ly
prominent,--not alone in the interference that the condition induces in
arresting any further procreation on the part of the unfortunate victim,
but in the unparalleled mortality that, in the gross, is made necessary
by the results of the operative procedures. The Soudan alone furnished,
according to reliable statistics, some 3800 eunuchs annually, the
material coming from Abyssinia and the neighboring countries, it being
gathered by war and kidnapping parties, or by purchase, from among the
young male population of those regions. These children are brought to
the Soudan frontier and custom duties are there paid for their passage
across the border, the duty being about two dollars per head. At
Karthoum they are purchased by pharmacists, apothecaries, and others
engaged in the manufacture of eunuchs, who generally perform simple
castration; the mortality among these amounts to about 33 per cent.
These simply castrated eunuchs bring about $200 apiece. The great eunuch
factory of the country, however, is to be found on Mount Ghebel-Eter, at
Abou-Gerghe; here a large Coptic monastery exists, where the unfortunate
little African children are gathered. The building is a large, square
structure, resembling an ancient fortress; on the ground-floor the
operating-room is situated, with all the appliances required to perform
these horrible operations. The Coptic monks do a thriving business, and
furnish Constantinople, Arabia, and Asia Minor with many of their
complete, much-sought-for, and expensive eunuchs. They here manufacture
both grades,--those who are simply castrated and those on whom complete
ablation of all organs has been performed, the latter bringing from $750
to $1000 per head, as only the most robust are taken for this operation,
which nevertheless, even at the monastery, has a mortality of 90 per
cent.

The manner of performing the operation is as barbarous and revolting as
the nature of the operation itself, and the cruel and ignorant
after-treatment is as fully in keeping with the whole. The little,
helpless, and unfortunate prisoner or slave is stretched out on an
operating-table; his neck is made fast in a collar fastened to the
table, and his legs spread apart and the ankles made fast to iron rings;
his arms are each held by an assistant. The operator then seizes the
little penis and scrotum and with one sweep of a sharp razor removes all
the appendages. The resulting wound necessarily bares the pubic bones