The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-01-04
The African Slave Trade.

respecting the traffic in slaves still car
ried on between the interiors; Africa
and the Turkish Empire. He says:
The Abyssinian Envoy estimates the
number of slaves annually carried Oft
from Africa to til, Arab and Turkish
markets at $4,000 t, 10000. These III
happy beings are taken away at ages
ranging from sever or eight to sixteen
years, Oldermen and women being found
more troublesome tlsan valuable to the
dealer. They are Brought down from
the centre OF the continent and the re-
gi0n of the White Nile to kassala, and
are hurried on to the slave market at
Metemmeh, to be resO d for shipment to
Jedda. Foreign Consuls Al khartoum
check, SO far as they possibly can, the
passage of slaves down the Nile, while
Sir Samuel Bakers expedition has done
much also to increase the difficulties
which beset the transit Of slaves across
that route. The Shankelto country and
that OF WOOlah Calais are favOrite
grounds for the nefarious and infamous
practice of the tratfickers in human be-
ings, these provinces being close to Be-
o through which, since the annexa-
ton 10y the Khedive, slavescan be safely
passed to Massowah, thence to be ship
ped for the Arabian coast. ShankeltOis
| Il uLSItltJ UOltEklIlS VI ANY HSlIilu IOptI
and is inhabited by a wandering tribe
resembling Gypsies, who are regarded
as the BedOuins of Abyssinia. Shankel-
to, according to General Kirkham, be-
longs of right to Abyssinia, and about
| eighteen months ago Prince Kassai had
occasion to send down thither one Of
| his Generals with a large force, com
pletely to devastate the country for the
murders that were frequently done there
Onhismerchants and priests-there being
churches there for the baptism Of the
people.
The following is the fashion in which
the slave dealers capture their victims:
They go into a village, take with them
silks, OF beads, or bits OF tin, and orna-
ments. They exchange these things for
slaves, or whatever they a get. The
merchants send the slaves quietly away
they are trained as Mussulmans. They
are taken through BogOs to Massowah,
and they are sent thence to Jedda,
whence they are sent to Turkey by land.
AS for price, if a female be of copper
color, and good features, she will bring
as much as $40, OrAbOUt 928-that is,
at the market in Metemmeth, which is a
wholesale market. The retail price is
according to the state Of the market to
which they are first taken. When sold
in the second market they vary i'll price,
If q man took a fancy to a female slave.
he would perhaps give 800 more than
another a
The Shankelt0s and Gallas are much
sought after for their beauty, and fOl
their superiority to the other tribes. A
strong boy will sell for 800 or 500. The
girls fetch more because they are wanted
e., 4ho 1oror, TFro1npS will +o1vn q u0 Z
girls when they can get them. When &
chief makes war on another, hemakesi il
an object to carry off as many girls as he
can. He plumbers the villages and car
ries off the younger natives and SELL
them, retaining the older one to wOrl
t as his slaves. These people are subiec1
| to the Abyssinian King, when he finds i
necessary to chastise them for misdeeds
but. Of course, when his troops leave
they are their own masters again. Ihes'
{ things occur in a part of Abyssinia which
the King claims, but not among hi
Christian subjects.
1 When asked If he believed thata11 tn,
, $4,000 or 100000 annual captives were il
r the war and sold by the Chiefs who cap
, tured them to the traders, General Kirk
{ ham, in substance, answered.: "IO1
must understand that after Mr.. Stanle,
V | IGluIlAC1 AlUtl1 In O1SSONN4y VI AL AAS
/ stone he brought much to light concern
Q ing the slave trade of East Africa. d.
l LIVINGSTONE had also informed the For
eign Office as to the slave trade gOingO1
in the interior. Her Majesty's gunboat
kept so close q watch that it was inpos
sib1e to get slaves down to the coast di
rect; so they took them through to Be-
Cos. At the ACKNOWLEDGMENT the Sui
} tan and Ismail Pasha, when the latte
= was made Khedive, an understanding
o was, I believe, come to respecting til
slave trade. The Mussulmans of Turke
and Egypt must have a supply of slave
to do their wOrk-fort the real Turks wi
not do any mental service. These 80
=. 600 OF, 10000 slaves are imported an
brought up to the Mohammedan faitl
and employed in doing the dirty Worl
The slaves that are taken in war al
steal and sell them. Suppose you are
J, slave merchant, and I know where thel
~ are three or four gOOd-looking girls
steal them and sell them to you. On
! man, who may have children of his owl
! will go and steal the children of anotht
" person, as many as he may get. IT
~ trader has attendants with him, an
:, mules and camels, and he knows how
~ get slaves and carry them off. The La
~ is SO strict that any man, whether
i. Christian or MOhammedan, found
- Abyssinia selling o slave is hanged
the first tree, without judge or jur
"a Whoever catches him hangs him up, al
81 there is no more about it; and there
90 hangs until he falls away, piece by piec
So long as Bogos was In the power
= the King Of Abyssinia they could not
y that way. II they We're stopped the
they would have to take another and
dangerous road across the WILDERNESS
Nv the British gunboats off Zanzibar, oil
would"be checked, on the other, in B
40 gos,n
IL If a slaVe-driyer takes slaves from O
n village and carriesthem through anOth'
IN the Inhabitants of the second villa
have generally no chance to rescue the
lie because the leaders, attendants are u
on merous and well armed, Asingle lead
NV will buy according to his means, frt
ne fftV to sixty slaves, and bring tht
re through the country i'm that way. Ih
do not bring down many atOnee for fe
n q white man should see them and 81
co, information againstthem, and then th
n would be stopped-because tsmail Pas
has ordered ostensibly that the sla
d. trade shall be put down. General XII
no ham is unreserved1y of the opinion It
nd the Khedive secretly fayors the sla
eql trade, while 0utWardly dlsaYoWlng
gut The slaves are b%roughtdown to the co
nat from the Woolall Gallas country and
White Nile-about forty-eight or fl
or days journey from the coast. 1he o
laf ter portion are treated very well on !
be WaT In the slaye-dealers. because Il
or will fetch q better price, II the slave
u of the Nubian race, he has to do all