The traffic in slaves has decreased very much of late. The wealthy Egyptians still purchase slaves, and will continue to do so, till the “institution” is wholly abolished, but the despotic rule exercised by the Pasha in Nubia has had the effect of greatly lessening the demand. Vast numbers of Nubians go into Egypt, where they are engaged as domestic servants, and their paid labor, cheap as it is, is found more profitable than the unpaid service of negro slaves. Besides, the tax on the latter has been greatly increased, so that merchants find the commodity less profitable than gum or ivory. Ten years ago, the duty paid at Assouan was thirty piastres for a negro and fifty for an Abyssinian: at present it is three hundred and fifty for the former and five hundred and fifty for the latter, while the tax can be wholly avoided by making the slave free. Prices have risen in consequence, and the traffic is proportionately diminished. The Government probably derives as large a revenue as ever from it, on account of the increased tax, so that it has seemed to satisfy the demands of some of the European powers by restricting the trade, while it actually loses nothing thereby. The Government slave hunts in the interior, however, are no longer carried on. The greater part of the slaves brought to Khartoum, are purchased from the Galla and Shangalla tribes on the borders of Abyssinia, or from the Shillooks and Dinkas, on the White Nile. The captives taken in the wars between the various tribes are invariably sold. The Abyssinian girls, who are in great demand among the Egyptians, for wives, are frequently sold by their own parents. They are treated with great respect, and their lot is probably no worse than that of any Arab or Turkish female. The more beautiful of them often bring from two hundred to five hundred dollars. Ordinary household servants may be had from one to two thousand piastres. My dragoman, Achmet, purchased a small girl for twelve hundred piastres, as a present for his wife. He intended making her free, which he declared to be a good thing, according to his religion; but the true reason, I suspect, was the tax at Assouan.
The Egyptians rarely maltreat their slaves, and instances of cruelty are much less frequent among them than among the Europeans settled here. The latter became so notorious for their violence that the Government was obliged to establish a law forbidding any Frank to strike his slave; but in case of disobedience to send him before the Cadi, or Judge, who could decide on the proper punishment. Slavery prevails throughout all the native kingdoms of Central Africa, in more or less aggravated forms.
The Egyptian merchants who are located in Khartoum as agents for houses in Cairo, consider themselves as worse than exiles, and indemnify themselves by sensual indulgence for being obliged to remain in a country which they detest. They live in large houses, keep their harems of inky slaves, eat, drink and smoke away their languid and wearisome days. All the material which they need for such a life is so cheap that their love of gain does not suffer thereby. One of the richest merchants in the place gave me an account of his housekeeping. He had a large mud palace, a garden, and twenty servants and slaves, to maintain which cost him eight thousand piastres (four hundred dollars) a year. He paid his servants twenty piastres a month, and his slaves also—at least so he told me, but I did not believe it.
As for the native Fellahs of Soudân, they are so crushed and imposed upon, that it is difficult to judge what their natural capacities really are. Foreigners, Frank as well as Egyptian, universally complain of their stupidity, and I heard the Pasha himself say, that if he could have done any thing with them Abbas Pasha might whistle to get Soudân from him. That they are very stupid, is true, but that they have every encouragement to be so, is equally true. Dr. Knoblecher, who, of all the men I saw in Khartoum, was best qualified to judge correctly, assured me that they needed only a just and paternal government, to make rapid progress in the arts of civilization.
CHAPTER XXXI.
FROM KHARTOUM TO EL METEMMA.
Farewell Breakfast—Departure from Khartoum—Parting with Dr. Reitz—A Prediction and its Fulfilment—Dreary Appearance of the Country—Lions—Burying-Grounds—The Natives—My Kababish Guide, Mohammed—Character of the Arabs—Habits of Deception—My Dromedary—Mutton and Mareesa—A Soudân Ditty—The Rowyàn—Akaba Gerri—Heat and Scenery—An Altercation with the Guide—A Mishap—A Landscape—Tedious Approach to El Metemma—Appearance of the Town—Preparations for the Desert—Meeting Old Acquaintances.
The wind blew so violently on the morning of my departure from Khartoum, that the ferry-boat which had been engaged to convey my equipage to the Kordofan shore, could not round the point at the junction of the Niles. My camels, with the Kababish guide and drivers, had been ferried over the evening previous, and were in readiness to start. In this dilemma Dr. Péney, with whom I had engaged to take a parting breakfast, kindly gave me the use of his nekker and its crew. Our breakfast was a fête champêtre under the beautiful nebbuk tree in the Doctor’s court-yard, and consisted of a highly-spiced salmi of his own compounding, a salad of lettuce and tomatoes, and a bottle of Cyprus wine. The coolness and force of the north-wind gave us a keen appetite, and our kind host could not say that we slighted his culinary skill, for verily there was nothing but empty plates to be seen, when we arose from the table. Dr. Reitz and I hastened on board the nekker, which immediately put off. I left Khartoum, regretting to leave a few friends behind me in that furnace of Soudân, yet glad to escape therefrom myself. A type of the character of the place was furnished us while making our way to Omdurman. We passed the body of a woman, who had been strangled and thrown into the water; a sight which the natives regarded without the least surprise. The Consul immediately dispatched one of his servants to the Governor of the city, asking him to have the body taken away and properly interred. It was full two hours before we reached the western bank of the Nile, opposite Omdurman. Achmet, who had preceded me, had drummed up the Kababish, and they were in readiness with my camels. The work of apportioning and loading the baggage was finished by noon, and the caravan started, preceded by the guide, Mohammed, who shook his long spear in a general defiance of all enemies.
Dr. Reitz and I, with our attendants, set off in advance on a quick trot. Our path led over a bleak, barren plain, covered with thorns, through which the wind whistled with a wintry sound. The air was filled with clouds of sand, which gave a pale and sickly cast to the sunshine. My friend was unwell and desponding, and after we had ridden eight miles, he halted to rest in a deep, rocky gully, where we were sheltered from the wind. Here we lay down upon the sand until the caravan came along, when we parted from each other. “You are going back to Europe and Civilization;” said he mournfully; “you have an encouraging future before you—while I can only look forward to the prospect of leaving my bones in this accursed land.” He then embraced me, mounted his dromedary, and was soon lost to my sight among the sand and thorns. Little did I then imagine that his last words were the unhappy prediction which another year would see verified![6]