A pilgrimage to the temples and tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and ...

RAHABA. 241
going, and has never spoken a word since she
came on board ; but sits muffled up to the eyes
in her blue cotton covering, the very picture
of silent woe. And well may she look sad,
poor child ! for she has been sold from her
mother's side. This is one of the most painful
features of slavery in this part of the world,
where, in a general point of view, and to speak
candidly, slavery has nothing objectionable in it
but its name ; for, from the kind treatment
which slaves receive from their owners, who
look upon them as children, and provide for
them as such, it becomes a desirable condition
for the natives of barbarous Africa to become
the property of Turkish or Egyptian masters.
But there are distressing exceptions, and this
child's case forms one of them. When a male and
female slave belonging to the same owner marry
together, all the children proceeding froni that
union become the property of their master ; they
are his slaves from the moment they are born
and, if such be his pleasure, they can be sold by
him just like his sheep, or his dromedaries, or any
other live stock in his possession. This is the
case with Rahaba, the young negress in question
she is the child of two slaves thus married ; her
father is dead, and her master has only waited until
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