'Southern Arabia, by Theodore Bent, F.R.G.S., F.S.A., Author of 'The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland' 'The Sacred City of the Ethiopians' 'The Cyclades, Or Life Among the Insular Greeks' etc. and Mrs Theodore Bent' [‎294] (349/552)

294
THE EASTEEN SOUDAN
of this, before the influence of Sawakin is reached, there is
a long stretch of country where the traffic in human flesh
can be carried on undisturbed. Troops of slaves are sent
down from the Nile valley to the Dervish country at certain
seasons of the year, and the petty sheikhs along the coast,
owing a doubtful allegiance to the Egyptian Government,
connive at this transport; and the pearl-fishing craft which
ply their trade amongst the coral reefs are always ready
to carry the slaves across to the opposite coast, where the
markets of Yembo, Jeddah, and Hodeida are open to them.
This will, of course, be the case until the Dervish power is
crushed, and the Soudan opened out for more legitimate trade.
As w T e sailed along we passed hundreds of these pearl-fishing
boats engaged in this dual trade, and nothing could be more
propitious for their pursuits than the absolutely lawless con
dition of the tribes by the coast. At Berenice, for instance,
there are absolutely no government or inhabitants of any sort.
Nominally, one of our Nile frontier subsidised sheikhs,
Beshir Bey Gabran, of Assouan, has authority over all the
country between the Nile and the Bed Sea, but the coast has
been visited more frequently by Dervish emirs than by
Beshir Bey. One Nasrai, a Dervish emir, is said to have
resided in the mountains behind Berenice for some time past,
and, with a small following, collects tithes of cattle from the
nomads and sees to the safe conduct of slave caravans. The
collecting of yusur, or black coral, as they call it, a fossilised
vegetable growth, is a third trade in which these boats are
employed. From this pipes are made, and beads, and the
black veneer for inlaying tables.
The navigation of an Arab dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. is no easy task, with its
clumsy arrangements for sails, when there is a strong north
wind behind it- and reefs in every direction. Three men
are perpetually in the bows on the look out for rocks, and
indicate the presence of danger to the steersman by raising