The General Aspect Of The Soudan Is That Of Misery; Nor Is There A
Single Feature Of Attraction To Recompense A European For The Drawbacks
Of Pestilential Climate And Brutal Associations.
To a stranger it
appears a superlative folly that the Egyptian Government should have
retained a possession the occupation of which is wholly unprofitable,
the receipts being far below the expenditure malgre the increased
taxation.
At so great a distance from the sea-coast and hemmed in by
immense deserts, there is a difficulty of transport that must nullify
all commercial transactions on an extended scale.
The great and most important article of commerce as an export from the
Soudan is gum arabic. This is produced by several species of mimosa, the
finest quality being a product of Kordofan; the other natural
productions exported are senna, hides, and ivory. All merchandise both
to and from the Soudan must be transported upon camels, no other animals
being adapted to the deserts. The cataracts of the Nile between Assouan
and Khartoum rendering the navigation next to impossible, camels are the
only medium of transport, and the uncertainty of procuring them without
great delay is the trader's greatest difficulty. The entire country is
subject to droughts that occasion a total desolation, and the want of
pasture entails starvation upon both cattle and camels, rendering it at
certain seasons impossible to transport the productions of the country,
and thus stagnating all enterprise. Upon existing conditions the Soudan
is worthless, having neither natural capabilities nor political
importance; but there is, nevertheless, a reason that first prompted its
occupation by the Egyptians, and that is, THE SOUDAN SUPPLIES SLAVES.
Without the White Nile trade Khartoum* would almost cease to exist; (*
This was written about twenty years ago, and does not apply to the
Khartoum of to-day. In 1869 The Khedive of Egypt despatched an
expedition under Sir Samuel Baker to suppress slavery in the Soudan and
Central Africa. To the success of that expedition, and to the efforts of
Colonel (now General) Gordon, who succeeded to the command of the
Soudan, was owing the suppression of the traffic in slaves. Within the
last few weeks, under the stress of circumstances, General Gordon has
been forced to promise the removal of this prohibition of slavery. - E.
J. W.) and that trade is kidnapping and murder. The character of the
Khartoumers needs no further comment. The amount of ivory brought down
from the White Nile is a mere bagatelle as an export, the annual value
being about 40,000 pounds.
The people for the most part enraged in the nefarious traffic of the
White Nile are Syrians, Copts, Turks, Circassians, and some few
EUROPEANS. So closely connected with the difficulties of my expedition
is that accursed slave-trade, that the so-called ivory trade of the
White Nile requires an explanation.
Throughout the Soudan money is exceedingly scarce and the rate of
interest exorbitant, varying, according to the securities, from
thirty-six to eighty per cent. This fact proves general poverty and
dishonesty, and acts as a preventive to all improvement. So high and
fatal a rate deters all honest enterprise, and the country must lie in
ruin under such a system. The wild speculator borrows upon such terms,
to rise suddenly like a rocket, or to fall like its exhausted stick.
Thus, honest enterprise being impossible, dishonesty takes the lead, and
a successful expedition to the White Nile is supposed to overcome all
charges. There are two classes of White Nile traders, the one possessing
capital, the other being penniless adventurers. The same system of
operations is pursued by both, but that of the former will be evident
from the description of the latter.
A man without means forms an expedition, and borrows money for this
purpose at 100 per cent. after this fashion: he agrees to repay the
lender in ivory at one-half its market value. Having obtained the
required sum, he hires several vessels and engages from 100 to 300 men,
composed of Arabs and runaway villains from distant countries, who have
found an asylum from justice in the obscurity of Khartoum. He purchases
guns and large quantities of ammunition for his men, together with a few
hundred pounds of glass beads. The piratical expedition being complete,
he pays his men five months' wages in advance, at the rate of forty-five
piastres (nine shillings) per month, and he agrees to give them eighty
piastres per month for any period exceeding the five months for which
they are paid. His men receive their advance partly in cash and partly
in cotton stuffs for clothes at an exorbitant price. Every man has a
strip of paper, upon which is written, by the clerk of the expedition,
the amount he has received both in goods and money, and this paper he
must produce at the final settlement.
The vessels sail about December, and on arrival at the desired locality
the party disembark and proceed into the interior, until they arrive at
the village of some negro chief, with whom they establish an intimacy.
Charmed with his new friends, the power of whose weapons he
acknowledges, the negro chief does not neglect the opportunity of
seeking their alliance to attack a hostile neighbor. Marching throughout
the night, guided by their negro hosts, they bivouac within an hour's
march of the unsuspecting village doomed to an attack about half an hour
before break of day. The time arrives, and, quietly surrounding the
village while its occupants are still sleeping, they fire the grass huts
in all directions and pour volleys of musketry through the flaming
thatch. Panic-stricken, the unfortunate victims rush from their burning
dwellings, and the men are shot down like pheasants in a battue, while
the women and children, bewildered in the danger and confusion, are
kidnapped and secured. The herds of cattle, still within their kraal or
"zareeba," are easily disposed of, and are driven off with great
rejoicing, as the prize of victory.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 45 of 89
Words from 44834 to 45835
of 90207
