[78] Vide De Cadalvene et de Breuvery L’Egypte, vol. ii. p. 237, where the Orientalist König has given his interpretation of a map, which Teïma-Walad-el-Sultan-Messabani (Governor of Kordofan, subject to the control of Darfoor) had himself projected.
[79] Fresnel pursued his researches in Djidda in the years 1848 and 1849.
[80] Vide vol. i., Chap. VII.
[81] A sycamore of this description is to be seen on the island of Rodah in Cairo, in the garden of the Duke of Dumont, where the formation of pillars (promoted by hanging pitchers of water on the branches) consists of two perfectly concentric circles that girdle the whole stem. This sycamore is one of the most remarkable natural curiosities of Egypt, and is well worth a visit.
SLAVE-TRADERS FROM KORDOFAN.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Katherine II.’s villages. Goods bartered by slave-traders. Agents of slave-traders. Baseness of Fakis. Horrible scene. Enthusiasm of slave-dealers. Hospitality shown to slave-dealers. Three classes of Gellahbas. Intercourse with Mofio. Price of slaves. Relative value of races. Private slaves of the Nubians. Voluntary slaves. Slave-women. The murhaga. Agricultural slave-labour. Population of the district. Five sources of the slave trade. Repressive measures of the Government. Slave-raids of Mehemet Ali. Slow progress of humanity. Accomplishment of half the work. Egypt’s mission. No co-operation from Islamism. Regeneration of the East. Depopulation of Africa. Indignation of the traveller. Means for suppressing the slave trade. Commissioners of slaves. Chinese immigration. Foundation and protection of great States.
Probably the overland slave-trade along the roads of Kordofan had never been so flourishing as in the winter of 1870-71, when I found myself at its very fountain-head. Already, in the previous summer, had Sir Samuel Baker, with praiseworthy energy, commenced scouring the waters of the Upper Nile, and by capturing all slave-vessels and abolishing a large “chasua” belonging to the Mudir of Fashoda, had left no doubt as to the earnestness of his purpose; but whether it was that his peremptory measures had driven the Gellahbas of Kordofan to a common centre, or whether the reported scarcity of cotton-stuffs in the Seribas had raised their hopes of doing some business, or whether, as perhaps was most likely, the introduction of Egyptian troops into the Bahr-el-Ghazal district opened a fresh and attractive avenue to their avarice—one thing is certain that neither Baker nor the Government (the Viceroy being free from blame in the matter) accomplished anything like a practical supervision over the local authorities in Kordofan. Satisfied with having, to the eyes of the world at large, made a clean sweep of the waters of the Nile, Sir Samuel and his supporters did not perceive, or could not remedy, what was going on on either side of the great river-highway. To anyone who should now enter the country under the impression that the slave-trade on the Upper Nile was for ever abolished, and should subsequently learn by contrast the true condition of the lands, a scene would be presented that might well remind him of the painted villages that were exhibited to Katherine II. on her tour through Southern Russia.