CHAPTER VI THE ABYSSINIAN FRONTIER Ten miles from the frontier lies Abu Ramleh, the post of the department which is devoted to the gradual extinction of the system of slavery in the Sudan. It is by no means universally known that this system still exists in a curtailed form, the Government very wisely abstaining from a sudden revolutionary change which would provoke a cataclysm by upsetting the whole internal economy of the country, and preferring, while giving safeguards for the proper treatment of slaves, and for the attainment of their liberty if desired, to cause the arrangement to die a natural death by cutting off fresh supplies. This it does with remarkable success, aided by the difficulties of travel in the wet season, and in the dry season by the occupation of the isolated spots where water can be obtained. Only one case of slave-running occurred in 1908.

It was in this province that an incident occurred which was related to me in the course of my journey on the Zeraf Seven slave-dealers were, by what appeared to them a most unhappy accident, 116