Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-05-09
WAR ON SLAVE RAIDERS.
The British Will Put q Stop to tho
Slave Traffic In tho Central Soudan.

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The British Will Put a Stop to tho
Slave Traffic In the Central soudan.
Within the past three months, Brit
lish troops under Sir Francis Lugard
have put an end to the supremacy of
the Sultan of Sokoto, east of the Niger
river, in the Central Soudan. They
have also occupied the famous town of
Kano and subjected its sultan. The
British flag is now supreme in the
great country Of the Hausa tribes be-
tween the Niger and Lake Tchad.
One Of the most significant an
nouncements in long time relating to
Africa is the statement in the London
Times that the British now propose to
make an end, ace for all, to slave
raiding and the slave traffic through
out the Hausa country.
The overshadowing evil Of the GEN.
trail Soudan is slave raiding and the
traffic in slaves. Up to this year, the
evil has been entirely unchecked by
any Caucasian influence; and there is
probably no other part Of Africa of
equal size where the slave trade in re-
cent years has f1ourished as In the
Hausa country.
Most Of the slaves are obtained, not
from outside of Hausaland, but from
Hausa villages and towns. The cap
tors belong to the same tribe and race
as the persons they enslave. The re-
suit is that the country has practically
been in a condition Of perpetual civil
war.
A petty sultan at any time is likely
to receive a message from his superior
lord ordering him to send at once a
certain number Of slaves on pain of
having his own towns raided. He ac-
cordingly selects some village within
his territory or outside Of It, against
which he quietly sends a force large
enough to overcome all resistance, at
tacks the town and carries off the in
habitants.
Those who resist are killed on the
spot and the remainder are marched
away in fetters. Many Of them have
been included in the annual tribute
payable to the Sultan Of Sokoto, while
others are sent to some central slave
market to be sold or taken back to the
town Of their captors.
| When G. H. Robinson travelled in
Hausaland a few years ago, he said
that about one thousand slaves were
brought into Kano on single occasion
as a result Of a slave-raiding expedi-
ton. Between Kano and Bida he pass
ed a large number Of towns and vii
lagos that had recently been Destroy
ed, and whose inhabitants had been
sold as slaves. This was done not by
foreign invaders. but by the sultan In
whose territory the towns were inclu-
ded.
He found that slaves are to q large
extent the currency Of the country. A
native who is about to travel usually
takes with him slaves proportionate in
number to the length Of his journey
After travelling about 100 miles, he will
sell a slave nd then travel another 100
miles, when he will sell second, and
thus by the time he returns home he
will have sold all his slaves and de-
voted the money to paying the ex-
penses of his journey.
The maximum price for a 14-year-
old girl in Kano IS about sS5 to $50
A young man Of 1S brings about $30
a man Of 80 about s20-the price de-
creasing as the age advances.
This is one Of the more thickly peo-
pied parts Of Africa; and it will be a
great blessing to hundreds Of thou
sands when the terrible evil Of slave
raiding is thoroughly suppressed. Life
is not secure in Hausaland. Few per-
sons know whether they will continue
to have a home, a family and liberty
from one weeks end to another.
The certainty that the British have
the power and the intention to sup
press this terrible evil betokens better
days and more prosperous and peace
full times for this region, which in spite
Of the barbarism from which it has
suffered, Is in many respects more
highly developed than most parts OF
tropical Africa.-New York Sun.