Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/439

 LAND TENURE. 857 soon ^ve up all desire of returning to their tribal homes, and begin to despise their kindred, regarding them tun savages and ' infidels.' ' Hero wc are well cared for by our kind father,' said some slaves of tho Dinka nation from the country south of Scn&r ; ' he clothes us, and when meal-time comes we sit under his roof and eat our fill, and at night we have good bedding and shelter. "When wo desire it he gives us money to go to the bazaar ; and what belongs to him belongs to us. We are of his family. Why should we wish to return to the misery and incertitude of our early life ? ' "Such appears to be the general feeling of those in servitude. They become, so to speak, members of the household of their masters. They benefit largely by the civilisation, such as it is, that surrounds them. They form ties and affections. They marry and have children, and they become thoroughly identified with the country and surroundings of those who own them. "The female slaves, if really they can be called so, seem to sit as high at their dress tables as the lighter- coloured mistress whom they serve. Of ornaments they have plenty, silver and gold coins being woven into their innumerable thinly-plaited tresses. Amber, coral, and jasper necklaces fall in rows over their, when young, statuesque bosoms, here, as is the custom of the country, left untrammelled by robe or corset. " To sum up briefly, the curse of slavery is not the actual holding of slaves, but the misery caused by the destruction of villages, the severing of family ties, and the cruelties perpetrated in the work of capture. People are dragged miles and miles without water, chained by the neck ; in fact, the trails of the capturers may be followed by the skeletons of the captives left on the line of route. Hence, what- ever may be the kindness shown by the master to his bondman, all must rejoice that the days of slavery seem at last to be numbered in all Mussulman countries brought under European influences. The Government of the Khedive, rightly influenced, is determined to stamp it out ; and the presence of English officers now in the service of His Highness in the distant provinces of the Sudan will undoubt- edly aid in effecting the extinction both of domestic slavery and of the slave traffic throughout Eastern Africa." * Land Tenure. The administration of landed estates is also being modified through the inter- vention of Europeans in the internal affairs of the country. According to the strict letter of the Mussulman law the community of the faithful, represented by the bcit-elm&l, or public trcasur}', is the sole owner of the land, which can only be held temporarily by private persons such as mortgagees, who have come to inherit it by custom rather than legal right. However, this principle has long fallen into abeyance, and as in Eurojx}, private proprietarj' rights have been established over a large portion of the Egyptian territory. Since this revolution, which allows the tree exchange of laud, its value has been greatly enhanced. The present • •• With Hicks Pasha in the Sudna."