and leaves a large, gaping sore that does not heal kindly. A short
bamboo cannula or catheter is then introduced into the urethra, from
which it is allowed to project for about two inches, and no attention
is paid to any arterial haemorrhage; the whole wound is simply plastered
up with some haemostatic compound and the little victim is then buried in
the warm sand up to his neck, being exposed to the hot, scorching rays
of the sun; the sand and soil is tightly packed about his little body so
as to prevent any possibility of any movement on the part of the child,
perfect immobility being considered by the monks as the main element
required to promote a successful result. _It is estimated that 35,000
little Africans are annually sacrificed to produce the Soudanese average
quota of its 3800 eunuchs._

When this immense sacrifice of life, the useless barbarity, and the
really unnecessary needs of such mutilated humanity existing are fully
considered, it would seem as if Christian nations might, with some
reason, interfere in this horrible traffic, by the side of which
ordinary slavery seems but a trifle. When we further consider that, in
some instances, the child is also made mute by the excision of part of
the tongue,--as mute or dumb eunuchs are less apt to enter into
intrigues, and are therefore higher prized,--the barbarity, cruelty, and
extremes of inhumanity that these poor children have to suffer cannot be
overestimated. Neither must we be astonished at the stolid indifference
that is exhibited by the eunuchs in after life to any or all sentiments
of humanity, or that they should hold the rest of humanity in continual
execration.

Often-occurring accidents in harems make _complete_ eunuchs a
desideratum. Bisson mentions that on one occasion he saw the chief
eunuch of the Grand Cherif of Mecca--a large, finely-proportioned,
powerful black--on his way to Stamboul for trial and sentence; he was
heavily chained and well guarded. It appears that the eunuch had only
been partly castrated, and that the operation had been performed during
infancy; his testicles had not fully descended, so that in the operation
the sac was simply obliterated, which gave him the appearance of a
eunuch. In this condition he seemed to have kept a perfect control of
himself and passions until made chief eunuch of the Cherif, who
possessed a well-assorted harem of choice Circassian, Georgian, and
European beauties. The _neglige_ toilet of the h