22 
MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE SELECT COMMITTEE 
Mr. 
Churchill. 
13 
1871* 
flourishing, were on their second visit quite aban 
doned and destroyed ; in fact, the whole place 
had been reduced to a state of desolation. 
288. \ ou would not think the statement ex 
aggerated, perhaps, that for every slave brought 
to Zanzibar there is a loss of four or five ad 
ditional lives ?—No, I think it is not exaggerated ; 
they are better taken care of, of course, after 
they reach Zanzibar ; there, they become com 
paratively happy. I do not even think they 
would return to their own country if they had 
the offer to do so ; but the land journey is very 
trying, and in the course of it they are subjected 
to great cruelty, as is also the case when they 
are carried by sea, particularly when they fall 
into the hands of the northern Arabs. 
289. Your special duties at Zanzibar, I pre 
sume, are, first, the general political relations, 
and, secondly, the protection of such British sub 
jects as there are in Zanzibar?—Yes; British 
subjects, and British protected subjects. 
290. How many British subjects and British 
protected subjects are there?—You may take 
them at about 4,000 altogether; .3,710 British 
protected subjects and British Indians; mostly 
British protected subjects from Kutch, 
291. You have, I presume, to preside at the 
courts ?—There are many lawsuits amongst those 
peoples, and the political agent has the decision 
of them when the plaintiff is an Arab or a subject 
of our own, and the defendant a British protected 
subject ; the number of lawsuits decided in the 
first year that I was there was something like 90 
or 100, later it came down a little. Dr, Kirk 
reported that in 1869 there were 67 lawsuits, 
and that the amount adjudicated for was about 
11,000 /. or 12,000/. 
292. Have you any criminal jurisdiction ?— 
Yes, as in all eastern countries. We can sentence 
a man to twelve months' imprisonment, and to a 
fine of 1,000 dollars, but not beyond that. If 
the offence was one requiring a greater punish 
ment the criminal would have to go to Bom 
bay. 
293. What do your consular duties involve? 
—The ordinary consular duties ; shipping, naval 
courts, the protection of seamen, and everything 
connected with shipping; the protection (ff 
British subjects, the issue of passports, notarial 
deeds, and so on ; and beyond that there is the 
slave trade, which is quite peculiar to the Zan 
zibar consulate ; that occasions an enormous 
amount of work ; in fact, the greater part of the 
work connected with Zanzibar is the slave trade. 
The establishment of the Vice-Admiralty Cmrt 
has involved a great deal of work. 
294. You preside there?—Yes. During the 
first year it was established, about 30 dhows 
were condemned, and I think about the same 
number are condemned every year. That 
involves a great deal of work, particularly as 
the staff of the consulate is very limited. The 
staff of the consulate is so small, that I was 
obliged to apply for the services of Dr. Kirk, 
who was the medical attendant of the agency ; 
his duties were simply to attend to the health of 
the establishment, it being at the same time open 
to him to offer his medical services to the Sultan, 
and to the inhabitants of the place; but with 
Dr. Kirk’s concurrence, I wrote to India, and 
got him an increase of salary, and by that means 
he was enabled to give up a portion of his prac 
tice, and assist me in my consular duties. I 
subsequently obtained the services of a clerk, as 
the work went on increasing, and besides Dr. 
Kirk and the clerk there is a native interpreter, 
who writes the Arabic letters That is all the 
establishment. 
295. Are there any Indian subjects, or English 
protected subjects, who hold slaves ?—None but 
the Britisb. protected subjects, the Kutchees. 
296. Those do?—Yes, many of them do. In 
General Eigby’s time, when he was political 
agent at Zanzibar, he deprived the ’whole of the 
Kutchees, and every Indian subject, of the 
slaves they held, but he was succeeded by 
Colonel Pelly and Colonel Playfair, who made 
a difference between British protected and 
British subjects. They represented their man 
ner of thinking to the Government of Bombay, 
and the Government adopted their views ; since 
that time the Kutchees have been enabled to buy 
slaves, having placed themselves under the pro 
tection of the Sultan of Zanzibar ; they abstained 
from inscribing their names in our register, 
and abandoned our protection altogetlier ; then 
of course they were allowed to hold slaves; in 
fact they were told that they would enjoy the 
same privileges as the Arabs themselves, and the 
Sultan laid great stress upon the letters he had 
received from Colonel Playfair upon the subject, 
and insisted, in a correspondence with me, when 
I protested against their holding slaves, that they 
had a right to do so, in consequence of those 
letters. 
297. With reference to the protection of the 
slaves which are set free by the operation of the 
cruisers, and in other ways, what means are taken 
for their protection? — With the exception of 
those -who have been landed for the missions—a 
very small number, I do not think it is more 
than 20 or 30 altogether—none have been landed 
lately at Zanzibar, in fact none have ever been 
landed there ; but when General Eigby liberated 
about 4,000 slaves, he gave them papers of free 
dom, and made certain arrangements with their 
former masters to buy them small estates on 
which they were placed, by which means they 
managed to live, and I have never heard of 
any of them becoming slaves again; some may 
have been kidnapped, because it is a matter of 
every day occurrence ; the Sultan himself loses 
his own slaves sometimes, when the northern 
Arabs come down from Arabia, who do not ask 
who the slave belongs to, but just take possession 
of him and carry him off, so that some of the 
slaves that were liberated in Zanzibar may have 
been kidnapped ; there would be no protection 
against that, but I look upon it a- an evil you 
must put up with ; I do not think it would be 
carried to any great extent. 
298 What are the last accounts you have had 
from Zanzibar as to the slave trade ?—They are 
very bad ; from a private letter I have received, 
I learn that the slave trade had increased in 
activity; the policy of Seyd Burgash towards 
the British agency had also altered ; he was at 
first rather frightened at the attitude of the 
agency towards him; he did not know exactly 
what the British Government might do, and he 
was particularly anxious to please ; but after- 
wards, seeing that nothing came of the insolent 
language he had held immediately after his acces 
sion, he changed about again, and became aS 
insolent as ever ; as far as the slave trade is con 
cerned, I believe he has not changed bis views. 
299. What course would you recommend to 
be adopted to put a stop to the increase in the 
slave