The sun., 1903-05-03
WAR ON SLAVE RAIDERS.
The British VIII Put step e the esavs
Tra6ac In the Central seutian.

Within the past three months British
troops under Sir Francis Ligard have
pu, 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
| it's Sultan. The British hag Ia now supreme
In the great country Of the Hausa tribes be.
| tween the Niger and Lake Tchad.
One Of the most significant announce
ments in long time relating to Africa is
the statement in the London Times that the
British now propose TO make an end. once
for all, TO slave raiding and the slave trafic
throughout the Hausa country.
The overshadowing evil Of the central
Soudan is slave raiding and the traffic In
slaves, Up to this year the evil has been
entirely unchecked by any Caucasian in
fuence and there is probably no other part
Of Africa of equal size where the slave trade
in recent years has fourished as in the
Hausa country.
Most of the slaves are obtained not from
outside O! Hausaland, but from Hausa
villages and towns. The captors belong to
the same tribe and raco as the persons they
enslave. The result is that the country
has practically been in a condition Of per-
petual civil war.
petty Sultan al any time is likely to re-
ceive message from his superior lord order
ing him to send al once certain number OF
slaves on pain Of having his own towns
raided He accordingly selects some village
within bis territory or outside Of it, against
which be quietly sends force large enough
to overcome all resistance, attacks the
town and carries of the Inhabitants.
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 Hausa-
land few years ago he said that about
one thous and slaves were brought into
Kano on a single occasion as result OF
a slave-raiding expedition. Between Kano
and Bida he pas sed large number Of towns
and villages that had recently been de-
stroyed, and whose inhabitants had been
sold as slaves. This was done not by foreign
invaders. but by the Sultan in whose ter
ritory the towns we're included.
He found that slaves are to large extent
the currency of the country. 4 native
who IN about to travel usually takes with
him slaves proportionate in number to the
length OF his journey. After travelling
perhaps 100 miles. he will sell a slave and
then travel another 100 miles, when he will
cell a second, and thus by the time he re-
turns home he will have cold all his slaves
and devoted the money to paying the ex-
pensee OF his journey
Tho maximum price for fourteen year
old girl in Kano is about $35 to $50 A
young man of IS brings about $50, a man Of
so about $20-the price decreasing as the
age advances.
This Is one OF the more thickly peopled
parts OF Africa; and it will be great bless
eing to hundreds Of thousands when the
terrible evil Of slave raiding is thoroughly
suppressed. Lie Is not secure in Hausa-
land. Few persons know whether they
will continue to have home. family and
liberty from one weeks end TO another.
The certainty that the British have
the power and the intention to suppress
this terrible evil betokens better days and
more prosperous and peaceful times for
this region, which in spite Of the barbarism
epects more highly developed than most
parts OF tropical Africa