Item 01: Ralph Ingram Moore letters, 10 February 1907-15 March 1918 - Page 187
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[Page 187]
7.
are three special police on motorcycles. Behind is another motor car with police in. You will realise that these precautions are necessary, since the deposed Sultan has offered I think £1000 for his beloved Uncle's Head. He is also not particular whether the head be attached to the body or not. Rather a nice relation to have.
Yesterday James & I visited the old Cairo Slave Market. The building is roofless, and only the four walls, and part of the walls of mosque inside remain standing. On one corner of the outside projecting from the top of the wall the execution platform still remains. I suppose that the slave sales were held periodically the same as our present day auction sales. The sales lasted three days. All slaves left over after the three days were taken to the scaffold and beheaded. It was far cheaper to cut their heads off than to feed them until the next sales came round. The huge blood stain is still to be seen down the walls. Goodness only knows how many of the poor beggars passed out in this way. Perhaps it was a relief to them though. Slaves in those days were not considered as human beings and were treated with much greater severity than the beasts of the field were.