Motioning
Me To Take A Seat By His Side, And Handing Me His Pipe, He Called The
Officer In Waiting, And Gave The Necessary Orders.
In a few minutes the
prisoner was led into the hall, attended by eight soldiers.
One man
carried a strong pole about seven feet long, in the centre of which was
a double chain, riveted through in a loop. The prisoner was immediately
thrown down with his face to the ground, while two men stretched out his
arms and sat upon them; his feet were then placed within the loop of the
chain, and the pole being twisted round until firmly secured, it was
raised from the ground sufficiently to expose the soles of the feet. Two
men with powerful hippopotamus whips stood, one on either side. The
prisoner thus secured, the order was given. The whips were most
scientifically applied, rind after the first five dozen, the
slave-hunting scoundrel howled most lustily for mercy. How often had he
flogged unfortunate slave women to excess, and what murders had that
wretch committed, who now howled for mercy! I begged Omer Bey to stop
the punishment at 150 lashes, and to explain to him publicly in the
divan, that he was thus punished for attempting to thwart the expedition
of an English traveller, by instigating my escort to mutiny.
This affair over - all my accounts paid - and my men dismissed with their
hands full of money, - I was ready to start for Egypt. The Nile rose
sufficiently to enable the passage of the cataracts, and on the 30th
June we took leave of all friends in Khartoum, and of my very kind
agent, Michael Latfalla, well known as Hallil el Shami, who had most
generously cashed all my bills on Cairo without charging a fraction of
exchange.
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