There is an absurd prejudice among the men that the grinding of flour
upon the usual flat millstone is an unmanly task that should always be
performed by a woman.
This is a very ancient prejudice, if we may judge
by the symbols found upon the flat millstones of the ancient Egyptians.
We also hear in the Testament, "two women shall be grinding together;
one shall be taken, the other left." There was a scarcity of women in
our station, and the grinding of the corn would have given rise to much
discontent had I not experienced this difficulty in a former voyage, and
provided myself with steel corn-mills. I had one of these erected for
each company of troops, and in addition to the usual labour, I always
sentenced men under punishment to so many hours at the mill.
Although this country was exceedingly rich in soil, it was entirely
uninhabited on our side (the east) of the river. This had formerly been
the Dinka country, but it had been quite depopulated by razzias made for
slaves by the former and present governors of Fashoda. These raids had
been made on a large scale, with several thousand troops, in addition to
the sharp slave-hunters, the Baggara Arabs, as allies. The result was
almost the extermination of the Dinka tribe. It seemed incomprehensible
to the Shillook natives that a government that had only lately made
slave-hunting a profession should suddenly turn against the
slave-hunters.
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