The nations inhabiting these parts, such as the Haussa, Borgu, etc., are perhaps not properly to be called savage tribes, so we shall leave them out of regard here[675].
4. Upper Nile.
Chaillé Long tells us that among the Chillooks the sheikh of each tribe detains as slaves those who do not possess at least one cow[676]. No more particulars being given about slavery, we may put this down as a very doubtful case.
The Diour tribes make raids on each other. A large number of slaves are carried off every year by the Arabian slave-traders[677]. Whether domestic slavery exists or not, we are not told.
Among the Dinka every man has on an average three head of cattle, but there are also poor people, who are the slaves or servants of the rich[678]. These “slaves or servants” very probably are not slaves. We may not, however, infer that slavery does not exist here; for the notes our informants[679] give on their social life are very short.
The Bari are themselves victims of the slave trade[680]. Whether they keep slaves, we are not told.
Very minute descriptions are given in Stuhlmann’s book of the Latuka[681], Alur[682] and Lendu[683]. No mention being made of slavery, we may be sure that it does not exist among them.
Junker speaks of a chief of the Abukaja or Amadi, who made raids and divided the booty, consisting of captured women and girls, with the allied chiefs and his subjects. Such is the [[158]]custom, says Junker, and therefore the men like to go to war. In another place he speaks of captured women with children and infants, and girls[684]. Whether these captured persons are kept among the Abukaja or exported, and if the former, whether they are made slaves, we do not know.
The same author speaks of slaves among the Makaraka; but it is not clear, whether they keep these slaves or sell them to the Arabians, who carry on the slave-trade on a large scale in these regions[685].
The Niam-Niam in their wars capture many women. Schweinfurth supposes, that they retain the captured women as slaves, but kill the men. Junker also speaks of female slaves. According to him male slaves are sometimes sacrificed; but it is not clear, whether the latter are ordinary slaves or only bought or captured to be sacrificed[686]. Our information does not admit of any accurate conclusion.