The Boy Slaves, The Original Classic: (Mayne Reid Masterpiece Collection)

Land of Ethiope! whose burning centre seems unapproachable as the frozen Pole! Land of the unicorn and the lion,—of the crouching panther and the stately elephant,—of the camel, the camelopard, and the camel-bird! land of the antelopes,—of the wild gemsbok, and the gentle gazelle,—land of the gigantic crocodile and huge river-horse,—land teeming with animal life, and last in the list of my apostrophic appellations,—last, and that which must grieve the heart to pronounce it,—land of the slave! Ah! little do men think while thus hailing thee, how near may be the dread doom to their own hearths and homes! Little dream they, while expressing their sympathy,—alas! too often, as of late shown in England, a hypocritical utterance,—little do they suspect, while glibly commiserating the lot of thy sable-skinned children, that hundreds—aye, thousands—of their own color and kindred are held within thy confines, subject to a lot even lowlier than these,—a fate far more fearful. Alas! it is even so. While I write, the proud Caucasian,—despite his boasted superiority of intellect,—despite the whiteness of his skin,—may be found by hundreds in the unknown interior, wretchedly toiling, the slave not only of thy oppressors, but the slave of thy slaves! Let us lift that curtain, which shrouds thy great Saära, and look upon some pictures that should teach the son of Shem, while despising his brothers Ham and Japhet, that he is not yet master of the world.