e, but merchants
always prefer to travel in parties of twenty to thirty; though, as a
matter of fact, the Baggara garrisons at the various posts are a much
greater source of danger to the merchants than are the thieves and
brigands. These Baggara wring money out of the merchants, and steal
their goods; but if the caravan is large, they are afraid to do anything
which may lead to reprisals. The Khalifa has, however, done much to
improve public security in the provinces, and punishes severely when
cases are brought to his notice.

The state of public morality in the Sudan is very bad, and in Omdurman
it could not well be worse. Before the Mahdi appeared, matters were bad
enough. Almost all the large towns, such as Khartum, Messalamieh,
Metemmeh, and El Obeid--especially the latter--were hotbeds of
immorality of the very worst description.

The Mahdi was utterly opposed to all these evil habits, and during his
life matters greatly improved; but this was due rather to the fact that
the whole country was under arms, and that the towns were practically
deserted. Besides, punishment for such crimes was ungrudgingly given,
and the stoppage of marissa-drinking also tended to lessen the evils.
Marriage ceremonies were simplified and made less expensive, and a
distinct advance in public morality was apparent.

But when the principal fighting was over, and the victorious emirs gave
themselves over to a life of luxury and debauchery, when idle town life
took the place of religious campaigns, when houses were built of mud and
bricks instead of rough straw huts, and when the Mahdi died, then
immorality broke forth with the redoubled violence of long compression,
and the state of affairs became infinitely worse than it had ever been
in the old Government days. I refer especially to Omdurman. Constant
warfare had greatly diminished the male population. Omdurman was full of
women who had neither husbands nor male relations; and this is the real
cause of the evil state of affairs.

Matters reached such a pitch in 1888 that the Khalifa issued an order
that every unmarried woman must be provided with a husband within three
days, or she would be handed over to a Baggara as a slave or concubine.
In consequence of this order, for the space of three days the whole town
was continuously occupied in marriage ceremonies. Men seized this
opportunity of taking women whom they would never, under other
circumstances, have been allowed to marry; an