Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/550

 448 KORTH-EAST AFEICA. obedience to the orders of the authorities. Nevertheless the recent years of civil war and foreign invasion have given rise to many local disturbances. Bands of marauders have made their appearance in the plains of the delta ; and for the first time for many generations the unwonted spectacle has been witnessed of villages attacked and plundered by brigands. The number of paid functionaries is estimated at no less than 21,000, amongst whom as many as 1,280 were Europeans of all nations in the year 1882. But besides these there are numerous rural dignitaries, whose salaries are drawn directly from the products of the imposts. The large landed proprietors are the true masters of the villages standing on their estates. Thus it may happen that a single person may be at once the omdeh of a whole district ; that is to say, the oflBcial whose will is absolute in all matters connected with the levying of taxes, and with the corv^ or forced labour service required for the maintenance of the irrigation works. In the same way in the teftish belonging to the domains of the Khedive and the mem- bers of his family, for whom are now substituted the employes of the European bankers, the administration of affairs is in the hands of the representatives of the territorial lord. In other villages the functions of mayor are exercised by the sheikh-el-beled, or " district chiefs," each of whom has jurisdiction over a group of families. Some villages have but one, others several, and even as many as twenty of these rural headmen. In theory they are elected by the community ; but as a rule their authority is transmitted from father to eldest son, or else within the same family circle by seniority from father to brother, or from father to son or nephew. In certain remote districts, and especially in the Berari of the delta, the sheikh-el- beled are absolute masters — so many " petty kings," against whose decisions there is no appeal.