<54 
ATROCITIES OF THE TRADING PARTIES . [chap. ii. 
immediate neighbourhood of Gondokoro, that they are 
on their best behaviour, while within half a mile of 
the station ; but it is not at all uncommon to be 
asked for beads as a tax for the right of sitting under 
a shady tree, or for passing through the country. The 
traders' people, in order to terrify them into submission, 
were in the habit of binding them, hands and feet, and 
carrying them to the edge of a cliff about thirty feet 
high, a little beyond the ruins of the old mission-house : 
beneath this cliff the river boils in a deep eddy ; into 
this watery grave the victims were remorselessly hurled 
as food for crocodiles. It appeared that this punish¬ 
ment was dreaded by the natives more than the bullet 
or rope, and it was accordingly adopted by the trading 
parties. 
Upon my arrival at Gondokoro I was looked upon 
by all these parties as a spy sent by the British Govern¬ 
ment. Whenever I approached the encampments of 
the various traders, I heard the clanking of fetters 
before I reached the station, as the slaves were being 
quickly driven into hiding-places to avoid inspection. 
They were chained by two rings secured round the 
ankles, and connected by three or four links. One of 
these traders was a Copt, the father of the American 
Consul at Khartoum • and, to my surprise, I saw the 
vessel full of brigands arrive at Gondokoro, with the 
American flag flying at the mast-head. 
Gondokoro was a perfect hell. It is utterly ignored 
by the Egyptian authorities, although well known to 
be a colony of cut-throats. Nothing would be easier 
than to send a few officers and two hundred men from 
Khartoum to form a military government, and thus 
impede the slave trade ; but a bribe from the traders 
to the authorities is sufficient to insure an uninter¬ 
rupted asylum for any amount of villainy. The camps 
were full of slaves, and the Bari natives assured me 
that there were large depots of slaves in the interior 
belonging to the traders that would be marched to 
Gondokoro for shipment to the Soudan a few hours 
