ON SLAVE TRADE (EAST COAST OF AFRICA). 
53 
to leave the cruising ground, and might not 
^ any (thows pass then?—No ; the number cap- 
gjj^^^was only 11, and the slaves were not in 
o .^ient number to require the ships to leave 
ground, except in three of those cases, 
to L ‘ ] According to that it seems 
ye utterly hopeless by any efforts of the 
^^isers to put a stop to the trade ?—By any 
^rts of cruisers in numbers such as we have 
I think it is hopeless. 
^^0. But the number would appear to be suffi- 
h in this case, because you say that you think 
^^I’dly any guilty dhows escaped?—I think the 
J^isers should be near the rivers and places of 
^P<jrt, at the same time as they are near the 
Wh^* of import. I had not ships enough to do 
0.^91. Xhen with an increased squadron you 
^ something more might be done ?—I can 
^iy Say I hope something more might be done. 
^92. One may collect that you do not anticipate 
^?y complete stoppage of the trade by any efforts 
ihe cruisers ?—I think we have gone on for 
^ years and have done no good whatever. 
693. Can you suggest any way in which we 
A'lld clo good by means of the fleet ?—I think, 
.^ibre giving up the attempt as hopeless, we must 
every possible method that suggests itself 
^ Carrying out England’s wishes, one of those 
^thods clearly is the increase of the squadron, 
the result which I have detailed of my own 
■^perience rather shows that the number of 
^ ^Ves to foreign countries cannot be as great 
fhe custom-house statistics would show. 
694. You think there are not really so many 
ç^Ported?—I think there are not really so many 
^Ported ; at the same time, I cannot understand 
1 bat becomes of them ; the number reported to 
v®,exported is taken from data which seem re- 
bable. 
p Sir J, Ho,y.~\ Supposing you were ap- 
b^ted again to the East Indian command, and 
you 
''vere told that you might have for three years, 
liiiF ^ years, or till the trade was suppressed, an 
bruited number of ships, both for the blockade 
me Arabian Coast and the Persian Gulf, and 
^ 0 portions of Africa from which the slaves were 
^^.jborted ; will you state for the Committee, 
^ at number of ships you would conceive to be 
^J.ccssary to enable you to carry out with cer- 
j ^^ty the total annihilation of the slave trade ? — 
Ç bo not think any number would suffice with 
.ç^b^jaiiity, but I should ask for 10 ships to begin 
yb96. Chairman.~\ Ten instead of seven? — 
• ^97, J)q think that would very materially 
j^^^case the number of captures ? — I think the 
ßjber would be increased, 
sid J. Hay.~\ I think you have had con- 
^-^able experience on the West Coast oí Africa? 
yes. 
699. 
tb 
Are you aware of the number of ships 
Con employed on that length of coast, as 
Iç^^Pared with the number employed along this 
pL^^b of coast ; was not the number of ships em- 
j^^yed on the West Coast of Africa very much 
considerable than that for which you now 
U^^’^-Very much more considerable, and the 
of the sea is far more favourable for block- 
operations. 
Or f Aot looking to the economical question, 
the probability of the number of ships that 
Q ^bght ask for being given you, assuming 
that the country was determined to put down the 
slave trade on the East Coast of Africa in the 
same way as on the West Coast ; would you say 
that 10 ships, or anything like 10 ships, would be 
sufficient to cover the 4,000 miles to be blockaded 
on the East Coast ?—No matter how many ships 
you have, there will of course always be some vessels 
which escape being boarded ; it is quite possible, 
that, though we boarded 400 dhows during the 
season I have spoken of, there may have been 
400 others that passed outside us ; but when I 
said that I thought we must have boarded nearly 
all dhows that came up, I referred to those that 
passed along the coast ; the Arabs have very 
good information ; I do not think that they 
knew what I intended to do, but it is quite 
possible that they did. » 
701. Chairman.'] Do you think that by having 
more Consular Agents along the coast, you would 
have the means of deriving better information 
upon the subject of the slave trade?—I think 
the appointment of Vice Consuls along the coast, 
would be a most valuable thing, not only as 
regards giving us information, but as regards 
pushing our political influence. 
702. Did you hear the evidence of the last 
witness with respect to the desirability of ap 
pointing a naval officer to be permanently 
stationed on the coast?—Yes. 
703. Do you approve of that suggestion?— 
It is practically what is now going on ; there is 
the Admiral commanding the whole of the Indian 
station ; he has as his senior officer a captain of 
some standing generally stationed for a consider 
able time down at Zanzibar. I do not attach as 
much importance as General Rigby seemed to do, 
to prolonged experience ; I think the experience 
of one year is no guide to what will happen the 
next ; if I were there myself, I should take care 
to vary my tactics annually, because I believe 
whatever is done in one year would be frustrated 
by the Arabs the next; if they knew I had 
adopted one line in one year, they would them 
selves adopt some other line the next, and I 
should try and meet them. 
704. Was there anything in your instructions 
that in any way impeded your success ; any 
limitation of your power ?—There was nothing 
whatever in my instructions to limit my action 
till the issue, by the Admiralty, of a circular 
dated 6th November 1869, which appears at page 
94 of Class B, East Coast of Africa Correspond 
ence from 1st January to 31st December 1869. 
That circular made an unpleasant iinpression 
upon all the officers commanding the ships under 
my orders. Its manner was accusatory as to the 
past and threatening as to the future ; its matter 
was, principally the forbidding the capture of 
dhows for having domestic slaves aboard. 
705. Do you think there were many slaves 
carried in that way in those dhows which were 
not classed as guilty dhows?—There is no doubt 
that a very large number of slaves must have 
been carried in that way. At page 75 of the 
same Blue Book are extracts from letters found 
in some of the dhows, being inclosurcs in my 
letter to Sir Seymour Fitzgerald replying to a 
complaint of Sir Edward Russell, the Judge of 
the Vice Admiralty Court at Aden, as to dhows 
being captured for having domestic slaves on 
board. These show that domestic slaves are 
frequently carried to sea for sale. 
706. What I was wanting to arrive at was 
whether, allowing the dhows to pass with domes- 
G 3 tic 
Sir 
,. G. Heath, 
20 July 
1871,’