Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1880-07-08
[Gsiro Letter TO New York Herald. !


no less than five couvoys Of slaves have
arrived from kOrdofan Senaar, and Oar.
/ four. On April 20 caravan openly en-
! tered Aslout--a town OF 80 900 inhabi.
tants, situated on the left bank of the
/ Nile, some 25O miles south of Cairo
/ ASlout Is the metropolis of Upper Egypt
the lhebiat-and Is the southern ter.
/ minus OF the railway connecting that re
| gion with Alexandria. This caravan WAS
/ The property OF about fifty different slave
! dealers, aud Was composed OF 59S camels
! and upward OF 900 slaves. By far the
! greater number OF these slaves were bows
} ana girls between the ages of : and Is
/ years. The more youthful and promising
/ OF The boys narrowly escaped being mutt.
| ialed by The toptic priests snd barbers OF
| Asiout, whom long experience Ia former
/ years has rendered expert In the perform
ance OF the surgical operation necessary
| 10 create eunucns,--th neutral sex who
! are at once the guardians and indspensa
| bic parasites OF the Oriental haiem The
arrival OF conveys of slaves has recently
become matter of common notoriety
here There are five bureaus established
in Egypt Tor the Suppression of slavery
! bat il should be remembers that slay
/ cry is regarded by the entire populs
! ton rs an institution sanctioned by i'm.
| memorial custom and by the Koran. In
some quarters of Cairo no one can hire
| house who does not possess at least one
! female slave; this fact ut once gives a
color OF responsibility" 10 the proposed
! lessee. Some strong motive power is re.
| quiredS to cause the Egyptian officers TO
interfere with an institution SO inwrought
in the domestic and social life OF the coun.
| try. The consular agents of the foreign
! powers south OF Cairo are, moreover, with
but one or two exceptions, Copts, who
often have family ties with the slave deal.
ers or priests, who formerly enjoyed the
monopoly OF creating euuuchs. These
consular agents are, consequently, OF a
most passive nature, and in this matter
would never have fallen under Prince
! Talleyrand's reproaCh ct having tr0p de
| zete To put in motion the slave. suppress.
ing machinery OF Egypt, some eager en-
| thusiast is required, some one whose
/ steam ana energy have not yet been
| quenched by the fascinating, placid, and,
| above all, latssez atier lite on the backs of
! the Nile Such q mau has come To tho
| front in the person Of Mr. Roth, a Swiss
| subject aud teacher in the American mis-.
! sion school establishment at Asiout
| When the slave caravan arrived at Asi-
out on April 20, Mr. Roth not only re.
! ported the fact to the Egyptian authorl.
| ties but managed to get possession OF two
! of the savea, and was about to conceal
| them IN his mouse, when the French
| Consular Agent Asiout at once declared
that the two slaves were his own private
property, anG claimed from MIR. Roth
their release forthwith. The French
4 10. 4, 4 I'D AtlI.N
demain Mr.. Roth gave back the slaves
under protest, aud reported the facts to
! the ConsulGeneraI Of France, who or
! dered Mekoraemain To- Cairo, where he is
! now under inquiry On April 80, Mr..
/ Roth came TO Cairo, and acting under the
! advice of Dr. Lansing, the chief OF the
| American mission IN Egypt laid the
! whole matter before the Consul. General
OF Great Britain. The result was that on
! April % the Egyptian Government sent
! Ahmcd Pssha Darcmelly and Husseiu
| Pasha Srri to AsIout, for the purpose OF
! investigating the matter and bringing the
| slave.dealers To punishment. Tn SO
Pashas were accompanied by the FItst
! Dragoman of the British Consulate and a
| company OF infantry, Late at night, at
Ter the arrival Of the troops, the camp OF
/ the slave-dealers was surrounded. Only
/ sixty. eight slaves were tOund-thirty.nin
I girls and twenty.nlne boys The dealers
| had made the most Of their time, for the
! rest of the 900 slaves had already been dis.
/ posed of in Cairo and elsewhere. Only
! fiity.seyen of the slaves could be proved
! to have been sold In one OF the tents
OF dealer two slaves were found buried
in the ground with only the mouth and
nostrils exposed 10 the air 10 enable them
/ to support life Thirty six slave dealers
were captured and are now in Cairo I'M
dergoing trial | have seen some Of the
slaves who were with this caravan, but as
| could fad only one who could speak
! broken Arabic, the cOnvers alton was not
! very brisk. The slave whom | "iutet-
| viewed" was young woman about II
wears old. She told me in reply 10 my
| questions that she and her husband had
( both been captured by the slave hunters.
/ Her husband had been sent OH with
! different caravan. She belonged 10 the
/ Iayadeeya tribe and came from II flasher.
/ FL FAsher IL The CAPITAL OF DariOur, and
/ about 800 miles from AsiOut by the car
avian route. Mr. Roth told me that many
/ Of the slaves had been concealed IN The
! ancient Egyptian tOmbs In the mountains
/ near Asiout Many other caravans Of
/ slaves have been seen by travellers in the
desert lately Capt Burton ana Prot.
/ smith met two caravans near the Natrou
/ Lakes, TO the southwes, Of Alexandria.
Ia considering thi3 question Of slavery,
/ care should be- taken not to confould the
system OF Oriental slavery with the brut-
! alizing bondage which formerly existed
/ in the British colonies aud the southern
/ States Slaves in the East-snd especial
ly ID Egypt-merciy live under the slight
, restraint If domestic seryitndc, Jhey
nuiov rights and privileges accorded