Report from the Select Committee on Slave Trade (East Coast of Africa); together with the proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidence, appendix and index

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 832922498

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-79587

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Report from the Select Committee on Slave Trade (East Coast of Africa); together with the proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidence, appendix and index

Place of publication:: [London]

Publisher:: [The House of Commons]

Year of publication:: 1871

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (XXIV, 242 S.)

Collection:: Economics Books

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48 MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE SELECT COMMITTEE Maj. Gon. 605. Can yon tell us for wliat amount of sub- C. P. Rigby, sidy such a line could be established ?—I think, ■ most likely, since the opening of the Suez Canal, 20 July • the trade is taking a different course, and I ’871* think that so much trade would be attracted that a very small subsidy would suffice. My idea formerly was, that a steamer should go across to Seychelles, and there should meet the French, giving thereby direct monthly communication. 606. What do you propose now?—There is a Mr. Wiseman, who has entered into the Zan zibar trade very largely, which he carries on by steamers through the canal ; he is anxious to tender for the establishment of a regular line to Zanzibar ; he sends his steamers now to Zanzibar, but not with any regularity, as he would if there was a subsidy. In the note which I received from the customs master at Zanzibar on Monday, he says, I only hope your endeavours will j)rove successful in regard to the postal commu nication with Zanzibar ; if you do succeed you will have the hearty thanks of the Zanzibar com munity, native and European. At the time of writing, our mails for March, April, and May are lying at Seychelles ; nothing to bring them over. Admiral Cockburn in flagship Forte,” left yesterday for Seychelles, he has promised to send these with the June mail from Mahi next month ; yet a month to wait.” 607. The French steamers touch at Seychelles? —Yes, on their way to Mauritius and Reunion. He complains that the Post Office will persist in sending his letters to Seychelles. Seeing that there are only chance opportunities of forwarding letters from Seychelles to Zanzibar, it amounts to denying British subjects at Zanzibar all postal communication. 608. Lord F. Cavendish^] You have read the Report of the Slave Trade Committee of 1869, which sat at the Foreign Office ?—Yes. 609. What do you think of the terms of the treaty which it recommends should be negotiated with the Sultan of Zanzibar ?—I do not think any treaty would have the slightest effect ; treaties with Arabs are mere waste paper. 610. You think we should get rid of our present treaty ?—We can easily do it, by saying, “ This treaty has never been observed by the subjects of the Sultan of Zanzibar or of the Imaum of Muscat, and it is no use having a treaty in force that is never observed.” 611. Would you at once forbid all export of slaves to the island of Zanzibar ?—The worst part of the slave trade is that from Lake Nyassa to the south, Kihva being the port of shipment. The whole of that vast and rich country is becoming depopulated. Banyans who have been for years at Zanzibar have told me that they remember, when they first came to the coast, the whole country was densely populated down to the sea coast, and now you have to go 18 days’ journey inland before you come upon a village almost. That is fully confirmed by Baron Van der Decken and Dr. Rosher, who travelled that route. Baron Van der Decken talks of miles and miles of ruined towns and villages the whole way up towards Lake Nyassa, where there is now no population at all. Every year this slave trade is extending further and further inland. A great number of the slaves are now brought from the western side of Lake Nyassa ; the Arabs have got dhows in the lake on purpose to convey their slaves across. I had a proof at Zanzibar of how the slave trade extends from nation to nation in Africa. I found, in registering all the slaves I emancipated, that amongst the recent arrivals most of them gave the names of their tribe as Manganga. I could not at that time exactly fix the position of their country ; however, shortly afterwards I saw a letter of Dr. Livingstone in the paper, saying that he had recently travelled through the Man ganga country, where the whole population was engaged in the cultivation and working up of cotton, and he said that he had never seen such a wonderful cotton country in his life, or such a fertile country. I think, a year or two afterwards, he went througli the same country, and found it entirely depopulated, all the huts being full of dead bodies. The children had been carried away, and most of the adults slain. That is one of the worst features of the slave trade in that country . When the slave traders go into a district, they kill all the men and women, and burn the villages, and carry off the children. The reason they give for taking the children only is, that the children are driven more easily, like flocks of sheep, or they are tied with ropes and chains ; the men they lose more by desertion on the way. 612. My question was whether you would prohibit the present trade which we allow be tween the main land and Zanzibar for the pur poses of Zanzibar itself ?—Unless the Government choose to do what I think is the proper course, viz., to stop it with a high hand at once, and say we will not have this trade go on, it might for the sake of the Arabs in Zanzibar be permitted for a short time between Miram a and the Island, or coast opposite Zanzibar ; there is not the same atrocity in that traffic, because it is not carried on on the organised system that the other trade is ; probably from what is called Mirama, 4,000 slaves are annually brought to the Island of Zan zibar ; that would be sufficient to keep up the supply in Zanzibar and Pemba; they are meu and children who have been kidnapped. The slavers do not burn towns and villages, and mur der the grown-up people to get those slaves. 613. Sir J. Hay.'] Are they exported from Dar Seelam ?—Mirama is the coast district oppo site the Island of Zanzibar ; Dar Seelam is quite a recent creation of the late Sultan of Zanzibar, and it is now going to ruin again. 614. Lord F. Cavendish.] When you speak of stopping the slave trade with a high hand, do you mean by a squadron, or by any interference on land ?—By a squadron ; I do not think the squadron need be very strong ; but it would be in effective without an experienced naval officer, an officer whose heart would be in the work. 615. If the trade were allowed from one port only to the Island of Zanzibar, would not there be a danger of slaves being taken overland, even from Lake Nyassa to that port?—That could be checked, because there is such a marked differ ence in the tribes ; I would severely punish any man who should export natives of those southern tribes ; you could easily stop that. 616. What do you think of the recommenda tion of the Slave Trade Committee, that freed slaves should be landed by our cruisers on the Island of Zanzibar, and left there ?—I think it the very best destination for them ; I have thought a good deal about it, and I do not think any other plan would be satisfactory. The climate of the Mauritius does not suit them at all ; they die there like rotten sheep in the cold weather. Seychelles suits them exactly ; they get there the food they are used to, cassava and fish, bnt

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