4 i2 ZERIBAS IN THE PROVINCE OF ROL. 



This gives 151 masters to 1 500 slaves; and this does not 

 include seventy-three basingers (armed Negro slaves), with 

 their slaves, and a large number of Nyam-Nyam, Monbuttu, 

 Bongo, Mittu, &c., of whom nobody was able to tell where 

 they came from, nor what they were ; but, at any rate, they all 

 have slaves. 



That my estimate of the number of slaves here is a very 

 moderate one is proved by the fact that, in reply to my repri- 

 mand, the officials said there were formerly three to four thou- 

 sand slaves in the district, and no one had ever troubled about 

 it. Why, then, should I ? The dismissal of the governor of the 

 station and his immediate banishment, as well as the arrival 

 of fifty-four regular soldiers from Shambe to garrison the 

 station, soon taught the people that at last even here the rights 

 of the Negroes will have to be respected. 



In addition to the six or seven hundred ardebs of corn 

 which had been taken from the natives each year " for the 

 Government," a very large quantity had also been obtained by 

 the officials for their own private uses, and for the distillation 

 of brandy ; and no one took the trouble to deny that large 

 quantities of sesame, sesame-oil, Butyrospermum fat, honey, 

 wax, and ground-nuts had been requisitioned from the people 

 under the name of taxes. Plunder has indeed been carried 

 on to such an extent that it is a wonder that anything at all 

 remains for the people ; and that so many natives still exist in 

 the neighbourhood must certainly not be attributed to the 

 care of the Government, but to the fact that these Dinka 

 tribes, with their long lances, have been able to protect 

 themselves. 



Murder appears to be so very common here that scarcely 

 any inquiry is made about it — they were only ahid, that is, 

 slaves ! 



A certain Abd-es-Sadik (i.e., a servant of the Just ! — what 

 irony !), himself a slave of the Defa'allah mentioned above, 

 lately put four persons to death, and when his master was 

 questioned about it, he replied that he had long ago given 

 the fellow his liberty (to murder, presumably !) and assigned 

 a village to him. I ascertained, however, that on the day of 

 my arrival he was still living in Defa'allah's house. When 



