They took a stroll through Khartoum in company with their new-found friend, and saw many things to attract their attention. The street near the river was well shaded with palm and other trees, and they passed several gardens of citron and orange trees, whose fruit seemed to invite immediate plucking and devouring. They found the older part of the town made up of narrow and crooked streets, and had several narrow escapes from being knocked down by camels that moved along the way as if it belonged to no one but themselves. After dodging several times to avoid the ponderous beasts Frank asked where they came from, and what they were carrying. "They are mostly from the Atmoor, or desert of Korosko," was the reply, "and their burdens consist of European goods intended for the African market." "These goods are about the same as we are carrying for paying our way in Africa," said the Doctor. "Cotton cloths, beads, knives, small tools, and a lot of toys and gewgaws constitute the staple of African supplies. The merchants in Khartoum fit out the wandering traders, and send them into the interior for ivory, gum, ostrich feathers, and the other products of the country that will bear a high rate of transportation. The chief article is ivory, and the trade of Khartoum sometimes amounts to a million dollars a year in ivory alone. Latterly it is said to have declined, owing to the diminished number of elephants and the difficulty of capturing them. [Illustration: ELEPHANTS AT HOME--SHAKING A FRUIT-TREE.] "From present indications," the Doctor continued, "the elephant seems destined to follow the fate of the buffalo in America and disappear before many years. Formerly he was pursued only by the natives, who were unprovided with fire-arms and relied upon their spears and arrows, and also on pitfalls and other rude contrivances. His sagacity enables him to elude the latter, except in rare instances, and his great strength was in favor of his safety from primitive weapons. But since the white man has entered the field, and especially since the invention of rifles that kill at long distances, and carry explosive bullets, the days of the elephant are numbered. Strength and sagacity are of little avail against modern weapons and their murderous accessories, and if the elephant survives the American bison, it is only because the African continent has been settled more slowly than our own. "If you look on the map you will see that Khartoum is at the end of the caravan route from Kordofan and Darfoor; consequently some of the camels you have been dodging may have come from those countries as well as from the desert of Korosko. Then there is the route by the river, both south and north, and also along the Blue Nile. It is the intention of the Egyptian government to bring the Soudan railway to Khartoum, and it is not impossible that a decade or so hence we may travel in a Pullman car from Cairo to the spot where we are now standing."[3]