hey dance, sing, and prepare marissa;
games of chance too are quite in vogue; but of course everything is
carried on secretly. From time to time the Khalifa raises his voice
against it, and then for a few days everything stops; but it soon breaks
out again, and goes on just as before.

The festivals consequent on the termination of Ramadan, on Bairam, on
the occasion of births, circumcisions, &c., are not carried out with any
degree of their former brilliance. Perhaps a meat meal is given, and
visits paid two or three times in the year. The old days of rejoicing
have vanished, all is anguish and fear, no man's life and property are
secure; every one has perforce to break the laws, which are most of them
quite impracticable, and at the same time are in constant fear of spies,
who are everywhere. There is no security, justice, or liberty; and
happiness and content are unknown.

CHAPTER XX.

THE KHALIFA'S TREATMENT OF THE WHITE CAPTIVES.

Description of the prison, or "Saier"--The "Abu Haggar"--The
imprisonment of Charles Neufeld--Terrible sufferings of the
prisoners--Domenico Polinari--The danger of corresponding with the
European prisoners--Neufeld threatened with death--He is given
charge of the saltpetre pits--The fate of Sheikh Khalil, the
Egyptian envoy--The Khalifa's treatment of the "Whites"--Exile to
the White Nile.

In the preceding pages frequent reference has been made to the prison.
This is an institution of so much importance in connection with Mahdiism
that it merits a description in detail.

"Saier!" In the Sudan the bare mention of this word causes a shudder.
The ordinary word for prison is "siggen," but Saier is really a
contraction for beit es Saier (_i.e._ the house of the Saier). Saier is
the name of a terrible individual of the Gowameh tribe of Kordofan, who
has been gaoler since the early days of the Mahdi, and his name has
become the synonym of the horrible place of which he is the guardian.

A curious story is told about his name which is said to be true. The
Gowameh women are not renowned for moral virtue, and when Saier was born
his mother was asked whose son he was; she was unable to say, and when
brought before the authorities and again questioned, she replied that it
was "Saier" (_i.e._ it was the custom of her country); the boy was
therefore called Saier, and the name clung to him.

Up to the time of the fall of Khartum, the prison had been