As regards the price paid for slaves, I can only report what I personally witnessed in the Seribas. Copper and calico are used as the principal mediums of exchange. Calico is very fluctuating in its value, which is always first reduced to its equivalent in copper. In 1871 thirty rottoli of copper[85] in Dehm Nduggo and twenty-five rottoli in the Bongo and Dyoor districts was taken for young slaves of both sexes of the class called “sittahsi” (literally, six spans high), meaning children of eight or ten years of age; thus making the average price in this country, according to the value of copper in Khartoom, to be about 7½ Maria Theresa dollars (1l. 10s.); particularly pretty women-slaves, called “nadeef,” i. e. clean or pure, fetch nearly double that price, and are very rarely procured for exportation, because they are in great demand amongst the numerous settlers in the country. Strong adult women, who are ugly, are rather cheaper than the young girls, whilst old women are worth next to nothing, and can be bought for a mere bagatelle. Full-grown men are rarely purchased as slaves, being troublesome to control and difficult of transport. Slaves in the East are usually in demand as objets de luxe, and consequently lead an idle life, and are not valued according to their capabilities for labour.
In consequence of the glut of wares in the market during the winter of 1871, the quoted value of slaves rose to almost double that of the previous year, and very high prices were paid in cotton stuffs. As much as four or six pieces of the ordinary sort (damoor) were paid for the “sittahsi,” each piece measuring twenty-four yards in length, and worth two Maria Theresa dollars in Khartoom. Next to white cotton materials firearms are a very favourite means of payment, and bring in a far larger proportional profit. For an ordinary double-barrelled gun of French or Belgian manufacture, a slave-dealer can purchase two or three sittahsi, and if the weapon has gilt facings he can sometimes obtain as many as five for it.
PRICE OF SLAVES.
The price of slaves in Khartoom at that time might be reckoned to be at least six times their original cost; of course it will be understood that the value would be regulated to a great extent by the more or less severe measures taken by the local government for the suppression of the trade; but at the time of my departure from Khartoom, at a period when the market was tolerably unrestrained, no slave could be obtained for less than forty Maria Theresa dollars, and that was the lowest price given for elderly women only fit for household service.
Babuckur slave.
The slaves brought from the Bahr-el-Ghazal districts vary in value according to their nationality. The Bongo are the most prized, as they are easily taught and are docile and faithful, and are, besides, good-looking and industrious. True Niam-niam, especially young girls, are, however, much dearer than the best Bongo slaves, but they are so extremely rare as hardly to admit of having a price quoted. The Mittoo are of little value, being ugly, lean, and incapable of enduring fatigue or even of undertaking any regular work. No amount of good living or kind treatment can overcome the love of freedom of the Babuckur; they take every oportunity of effecting an escape, and can only be secured by fetters and by the yoke;[86] the same may also be said of the Loobah and Abaka. The demand for slaves in the Seribas through which I travelled would alone suffice to support a very flourishing trade. Numerically the Mohammedan settlers bear a high ratio to the native population, and in some of the western territories, as amongst the Kredy, Golo, and Sehre, they are actually considerably in excess of the total number of natives, who only consist of bearers and agricultural labourers. Taken one with another every Nubian possesses about three slaves, and thus it may easily be conceived that the computation is not too high that places the total number of private slaves in the country at between 50,000 and 60,000. These private slaves are quite distinct from those that are kept in store and used as merchandise; they may be divided into four categories:—
1. Boys from seven to ten years of age, who are employed to carry guns and ammunition: every Nubian soldier possesses at least one of these juvenille armour-bearers. When they get older they are included in my next category.
FAROOKH.