208 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

terrible sufferings of their captives. Some care and attention used to be paid to the wants of slaves on tlie march, but at the present time that has ceased. The price of human beings has risen so enormously, that the driver does not deem it worth while to show them the small consideration formerly given ; for when he can get the same sum for one slave which he used to receive for several, he becomes utterly reckless as to the loss of life on the march.

My own conviction is, that all attempts to prevent the introduction of slaves into Egypt should cease until, the moment for real action having arrived, it is finally determined to crush the inhuman trade.

The only way to effect its complete suppression is to make the sale of slaves illegal. Until that time it would be better to legitimatise the transport of slaves, instead of adding to the hardships of their fate by forcing the Gallabahs to smuggle the caravans by circuitous and unfrequented paths, avoiding the ordinary halting-places ; so that the authorities may be able to say, " No slave caravans passed such and such a town," and thus throw dust into the eyes of a credulous European public.

To justify the annexation of the Southern and Western Soudan and the Upper Nile provinces to Egypt is a point of great delicacy and difficulty.

The slave-dealers were the first to penetrate these regions; they were followed by the government