Export of slaves to Egypt and the Red Sea is forbidden, because the Khalifa fears that the English may intercept them and make soldiers of them; but a certain number of female slaves are still smuggled through. By the re-occupation of Tokar the Red Sea route, which had been extensively used, was closed to the Dervishes. It is permissible to give male and female slaves papers of freedom, but the custom is never practised. If a female slave bear a child to her master she cannot be sold, and after her master's death she becomes a free woman; if she bear a child to a freed man, who is not a black, her position remains unaltered, and the child grows up a slave, because it is considered to be illegitimate.
Omdurman is full of slaves; even in the poorest houses one female slave at least will be found. Hard work and ill-treatment ages them very rapidly. Many of them long for their native homes and detest slavery, but the great majority of them submit without a murmur to their wretched fate.
FOOTNOTES:
[R] The disease lies dormant in the summer, but acquires virulence with cold weather. The medicines used are iodide of potassium and sarsaparilla.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE BAGGARA MASTERS OF THE SUDAN.
Relations between Abdullah and the rival Khalifas—Mahdiism practically dead—The Khalifa's son, Osman—His marriage to Yakub's daughter—His intentions regarding the succession—The Baggara and the Aulad-Belad—The Baggara masters of the Sudan—Examples of their tyranny—Emigration of the Rizighat tribe—Hostility between the Khalifa's and the late Mahdi's households—The Ashraf conspiracy—Witchcraft—The dispute between the Khalifas—Riots in Omdurman—The Mahdi's widows.
I propose to devote this chapter to a brief outline of the relations which exist between the ruling powers in Omdurman, and a description of the present situation in the Sudan. The overthrow of Nejumi at Toski, the destruction of Abu Anga's immense army during his constant campaigns in Abyssinia, the year of famine in 1889, and finally the capture of Tokar and total defeat of Osman Digna in February 1891, have all tended largely towards the diminution of Khalifa Abdullah's power.