into the interior till he arrives at the village of some negro chief,
with whom he establishes an intimacy. The chief has probably an enemy
to attack, and his new allies gladly assist him. Led by him, they
approach some unsuspecting village about half an hour before daybreak.
Surrounding it while the occupants are still sleeping, they fire the
grass-huts in all directions, and pour volleys of musketry through the
flaming thatch. Panic-struck, the unfortunate victims rush from their
burning dwellings. The men are shot down, the women and children
kidnapped and secured, while the herds of cattle are driven off. The
women and children are then fastened together, the former secured by an
instrument, called a _sheba_, made of a forked pole. The neck of the
prisoner fits into the fork, secured by a cross-piece also behind, while
the wrists, brought together in advance of the body, are tied to the
pole. The children are then fastened by their necks with the rope
attached to the women, and thus form a living chain, in which order they
are marched to the head-quarters with the captured herds. Of course,
all the ivory found in the place is carried off. The cattle are then
exchanged with the negro chief for any tusks he may possess.

In many instances a quarrel is soon afterwards picked with him, and his
village is treated in the same way as that of his foes. Should any
slave attempt to escape, she is punished either by brutal flogging, or
hanged as a warning to others. The slaves are then carried down the
river, and landed a few days' journey south of Khartoum, whence they are
marched across the country, some to ports on the Red Sea, there to be
shipped for Arabia and Persia, while others are sent to Cairo. In fact,
they are disseminated throughout the slave dealing East.

Sailing on day after day, with marshes and dead flats alone in sight,
mosquitos preventing rest even in the day, they at length arrived at the
station of a White Nile trader, where large herds of cattle were seen on
the banks.

They were here visited by the chief of the Kytch tribe and his daughter,
a girl of about sixteen, better looking than most of her race. The
father wore a leopard-skin across his shoulder, and a skull-cap of white
beads, with a crest of white ostrich feathers. But this mantle was the
only garment he had on. His daughter's clothing consisted only of a
piece of dressed hide hanging over one shoulder, more for ornament than