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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122 -APPENDIX TO REPORT FROM SELECT COMMITTEE -ApfientfeiK, No. 7. was no doubt his statement was correct so far as regards Svud Suleiman bin named. ® As a further proof how powerless the Sultan is to check this traffic, durino- last north-east monsoon, in March, 1 observed almost every morning whilst out in my^hoat dhows, belonging to the Persian Gulf and the coast of Arabia, sailing, or about to sail[ full of slaves. Many of these were re-landed on my representations to his hicrhness • and one day when he paid me a visit, accompanied by all the principal chiefs, ï introduced the subject, and urged bis highness to take more vigorous measures to stop this illeo-al ii-affic. I a 1 told his highness that I had never seen a boat from any of bis ships visitim»- these dhows prior to their quitting the harbour, and suggested that he should direct «uarcî-boats to row round in turns i>y day and night. Upon this his highness called the commander of his new corvette, “ Iskunder Shah,” and gave him strict orders to do so in turns with boats from his other ships. A few days after the commander, who had been educated in Eng land, called on me, and stated that on pulling alongside a dhow that morning which was full of slaves, the Arabs on board had pelted bun with billets of wood, that he then returned to the shore and obtained 30 Beloocb soldiers, and on returning with them the crew of the dhow fired on his boat, and that during the confusion which ensued the boat was upset and all on hoard it swam on shore, and that he had had enough of visiting slave dhows' and should not do so again. ' I think the only way to put a stop to the foreign slave trade in the Zanzibar dominions is to keep a light screw-gunboat stationed at Zanzibar to watch the coast as far as Cape Delgado to the south and La moo < n the north. Information of slavers heino- on the coast generally reaches the British consulate by some means, and, as in the recent ca<=e of Her Majesty’s ship “ Lyra,” a light gunboat can slip out at any hour-and effect their capture. Query 6. Are you aware of any modifications having been made in our Treatv with the late Imam for the suppression of slavery, dated 2iui October 1845 : Answer. I am not. Query 7. That Treaty sanctions (he transport of slaves (tantamount to the traffic) from one port to another of the late Imam’s African territories, between Lamoo on the north and Kilwa on the south, including the Islands of Zanzibar, Pemba and Monica. It is evident, however, that the traffic is still carried on to a large extent in the said ter ritories beyond those boundaries ; and, further, it is equally clear from your reports lately submitted to Government, that vv he re as the Treaty of 1845 contemplated ibe restriction of the trade to a limited space within the dominions of the late Imam, several places within that district continue to supply large numbers of slaves for foreign exportation. Thus, in your lettcT to Government, No. 108 of 1859, you report that two years back the brig Venus,” under Spanish colours, succeeded in embarking 500 slaves from the port of Lamoo. ^ Also, ihat not long since 600 slaves were taken from Zanzibar in the French ship “ Pallas,” and again, that 424 were exported from Kilwa. Further, it would appear from your letter, No. 23 of 1860, that the trade is still car tied on clandestinely at Zanzibar to a considerable extent. Your reports on the prevalence of the slave trade, foreign as well as domestic, throucrli- out the African territories of the late Imam, are fully confirmed by the testimony of Dr. Krapf and Captain Burton, as will be seen by the followimr Quotations :— Dr. Krapf stales, ^ “ In 1853, I saw 20 Arab ships at Mukdeesba engaged in smuggling slaves to Arabia.” “ To the south of the Pangani is the territory of the Wasegua tribe, and the «reat centre “ of the slave trade.” ^ “ Among these tribes [the Wasegua] the slave trade has hitherto flourished to a frightful “ extent, chiefly owing to the encouragement of the Arabs of Zanzibar.” “ From 10,000 to 12,000 slaves are said to pass yearly through Kilwa on their way to the various ports of the Sowahili coast, and to Arabia.” “ Although the Sultan of Zanzibar has prohibited the slave trade with Arabia, yet many “slave ships proceed there annually, starting from Kilwa, and sailing round Zanzibar, on “ the eastern side of the island, to evade the'^Sultan’s police, and slaves are often smuggled “ to Arabia by the aid of a declaration that they are sailors.” Captain Burton states that in East Afiica “there are two forms of-this traffic, the export “ and the internal trade. For the former, slaves are collected like ivories throuohout the “ length and breadth of the land. They are driven down from the principal dépôts * * * * * * ^ to the ( oa®i b th “ Arabs ar.d Wasawahili merchants, who afterwards sell them in retail at the o-reat mart “ of Zanzibar.” ° ,Thc same gentleman, on the authority of Colonel Hamerton, computes the averaoe yearly import of slaves into Zanzibar at 14,000, the extremes heino- 9,000 and 20 000. Now, as the export of slaves from the late Imam’s Afi'ican dominions is prohibited under the severest penalties, can you inform me how the prohibition is evaded? Could the trade be carried on without the connivance of the local authorities on the coast, and elsewhere? If not, does his highness, the ruler of Zanzibar, take any measures to arrest it, by punishint^ sm h of his officers as are known to countenance it ? With regard to the case of the “Venus,” refilled to in your letter above quoted, Mr. M‘Leod, in his “Travels in Eastern ; “ Africa,”

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