THE SHILLOOI^S. 
3 
twenty years in the Egyptian army of the Soudan. Since his 
discharge he had intermarried with the Dinka at the Kytch and 
Rohl. He spoke the Dinka and Shillook dialects and Arabic 
fluently_, besides being an intelligent man and excellent servant. 
From him I gleaned most of the following particulars respecting 
the Shillook^ Dinka_, and Djour tribes. 
The Shillooks of the White INile inhabit a narrow district 
bordering on the western shore of the river between 9° 30' to 13° 
of north latitude. Their chiefs or Sultan as he is called^ from the 
circumstance of his really exerting an authority over his fellow- 
countrymen — who literally” are his subjects, and from whom he 
exacts a revenue — resides at his capital, called Daenab ; nothing 
more nor less than a poor collection of some two or three hundred 
conical reed huts; and, indeed, were it not for some exceedingly 
fine delaeb palm trees, gracefully interspersed here and there 
amongst the dwellings, the capital of the Shillook would not be 
worth looking at. These people are governed with an iron hand. 
They are obliged to deliver all the elephants^ tusks they may be- 
come possessed of, all skins of animals, wild or domestic, and all 
the fat of the animals slaughtered, to the Sultan. In addition an 
annual tax, consisting of one-tenth of the yearly produce of grain 
and cattle, is scrupulously imposed and levied. 
Murder is punished with death to the criminal and the forfeiture 
of wives and children to the Sultan, who retains them in bondage. 
Eobbery amongst themselves is of rare occurrence. If practised 
on strangers, it is praiseworthy ; but if followed by detection, it is 
punished by confiscation of the property stolen, and the condem- 
nation of the culprit and his children to the service of the Sultan, 
who may at his option sell them to slave traders. 
His Majesty declares peace and war. The latter may be described 
1 — 2 
