The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-07-11
TRAFFIC IN HUMAN BEINGS.
The Slave Trade In Egypt as Described by
a Distinguished Traveller.

Thu Slave Trade In Egypt as Described by
a Distinguished Traveller.
De yory's Saunterings in Upper Egypt
Yesterday the Forus made q long
stop to take in a fresh supply of pro-
visions and coal. A short distance
from US lay q gloomy dahabieh, with a
convoy of slaves from Cordufan. In
that dirty and ill-smelling boat, scarce
ly large enough to accommodate two
travellers, were crowded ten women and
five children, on their way to Cairo to
be sold. Those Is victims were hud-
died pell-mell in the hold, while on the
deck q dozen sailors were laughing
boisterously. The captain, leaning
against the mast, was smoking his Chi
bouque, and I never saw on a galley
slave q more hang-dog looking counte-
nance or such a sinister head, Our
dragoman knew him, and told us
that he was an old Turkish canvas,
we'll known at Cairo, very daring, fear
ing neither God nor the devil, yet,
withal, a pattern of tilial devotion; in
proof of which, on his return from his
last expedition, he had sent to his pa
rents at Constantinople a pair of young
negroes of great beauty. The drago-
man also explained to us the method of
pursuing this sort of industry.
The slave traders maintain spies on
the confines of the Soudan, whose duty
it is to keep them informed as to the
condition Of the villages that border on
the Nile, the number Of ONE and
children suitable for seizure, the habits
of the population, and the most oppor-
tune hour for making a successful raid.
The time having arrived, mounted on
swift dromedaries, bearing at their
TANKS huge hampers, they pounce like
a flock of vultures on the villages indi-
Gated, bind their victims, throw them
into the hampers and take flight. Ut
terly INSCRIPTIONS and we'll armed, if
a native attempts to obstruct their pas
sage they kill him without mercy.
Such atrocities justify only too we'll
the hatred that the African tribes bear
to foreigners and the cruel treatment to
which they subject those who fall into
their hands. Have they not the right
to look upon every p~aleface as an enc
my? Unfortunately here, as elsewhere,
the innocent suffer for the guilty, and
honest travellers have expiated the crimes
of these trafickers in human flesh.
Returning on board at sunset, we
were present at a supper of these slaves.
And what supper! Some dirty -four
stirred up in water-a porridge which
u dogs would eat with disgust. They
were all shivering, half naked around a
scanty fire Of rushes, and were cough
ing with a dry cough; already the cold
was affecting those lungs accustomed to
the temperature of the equator, and dis
posing them to consumption.
l had remarked in the group q tall
and beautiful girl, with a hanghty mien,
fine features and a graceful figure. She
alone was not cast down and seemed to
defy fate. Twas contemplating her with
compassion, mingled with q certain ar
tistic curiosity, seeking to define the
exact meaning of that word grace"
which has its equivalent in all langua-
ges and it applicable to all species, when
| the rufian asked if I would like to buy
her.
"Tell him." said I to the dragoman,
that he is the one I would like to buy,
to have him hanged"
My reply hadno other effect upon him
than to provoke a smile of sanctimoni-
GUS serenity. That smile exasperated
me. 1 am by no means cruel, yet I
could have blown the fellows brains out
in cold blood. In Europe we hunt down
the wolves and foxes that decimate our
sheepfolds and pillage our poultry yards,
and ought we to show child s~tealers any
more consideration?
One of the women, still young, was
weeping while squatting before the
warm ashes. Hakim Chakor, who
could speak a little in the Soudanese
tongue, approached and offered her an
orange and some sugar. She refused
it, but seeing the friendly hand that
had brought her the first consolation,
she covered it with tears and kisses.
"NWhy doyou not eat?" asked the doc
tor.
"While my child is i'll I shall take no
n~ourishment."
"Where is your child?" asked the doc
tor.
"He is in the boat. If you are a ply
sician cure him, The master who
killed my husband and my brother
wishes perhaps to kill him also. Then
I shall starve myself to DEATH"
Night had now come. The slave
trader, brandishing his courbach, ut
tered a formidable ella" forward) and
in the %twinkling of an eye oil those
w%retches, shivering with terror and
cold, had disappeared in the hold of the
dahabieh. The accursed craft went its
way, and we felt relieved, at least, at
having no longer under our eyes that
ignoble spectacle.