The negro covets cattle, and the trader has
now captured perhaps 2,000 head.
They are to be had for ivory, and
shortly the tusks appear. Ivory is daily brought into camp in exchange
for cattle, a tusk for a cow, according to size - a profitable business,
as the cows have cost nothing. The trade proves brisk; but still there
remain some little customs to be observed - some slight formalities, well
understood by the White Nile trade. The slaves and two-thirds of the
captured cattle belong to the trader, but his men claim as their
perquisite one-third of the stolen animals. These having been divided,
the slaves are put up to public auction among the men, who purchase such
as they require; the amount being entered on the papers (serki) of the
purchasers, to be reckoned against their wages. To avoid the exposure,
should the document fall into the hands of the Government or European
consuls, the amount is not entered as for the purchase of a slave, but
is divided for fictitious supplies - thus, should a slave be purchased
for 1,000 piastres, that amount would appear on the document somewhat as
follows:
The slaves sold to the men are constantly being changed and resold among
themselves; but should the relatives of the kidnapped women and children
wish to ransom them, the trader takes them from his men, cancels the
amount of purchase, and restores them to their relations for a certain
number of elephants' tusks, as may be agreed upon.
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