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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73 ON SLAVE TRADE (EAST COAST OF AFRICA). Arabian coast, and take the slavers as they arrived ; then as regards liberated slaves, I think ^kat the slaves that are landed should be landed Zanzibar rather than any other place, because, if yon take a freed slave and put him in any other country, you put him amongst strangers in ^ country the climate of which will probably Hot agree with him, and where, at first, he will be Htterly useless to those he lands amongst ; but if you put him down at Zanzibar you put him where ke will find a number of men of his own nation, ivho understand him and live in the way that he kas been used to, and yon put him in a place ivhere he will be able to get a living. 1021. As to the disposition of the ships, you «ay you would have them watch the Arab ports? I think that would be the best arrangement H'ith a view to suppressing the trade. 1022. Large vessels would do that ?—Possibly they would do that better than small ones. 1023. And the small vessels you spoke of H'ould be best adapted for pursuing the dhows in the shallows ?—Yes, on the African coast. 1024. Is there anything else which you think Hiight be done by the Government in order to «how their determination to put an end to the trade ?—It would be a A ery great thing if the treaty that Avas talked of at one time, Avere made ''vith the Sultan to prohibit the export of slaves H'ithin the Sultan’s dominions, except Avithin a ^rroAv compass ; I think betAveen Mombas and ■klar Selam, or some such district, because the «laA’es that go to Arabia, are almost ahvays «kipped for Lamoo ; a great number are shipped from Zanzibar for Lamoo, and what I understand lo be the course is that they pay the customs duty Hpon the slaA es to go to Lamoo, and they get Passes, AA liich they shoAv till they reach the lati tude of Lamoo, and then they make the best of their Avay to Arabia. 1025. Under the treaty is there a poAver of Exporting slaves from Zanzibar to Lamoo?—Yes, ^t Avas so in my time ; it Avas, generally speaking, l^^e rule that no slave Avent from anyAvhere but ^anzibar, and as a rule they had been brought troin Kihva to Zanzibar; some going from Kihva Madagascar, and to the Comoro Islands. 1026. What is the change now ?—At present fvilAva is not the great port, because the country kas been ravaged behind it by the Maviti ; they ^Ome more from Bagamoyo opposite Zanzibar. 1027. Sir J. flay.] Do I rightly understand J'ou to say that the slaves from Zanzibar bound Arabia are cleared at the Zanzibar custom- kouse as being bound for Lamoo ?—Yes 1028. And Avith that false destination they ^' ade the cruisers as far north as Lamoo, and A go to the open sea and steer for the coast of Arabia ?—Yes. 1029. Chairman.^ Do you think the appoint- ^l^Ht of vice-consuls at one or tAVO of those ports ^long the coast Avould tend to facilitate the sup- p’ession of the trade ?—I think it Avould be use- j I do not think it is at all a matter of first kecessity. 1030. Do yon not think that the appointment ^ those vice-consuls Avould be very useful as a ^eans of obtaining influence along the coast and ® H means of furnishing information to the naval thcers ?—The difficulty Avould be as to Avho ^^onld be the vice-consuls. Persons uoaa'^ 1ÍA ing in lose toAvns Avould be more likely to mislead than help, ft)3l. If we could get honest and efficient 0.116. vice-consuls, do you think their agency Avould be very important ?—It would be very valuable. 1032. Is there any dijfficulty Avith respect to obtaining proper interpreters upon whom naval officers can depend ?—The greatest possible diffi culty. The interpreters I knew when I Avas in Zanzibar Avere all of them men Avho would not hesitate to take a bribe from the commander of a slave dhoAv and mislead the cruisers. It was universally said that one man. Juma, Avho is now dead, and Avho was one of the chief interpreters, was in the habit of communicating Avith slave dhoAvs, and arranging that a certain number should be taken and that the rest should escape. 1033. The naval officers are very much de pendent on the interpreters ?—Entirely, because very feAv of them understand Arabic, and you may say none of them understand the Suaheli language, the language of the coast. 1034. Does any mode of supplying that want occur to you ?—I have published a Suaheli voca bulary by Avhich, perhaps, officers might acquire some knowledge of that dialect. 1035. You have spoken of the depopulation as being caused by Avar, which has not been origi nated for the sake of obtaining slaves ; have you any reason to doubt the evidence Ave have had as to Avars being proAoked by the slave dealers for the purpose of getting those slaves ?— I do not know Avhat the evidence is, but I never heard of such a Avar. 1036. You have not heard'of arms being sup plied to some of the tribes, in order to give them success in Avar for that purpose ?—This kind of thing Avill happen, as happened in the Nyamwezi country ; there was a dispute there as to the succession, and the Arabs sided Avith one party ; there Avas then a great desolation of country, but the number of slaves procured by that means Avas very small ; as to supplying muskets, the sale of arms is part of the regular trade of a caravan. 1037. You do not agree AAÚth those accounts Avhich Ave have heard, that the course to Avhich I haA'e referred is the ordinary course by Avhich slaves are obtained ?—No, I doubt it very much; when first I Avent up the Zambezi, I was sur prised to find that the direction of the slave trade was into the interior, and not doAvn to the coast, and then, again, I was surprised to find that the slaves found (by Dr. Livingstone) in the hands of the traders during a desolating Avar did not belong to the conquered tribe, but to the victori ous one ; they had been in many instances sold by their OAvn relations. 1038. That Avould not account for the large number of slaves brought to the coast?—There are an enormous number of slaves in the in terior ; the trade has been going on for a thousand years. 1039. If 20,000 arrive at the coast, something like 100,000 must have been obtained, because it is estimated that about a fifth reach the coast ? —There must be a A ery large number collected. The Turkish slave dealers Sir Samuel Baker met Avith are talked of in Zanzibar as men who do that, Avho stir up Avars for the sake of earrying off slaves Avithont buying them, and the Zanzibar men express their abhorrence of such pro ceedings. ^ 1040. I am not referring so much to the Zan zibar men as to the northern Arabs, Avho come doAvn Avith the monsoon for slaves?—All the tracle goes through Zanzibar hands ; the northern K Arabs Rev. E. Steere, LLD. 25 July 1871.

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