One of Saboun’s first cares was to destroy the terrible robbers called Afrits, or devils. He thus ensured the safety of the roads, so that during his reign a solitary woman, even covered with gold, might venture into solitary places and have nothing to fear, except from the Most High. But whilst the Sultan gave tranquillity to others he remained himself disquieted. The thought that his brother Asyl was abroad prevented him from taking rest, and embittered all his pleasures. He waited impatiently until God should give him an opportunity of freeing himself from fear. That nothing on his part, however, might be wanting to effect this desirable result, he invented a stratagem by which he decoyed Asyl from Darfur, where he had taken refuge, and, having got him into his power, addressed him in the same terms which he had used towards Ahmed, and then ordered him to be put to death. Thus God delivered Wadaï. That was a day of rejoicing such as the country had never seen.[31] CHAPTER III. The Sultan of Bagirmeh — A Court of Birds of Prey — Saboun determines to make a War — March over the Desert — Encounter with a Rhinoceros — Punishment of Cowardice — Veneration for Sultans — A White Beard — The Crown purifies — Sultan Arous — Anecdote — Attack on the Birny of Bagirmeh — Victory — Act of Cruelty — A Bedawin Traveller — A new Route to the Mediterranean — Schmed-el-Fari — The Sheikh’s Father at Fezzan — Caravans — Want of Water — Price in the Desert — An obdurate Sheikh — Death of Saboun. When Sultan Saboun had fixed himself firmly on the throne he repressed all evil actions, and did all the good he could. I shall notice how he punished the culpable conduct of Haj-Ahmed, sultan of Bagirmeh. This prince had excessively tyrannised over his subjects, so that at length the Ulemas were excited to present themselves before him and utter the complaints of the nation. He received them graciously, and asked what was their business. An old man replied, that they came to beg him to cause his servants to cease from their excesses, and told a parable of a great tree which grew in the midst of a field, and harboured birds of prey that devoured the harvest. “Thy subjects,” he said, “are the harvest, thou art the great tree, and thy officers the birds of prey. We fear lest the tree be cut down; for the master of the harvest is God, who hateth tyranny.” The good old man farther quoted some wise saws and some verses from the poets, and also the words of the Prophet, to the effect that an hour of justice is worth seventy years of prayer.