The jurisdiction over the offences and crimes of slaves, is an affair _sui generis_. This class of beings is not looked upon, or treated as men, but as cattle. The master of a slave acts as judge in cases of offences, which the one or the other may commit in his house. If one slave murder or stab the other, the proprietor must bear the loss, if both the slaves be his property; and he can merely punish the criminal, or sell him, if he please. In this case, the affair is regarded in the same light as when, in Europe, one horse kills the other, both belonging to the same owner. If, on the other hand, the murdered slave be the property of another, the proprietor of the murderer must make the loss good; and only if he refuse, or offer too little, proceedings at law are entered upon,—not a criminal process for murder, but a suit for damages. Only in case a slave murder a free man, is he ever brought to trial, and executed according to sentence. The revenue is collected partly in money, partly in kind, _i. e._, in products, or slaves; there is no systematic arrangement in the mode in which the contribution is levied; the governor fixes the rate, and it is the duty of the casheffs, and Sheikhs-el Belled, to collect it. Whosoever is suspected of possessing any treasure is forced to give it up, or his cattle, or other property, is taken away from him by force. In the year 1838, the country was obliged to contribute, in addition to the imposts in money, beside cattle, butter, and slaves, 4,000 ardeb[13] (about 118,000 sacks) of doura,[14] or millet; and the Bakkara nomadic tribes, 12,000 oxen, and kine. Cattle is only received from the villagers when they cannot produce cash; a large ox is then taken by the government to the value of 35 piaster, (3 fl., 30 kr., C.M.; about 9 shillings sterling). During several years, 8,000 heads of horned cattle were annually sent to Cairo, the greater part of which perished on the road. The government have now had their eyes opened to the absurdity of driving beasts so great a distance, and the transport of cattle to Cairo has consequently ceased; they are now only driven to Khartoom. The cash received as revenue proceeds from taxes, duties, the sale of slaves, and other produce of the country. It is impossible to describe the cruelty with which the taxes and contributions are collected; and it is really wonderful that it should be yet possible to drain a country, where so little trade is carried on, of such large sums annually. But this state of things cannot last long; for the ready money decreases with every year, and the trade of the country is scarcely worthy of consideration. The people will, in fact, eventually be obliged to emigrate, as they have already from several parts, or a general insurrection will be the result; this revolution would, indeed, have taken place in 1838, if a leader had been forthcoming. Droughts, or excess of rains, may cause the harvest, in many districts, to fail,