He
confessed that he had 700 slaves on board the three vessels, and
according to orders that he had received from his master, Abou Saood, he
was conveying them to their destination, a few days south of Khartoum,
on the White Nile; at which point they could either march overland to
the west via Kordofan, or to the east via Sennaar; whence they could
pass unmolested to the Red Sea or to other markets.
The small-pox had broken out among the slaves, several of whom had died.
I was most thoroughly disgusted and sick at heart. After all the trouble
and difficulties that we had gone through for the suppression of the
slave trade, there could be no question of the fact that Abou Saood, the
great slave-hunter of the White Nile, was supported by some high
authority behind the scenes, upon whom he could depend for protection.
This was apparently the last act of the drama, in which the villain of
the piece could mock and scoff at justice, and ridicule every effort
that I had made to suppress the slave trade. His vessels were actually
sailing in triumph and defiance before the wind, with flags flying the
crescent and the star, above a horrible cargo of pest-smitten humanity,
in open contempt for my authority; which Wat Hojoly had been carefully
informed did not extend north of Gondokoro.
