I Have Already Fully Described This System In "The Albert N'yanza,"
Therefore It Will Be Unnecessary To Enter Into Minute Details In The
Present Work.
It will be sufficient, to convey an idea of the extended
scale of the slave-hunting operations, to explain that an individual
trader named Agad assumed the right over nearly NINETY THOUSAND SQUARE
MILES of territory.
Thus his companies of brigands could pillage at
discretion, massacre, take, burn, or destroy throughout this enormous
area, or even beyond this broad limit, if they had the power.
It is impossible to know the actual number of slaves taken from Central
Africa annually; but I should imagine that at least fifty thousand are
positively either captured and held in the various zareebas (or camps)
or are sent via the White Nile and the various routes overland by Darfur
and Kordofan. The loss of life attendant upon the capture and subsequent
treatment of the slaves is frightful. The result of this forced
emigration, combined with the insecurity of life and property, is the
withdrawal of the population from the infested districts. The natives
have the option of submission to every insult, to the violation of their
women and the pillage of their crops, or they must either desert their
homes and seek independence in distant districts, or ally themselves
with their oppressors to assist in the oppression of other tribes. Thus
the seeds of anarchy are sown throughout Africa, which fall among tribes
naturally prone to discord. The result is horrible confusion, - distrust
on all sides, - treachery, devastation, and ruin.
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