"I have the honour to report that during a late excursion to the Natron Lakes, lying north-north-west of Cairo, I came upon the track of a small but vigorous branch of slave traffic which is, I understand, carried on with much suffering to the victims. My companion, Professor William Robertson Smith, of Aberdeen, now returning to England, can give oral information on the subject; whilst Colonel Gordon, late Governor-General of the Equatorial Provinces, was perfectly successful in closing to slave-traders the Main Trunk Line--_viâ_ the Nile itself--he could not but throw the transit into two branches, the one east, the other west of the river. On April 11th we engaged a guide of the village of Abu-Rawásh, near the northernmost pyramid, which is the Nilotic terminus of the journey. This man, El Haji Musà, was reticent on the subject of _rakik_ (slaves); not so his son, Abdullah. The traffic was the conversation of the village; and from the youth we learnt that our only risk in a desert march would be that of meeting Arabs driving slaves. The village _Ghafèr_ (a watchman), Mohammed el Zayyàt, is said to assist in smuggling the new arrivals, who are dressed like town slaves; and the Octroi authorities can hardly be ignorant of a traffic which gives such large gains. Whether the Pyramid Arabs are concerned in it or not, I have not as yet ascertained at the Coptic Convent of the Mar-Makarios. I could obtain no information except that the transit had been once active and was now closed. But a second guide, Abd el Alàh, of the Bedawi tribe Beni Salamah, gave a very different account, which confirmed that of the youth Abdullah. The slaves are driven from the land popularly called Wadar, and by the people Bargo, through the line of oases lying west of the Nile. The season is winter, when water holes abound; the summer heats effectually stop it. At Siwah, the Oasis of Amaun, some eighteen marches from Cairo, the _rakik_ are driven to the Natron Lakes. Men, women, children, and babies carried on the shoulder, if they refuse to walk are beaten, and lastly are tied on camels' backs. At the Birket el Birdi, the easternmost of the Natron Lakes, we were shown the sweet-water pools from which they drink, and the places where they are kept to rest and recruit for several days, before being driven into the capital. Finally, in the Syrian convent, I heard that the last convoy of 1880 had passed by their monastery in March. Nothing would be easier than to put a stop to this proceeding, and if your Lordship should wish to know what measures I should propose, I am at all times ready to submit them to your approval. "I have the honour to be, my Lord, "Your obedient servant, "RICHARD F. BURTON." _Letter No._ 2. "Cairo, May 3rd, 1880. "MY LORD,