Well, that is what explorers are endeavoring to find out.
CHAPTER XLIX—IN THE SLAVE-COUNTRY—SIR SAMUEL W. BAKER’S EXPEDITION.
The Egyptian Slave Trade—How carried on—An Army of Kidnappers—A Slave King—Frightful Scenes—Sir Samuel Baker’s Expedition—A Shrewd Move—Breech-loaders as Civilizing Agents—A Missionary Outfit—Starting for the Slave Country—Reluctant A lies—The “Forty Thieves”—Running against a Snag—The Sacred Egyptian Flower—The Lotos-Eaters, Who were They?—The New York Lotophagi—The Papyrus or Vegetable Paper—Capturing a Cargo of Slaves—The Plague of Flies—A few more “likely Niggers”—Marrying by Wholesale—A Fight with the Natives—The result of the Expedition.
I HAVE already alluded to the efforts of the Khedive to put an end to the slave trade in Central Africa, and to give that benighted part of the world some of the advantages of civilization.
Under some of the former rulers of Egypt the slave trade had been openly encouraged, while under others it was restricted, but not very forcibly. In 1869 the Khedive determined to make a formidable effort for its suppression. At that time the reports from Central Africa showed that the trade was mainly carried on by Egyptian subjects, most of them merchants of Khartoum. They were working on an extensive scale. They had organized companies of well armed brigands, and they sent out regular expeditions of these fellows into the country whence the slaves were drawn. Ostensibly these expeditions were for trading in ivory, but the chief and frequently the sole article of commerce sought was of a color quite the reverse of ivory. To such an extent was the business carried that large tracts of country were rendered almost desolate; whole villages were burned and their inhabitants killed, dispersed or captured, and sold into slavery, and all legitimate business seemed to be at an end. It was estimated that not less than fifteen thousand subjects of the Khedive were employed in trading inhuman flesh. Nearly the whole of the Nile basin beyond Khartoum was parcelled out among the traders, who worked together for the common good and conducted their razzias by means of their armed followers.
One of the traders claimed jurisdiction over ninety thousand square miles of territory, and could do as he pleased within its borders. The estimate of the number of slaves annually captured and sent out of the country was not less than fifty thousand. As the traders could penetrate into all the populous country and make their raids at will there was great insecurity of life and property. The Khedive determined to strike a blow for the suppression of this infamous business, and for this purpose an expedition was organized and Sir Samuel White Baker was assigned the supreme command for four years from April 1st, 1869.
This expedition was expected to subdue to the Khedive’s authority the countries situated to the south of Goudokoro; to suppress the slave trade; to introduce a system of commerce; to open to navigation the great lakes of the equator; and to establish military stations and commercial depots throughout Central Africa.