"In June also a Nubian or Abyssinian 'beauty' was bought at the Meydán, or Moslem quarter of Alexandria, for £40 to £50, while two other Nubian girls fetched £12 to £15. This cheapness of an expensive commodity tells its own tale. In fact, the prices have not varied between 1874 and 1880. Nubian boys in the former year fetched from $40 to $60; girls, $45 to $70; and adults, $40 to $100. The relative prices of Abyssinians were $50 to $80, $80 to $150, and $85 to $200. In 1875 the values rose about 15 per cent.; and in 1878 they fell 12 to 18 per cent. In 1879-80 the prices 'ruled firm.'[5] "To note a few more individual cases. A negro applied to the United States Mission at Assiout for aid in recovering his young wife, who had been cruelly beaten and put in irons by her master. This was the practice of the Bureaux when old slaves legally demanded their liberty. It was also reported to the mission that from forty to fifty slave-girls, driven by a Cairo dealer, were for sale in a yard at El-Farshút, a town three and a half days' march from Assiout. In August a hundred slaves were reported to be kept in the house of the Shaykh-el-Balad (Mayor) of the Khargeh Oasis, who demanded an honorarium of £1 to £2 per head. In October two Nubian girls, belonging to Mustafa Pasha el-Arab, a pensioned officer of Government, having been cruelly beaten, obtained a certificate of freedom from the Police Office, Alexandria; they were, notwithstanding, recovered by their inhuman master, who brought against them the usual unjust accusation of theft. The 'counter-charge' had become a system. Before 1873 an ill-treated slave could generally obtain legal manumission. This humane measure became obsolete under the present retrograde and anti-European Ministry. Slaves have even been punished for calumniating their owners.[6] No more need be said concerning individual sales: these pages could be filled with such cases; but their object is to take a broader view of the subject.