Jangy was proclaimed king by the Koordi, and was dressed in a
scarlet robe with belt and sabre. The pretender got together a large
band of adherents who were ready for any adventure that might yield them
plunder. These natives, who knew the paths and the places where the vast
herds of cattle were concealed, acted as guides to the Koordi; and the
faithful adherents of the old king, Quat Kare, were plundered,
oppressed, and enslaved without mercy, until the day that I had
fortunately arrived in the Shillook country, and caught the Koordi in
the very act of kidnapping.
"I had heard this story a few days before, and I was much struck with
the clear and forcible manner in which the old wife described the
history.
"Here we have an average picture of Soudan rule. In a country blessed
with the most productive soil and favourable climate, with a population
estimated at above a million, the only step towards improvement, after
seven years of possession, is a system of plunder and massacre. Instead
of peace, a series of intrigues have thrown the country into hopeless
anarchy. With a good government, this fertile land might produce
enormous wealth in the cultivation of corn and cotton. I arranged with
the king that he should wait patiently, and that I would bring the
affair before the proper authority; in the mean time, his people should
return to their villages.
