18 
SLAVE TRADE OF THE WHITE NILE. [chap. i. 
is that accursed slave-trade, that the so-called ivory 
trade of the White Nile requires an explanation. 
Throughout the Soudan money is exceedingly scarce 
and the rate of interest exorbitant, varying, according 
to the securities, from thirty-six to eighty per cent.; 
this fact proves general poverty and dishonesty, and 
acts as a preventive to all improvement. So high and 
fatal a rate deters all honest enterprise, and the country 
must lie in ruin under such a system. The wild 
speculator borrows upon such terms, to rise suddenly 
like a rocket, or to fall like its exhausted stick. 
Thus, honest enterprise being impossible, dishonesty 
takes the lead, and a successful expedition to the 
White Nile is supposed to overcome all charges. There 
are two classes of White Nile traders, the one possessing 
capital, the other being penniless adventurers ; the 
same system of operations is pursued by both, but that 
of the former will be evident from the description of 
the latter. 
A man without means forms an expedition, and 
borrows money for this purpose at 100 per cent, after 
this fashion. He agrees to repay the lender in ivory 
at one-half its market value. Having obtained the 
required sum, he hires several vessels and engages from 
100 to 300 men, composed of Arabs and runaway 
villains from distant countries, who have found an 
