From the linked article:
Many, many thousands of little black African boys were captured and castrated in order to serve as eunuchs in harems and at imperial courts.
The little, helpless, and unfortunate prisoner or slave is stretched out on an operating table; his neck is made fast in a collar fastened to the table, and his legs spread apart and the ankles made fast to iron rings; his arms are each held by an assistant. The operator then seizes the little penis and scrotum and with one sweep of a sharp razor removes all the appendages. The resulting wound necessarily bares the pubic bones and leaves a large, gaping sore that does not heal kindly.
The wound was cauterized with mud, hot oil, tar, or mule dung. The age of the boys castrated typically ranged from 6 to 12. The mortality rates were horrific. The Frenchman who described the bodily vandalism reckoned that as many as 35,000 little African boys were sacrificed “to produce Sudan’s average annual production of 3,800 eunuchs”.
Comment:
It is hard to know.