222 Seven Years in the Sundan.

is the most horrible action a man can commit, they re])hed, " AYhy is it so horrible ? Has not God through Mahomet allowed us to possess slaves ? Who has a right to suppress the Prophet's laws r Who is superior to him ? " Before the Government took possession of these establishments, every seriba was inhabited by tAvo or three hundred Arabs, each of whom possessed from ten to twenty slaves, employed in different occupations. Some accompanied their masters on raids and searches for ivory, others worked in tlie fields, others again Avere employed in leading the cattle to pasture. When the Government took possession of the country, they gave employment to only the fourth part of the inhabitants, paying each individual twenty- five francs a month. Those who had been dismissed voluntarily remained in the seribe to cultivate the land.

But it still occasionalh' hapj)ened that slaves were captured during raids and then sold to the Jelabba, who are wandering merchants that infest Darfour, Waday, Gazelle, Makraka, the Blue Nile, etc., and exchange a little cloth, gunpoAvder and oil for slaves. A Jelabba, after having acquired some fifteen slaves, starts with them, avoiding the chief paths and settlements, to Kordofan, where he has a depot. He then sells them off by degrees. The Jelabba race is the one that is most active in keeping up this infamous traffic, and my first care Avill be to prevent them from coming from Shakka, even if they seriously intend to abandon their profession. When Suleiman Ziber attacked Dem Idris he massacred four hundred Jelabba, who had remained faithful to the Government. From this number it is easy to form an idea of the number of Jelabba in the other seribe, and of the number of slaves they export.

Every year ivory becomes more scarce, and it is necessary to go to the Western Xiam-Niam countr}' to procure any. Tlie Government ought to think in time