rule
would produce at least a feeling of public security and immunity from
lawlessness; but the following chapter will show that this is not the
case.

In the early years of Mahdiism there was no discipline, and laws were
entirely put aside, because the whole population was at war and everyone
on the move. They were living on the captured wealth and prosperity of
the Government. At that time there were not many robbers. When we were
living in Kordofan we were perfectly safe, and could sleep with our
doors open at night. No one ever thought of taking precautions against
thieves, though nothing would have been easier than to break into our
loosely-built straw huts.

After the capture of Khartum, and when Omdurman became a large city, the
former prosperity of the country gradually began to wane, famine broke
out, and then public security became seriously threatened. Thieves
increased in such alarming numbers as to be a terror to all; and in
1888-89 they became so bad that people scarcely dared to go to sleep. It
is true the punishment of cutting off hands and feet was freely
exercised; but even this had little effect, chiefly because robbery and
corruption went hand in hand, a