294. Eunuchs. sight o f Heaven, than the sacrifice o f a goat, or even o f a camel. T h is liberation is entirely volunta ry on the part o f the ow n e r; and I have known some slaves so attached to their masters from good treatment, that when they ha ve been offered their lib e r ty , they have aetually refused it, p referring to continue in servitude- It should not, however, be supposed, that the Arabs and Moors are always inclined thus to liberate these degraded p eo p le ; on the contrary, some o f them, particularly the latter, are obdurate, and make an infamous traffic o f them, b y purchasing, and afterwards intermarrying them, for the purposes o f propagation and o f sale, when they are placed in the public market-place, and there turned about, and examined, in order to ascertain the ir value. T h e eunuchs which the Emperor and princes keep to superintend their respective Horems, are, for the most part, procured from the vicinage o f Senaar in Soudan ; these creatures have shrill effeminate v o ic e s : the y are emasculated in a peculiar manner, and sometimes iu such a way, as not to be incapacitated from cohabiting with women ; * they are in general v e ry fat and gross, and from the nature o f the charge committed to them, become v e r y confidential servants: indeed their fidelity is surpassed on ly by their unbounded insolence. I knew one o f these creatures, who was ch ie f o f the eunuchs superintending, the Horem o f Muley Abd S a lam .f at Agadeer, who was one hundred and ten years o ld ; he was then upright, and walked about without a stick. * An .eunuch of the liorem of Mnley Abd E lM elk, whilst at Agadeer, had the audacity to cohabit with one of the. concubines of the horem; the prince hearing of it, was so exasperated, that he ordered a punishment to be inflicted upon him which soon terminated his existence. f Elder brother to the reigning sultan Soliman. Expedition o f Muley Arsheede. 295 Persons unaccustomed to, or unacquainted with, the mode livin g in Africa, may imagine the expense and trouble o f conve y ing the slaves across the Desert, would be more than the advantage derivable from their sale ; but it must be recollected that these people are v e ry abstemious, particularly whilst trav e llin g ; ten dollars expended in rice in Wangara is sufficient for a year’s consumption for one person; the wearing apparel is alike «economical, a pair o f drawers, and sometimes a vest, forming all the clothing necessary in traversing the Desert. It is not ascertained, when the communication between Bar- bary and Soudan was first opened, y e t it is certain, that the enterprising expedition o f Muley Arsheede to the latter coun- t r y f tended considerably to encrease and encourage the + Muley Arsheede, about the year 1670, proceeding to Suse, laid siege to the sanctuary of Seedy Aly ben Aidar, near Ilirgh; Seedy Aly, making his escape in disguise, fled to Soudan, whither he was followed by Muley Arsheede, who on his arrival on the confines of Soudan, between Timbuctoo and Jm n.e, was met by a. numerous host of blacks, of the king of the negroes ; the prince demanded Aly ben Aidar, but the negro prince; who was king of Bambara, replied that as he had claimed his protection, it would be an infringement on the laws of hospitality to deliver him up, adding, moreover, that he desired to know if the views of Arsheede were hostile or n o t; to which the latter replied; after endeavouring in vain to procure the person, of Aly, that he was not come hostilely, but was about to return, which, he forthwith did; and the Bambareen king having received from Aly two beautiful renegade virgins, was so much flattered with the present, that he promised him any thing that he should ask; whereupon he requested permission to go to Timbuctoo, and to settle there with his numerous followers, which being granted, he proceeded thither, and having established a Mtmr.sh garrison, resided there several months, and afterwards returned to Barbary, bringing with him many thousand Bambareen blacks; but on his reaching Suse, he heard of the death of Muley El Arsheede, and having then no further occasion for the blacks, he dismissed them-; they went to different parts of the country, and.served theinhabitants in order to procure subsistence; buL the politic Muley Ismael, who had then recently been proclaimed, ordered them to be collected together, and incorporated in his black army, which was, however, before this,
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