2. The second class includes the greater part of the full-grown natives in the Seribas. They are termed “Farookh,” “Narakeek,” or “Bazingir,” and, being provided with guns, form a kind of Nizzam, whose duty it is to accompany the natives in all their expeditions, whether for war or for trading purposes. These black soldiers constitute nearly half the fighting force in all the Seribas, and play a prominent part in time of war. It is the duty of the Farookh to scour the negro villages in search of corn, to assemble the bearers, and to keep under coercion any that are refractory in the wilderness. In every action the hardest work is put upon their shoulders, and they have not only to sustain the chief brunt of any actual conflict with the savages, but to provide for the safe custody of all prisoners. If the controllers of the Seribas had a sufficient number of these Farookh, they might well dispense altogether with their Nubian soldiers, except for one reason, to which I have already referred, viz. the constant danger of their running away, a risk that makes them practically less reliable than the Nubians, who never think of such a thing, and even if they did, would only join another company. The Farookh have wives, children, and land in the Seribas, and some of the elder amongst them have even slave boys of their own to carry their guns. Their ranks are largely increased after every Niam-niam expedition, as numbers of young natives will often voluntarily attach themselves to the Nubians, and, highly delighted at getting a cotton shirt and gun of their own, will gladly surrender themselves to slavery, attracted moreover by the hope of finding better food in the Seribas than their own native wildernesses can produce. The mere offer of these simple inducements in any part of the Niam-niam lands would be sufficient to gather a whole host of followers and vassals, and during our journey I myself received proposals to join our band from young people in all parts of the country. I mention this circumstance just to illustrate my opinion of how easily the Egyptian Government might, without using any compulsion, enlist here as many soldiers as it required. I am persuaded that, without any difficulty, whole regiments of Nizzam troops might be raised from amongst the Niam-niam in the course of comparatively a very few days.
3. The third class of private slaves is formed of the women who are kept in the houses. Every soldier has one of these slaves, and sometimes more, in which case one is advanced to the position of favourite, whilst the rest are employed in the ordinary routine of preparing meal, or in the tedious process of baking kissere. These women are passed like dollars from hand to hand, a proceeding which is a prolific source of the rapid spread of those loathsome disorders by which the lands within the jurisdiction of the Seribas have been infested ever since their subjugation by the Khartoomers. In accordance with the universal rule in the Mohammedan Soudan, the children of a slave are reared as legitimate, and the mother receives the title of wife. The daily conversation of the Nubian mercenaries is a continual proof that their thoughts are always running on their slaves both male and female. If a quarrel arises amongst a group of people, one is certain to be correct in surmising that some slave or other is being reclaimed or the payment due for her is being demanded; or if there is a sudden uproar, the burden of the cry is sure to be, “A slave has run away!” “Kummarah olloroh,” shout the Bongo, and “Ollomollo, ollomollo,” resounds from every side. Many and many a time have I been roused from my slumbers in the early morning by such cries as these, and it is one of the occupations of the Seriba people and their negroes to hunt down and recapture these runaway women. Hunger often obliges the fugitives to take refuge in a strange Seriba; here they are looked upon as lucky windfalls, and are either seized by force or are quietly disposed of to the itinerant Gellahbas; and if the rightful owner subsequently appears to claim his property, a violent squabble will inevitably be the result. These slaves are thus the subject of one incessant wrangling; and if a slave absent herself only temporarily without the consent of her master, she will at once excite his jealousy, displeasure, and mistrust.
HOUSEHOLD DRUDGES.
The single slave of the poorer soldiers is a regular drudge, or maid-of-all work: she has to bring water from the well in great pitchers, which she carries on her head; she does all the washing, if there is anything to wash; she grinds the corn upon the murhaga, makes the dough, roasts the kissere on the doka, and finally prepares the melah, a horrible greasy concoction of water, sesame-oil or pounded sesame, bamia-pods, and corchorus leaves, beautifully seasoned with cayenne pepper and alkali. Not only has she to do the sweeping of the whole house, but she has to get wood from the wilderness, and, when on a journey, to supply the want of any other bearer by carrying all the lumber of her lord and master. In the larger households, however, of the more important people, such as controllers or agents, where slaves are numerous, each woman has her own allotted task, and a large number of boys is employed, who follow their master on his travels, each carrying a single weapon, either a gun, a pistol, or a sword. From all this some little idea may be gained of the unwieldy crowd that must necessarily be attached to every march undertaken by the Nubian mercenaries. To a force of 200 soldiers on our Niam-niam expedition there were as many as 300 women and boys; a party which, as well as immoderately increasing the length of the procession, by the clatter of their cooking utensils and their everlasting wrangling (scenes of which I have already given some illustration), kept up a perpetual turmoil which at times threatened a hopeless confusion.
Slave at work.
The rude and primitive manner of grinding corn employed throughout the Mohammedan Soudan contributes more than may at first sight seem credible to perpetuate the immense demand for female slave labour. The very laborious process is performed by pounding the grain on a large stone, called murhaga, by means of a smaller stone held in the hand; it is the only method of grinding corn known to the majority of African nations, and is so slow that by the hardest day’s work a woman is able to prepare only a sufficient quantity of meal for five or six men.[87] A mill worked by oxen has been erected by the Government in Khartoom, not only for the use of the troops, but also to enable private individuals to have their corn ground at a moderate price; but in spite of this provision the durra-corn is still pounded on the murhaga in all the houses; not a single resident takes advantage of the improved facility that is offered. Until this lavish waste of human strength is suppressed, either by the introduction of mechanical handmills or by putting a tax upon the murhaga, no hope is to be entertained of any diminution in the demand for female slaves. This is but one instance, yet it may suffice to show how gradually and consistently one must set to work ultimately to gain the suppression of slavery in the Soudan: nowhere can old institutions be declared to be abolished, until new institutions have been provided to take their place.
SLAVES EMPLOYED IN AGRICULTURE.
4. In my fourth and last category I would include all slaves of both sexes who are employed exclusively in husbandry. Only the men in more important situations, such as the controllers of the Seribas, the clerks, the dragomen (generally natives who have been brought up like Arabs in Khartoom), the Fakis, and the colonised Gellahbas actually cultivate the soil and possess cattle; the poorer people being content with a little occasional gardening and the possession of a few goats and fowls. Old women, who are too weak for anything else, are employed to weed the fields, and at harvest time the Farookh are called to their assistance. Statute labour as applied to agriculture is nowhere demanded of the natives, although it would really act less disadvantageously on the condition of the population than the arbitrary system that allows any controller of a Seriba to seize the children from the native villages and dispose of them to the Gellahbas, a proceeding that is generally carried out as a punishment for offences like dishonesty, treachery, or attempts to abscond.