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Travels in Kordofan : $b Embracing a description of that province of Egypt, and of some of the bordering countries, with a review of the present state of the commerce in those countries, of the habits and customs of the inhabitants, as also an account of the slave hunts taking place under the government of Mehemed AliPallme, Ignaz

History

Travels in Kordofan : $b Embracing a description of that province of Egypt, and of some of the bordering countries, with a review of the present state of the commerce in those countries, of the habits and customs of the inhabitants, as also an account of the slave hunts taking place under the government of Mehemed Ali

Name: Travels in Kordofan : $b Embracing a description of that province of Egypt, and of some of the bordering countries, with a review of the present state of the commerce in those countries, of the habits and customs of the inhabitants, as also an account of the slave hunts taking place under the government of Mehemed Ali
Author: Pallme, Ignaz

Pallme, Ignaz

Kordofan (Sudan : Province) -- Description and travel; Nile River; Sudan -- Description and travel

my arms to me before he saw that my passion had cooled. On the eighth
day the expedition arrived at Lobeid. The distribution, described in
the former chapter, now took place, and this is, properly speaking,
the chief cause of the harsh and merciless behaviour of the soldiery
towards the slaves; for they know, that they will be compelled to
receive them in liquidation of their arrears of pay, at a value far
above the price they will obtain from the slave-merchants; that the
slaves, moreover, frequently die before they can dispose of them,
in which case the loss falls upon them, and they must serve the
government for months gratuitously. Hence they do all in their
power to rid themselves of the old and infirm slaves before they
reach Lobeid, in order to avoid the inconvenience of being forced
to take one of these men in lieu of their pay. If the payment of
the troops in the Belled-Soodan were effected in cash, as it is in
the other provinces, I am convinced that the unfortunate slaves
would meet with more humane treatment. But thanks to the noble
Queen Victoria of England, whose eye of compassion has penetrated
into these distant realms, and cheered the hearts of the dejected
and oppressed inhabitants,—at whose earnest representations,
in fine, these slave-hunts have been put an end to by Mehemed Ali
himself,—thousands of these poor negroes, who from year to year
trembled under the fear of a similar fate, may now live in peace and
tranquillity; and the prayers of the emancipated, offered up to the
throne of the Almightly for this truly great monarch cannot fail
to reward her humanity by a prosperous and happy reign. According
to reports from Kordofan, no expedition for kidnapping slaves
was ordered in the year 1839, and the troops were paid in cash;
but those, unfortunately, of 1840 and 1841 sound very differently,
for Mehemed Ali, in spite of his solemn promise to put an end to all
further slave-hunts, had again commenced these revolting expeditions.




                            CHAPTER XVIII.

  INFORMATION CONCERNING THE COURSE OF THE BAHR-ABIAD (WHITE NILE). —
             ANTIQUITIES OF KORDOFAN. — BANDANIANIAM.[89]

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