Page:The rising son, or, The antecedents and advancement of the colored race (IA risingsonthe00browrich).pdf/139

 the climate, and three thousand obtain their papers of freedom. They are dispersed over three million square miles of territory, and their blood finally mingles with that of the Turk, the Arab, and the European. The best black soldiers are recruited from the Dinkas, who are strong, handsome Negroes, the finest of the White Nile. The other races are thickly built and clumsy, and are never ornamental; the Abyssinians, for whatever service and of whatever class, excel all their rival victims in slavery. They are quiet and subdued, and seldom treacherous or insubordinate. They prefer slavery, many of them, to freedom, because they have no aspirations that are inordinate. The girls are delicate, and not built for severe labor. Though born and bred in a country where concubines are as legitimate and as much honored as wives, they revolt against the terrors of polygamy.

In Abyssinia there is a feature of the slave-commerce which does not seem to exist elsewhere. The natives themselves enslave their own countrymen and countrywomen. Since the death of Theodore, the country has been the scene of complex civil war. Each tribe is in war against its neighbor; and when the issue comes to a decisive battle, the victor despoils his antagonist of all his property, makes merchandise of the children, and forwards them to the Egyptian post of Gallabat, where they find a ready and active market. All along the frontier there is no attempt to prevent slavery. It exists with the sanction of the officials, and by their direct co-operation. Another profession is that of secret kidnappers. The world knows little how much finesse and depravity and duplicity are required in this business. The impression is abroad,