The girls, like those of other
countries, prefer marriage to regular domestic work; nevertheless, if
kindly treated, with a due amount of authority, they make fair servants
for any rough employment.
When female children are about five years old they are most esteemed by
the slave-dealers, as they can be more easily taught, and they grow up
with an attachment to their possessors, and in fact become members of
the family.
Little Mostoora, the child taken by my wife, was an exceedingly clever
specimen of her race, and although she was certainly not more than three
years old, she was quicker than most children of double her age. With an
ugly little face, she bad a beautifully shaped figure, and possessed a
power of muscle that I have never seen in a white child of that age. Her
lot had fallen in pleasant quarters; she was soon dressed in convenient
clothes and became the pet of the family.
On June 17, 1 sent the No. 9 steamer to Khartoum with the post, together
with three sons of Quat Kare, who were to represent their father at the
divan of Djiaffer Pacha.
