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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31 ON SLAVE TRADE (EAST COAST OF AFRICA). that were engaged in the slave trade, that came openly for the purpose of carrying away slaves ; out that if they came for the purposes of trade, he should leave them alone, because we had treaties with those people, and it would be our duty to protect them in their legitimate trade. 414. Would there be sufficient justification on the ground of alleged violation of the treaty for ooercing the Sultan to surrender his right to transport slaves from the coast ? — That is a o^atter for the Government to consider ; when late Sultan was about to die I called Seyed ^urgash to my house ; he was supposed to be a great fanatic, at least he pretended to be so ; and he did not like the English at all ; he had been engaged in a revolution against Seyed Majid before, and General Rigby had taken very strong Measures against him ; but when he came to me, ^nd was questioned with regard to his politics, and as to what he intended doing, he promised every thing ; he said he knew all about the demands* of the English Government with respect to the slave trade, and would do everything we required, and a^ucli more than Seyed Majid would have done. 1 inquired regarding the debts of his late brother to Ludda Damjee, who is one of our subjects, and he said he would take on himself the whole. After entering into a verbal arrangement, made ^n the presence of Dr. Kirk, he went away, and the very next day he denied everything, saying that he never made any arrangement at all. I think when a man breaks his faith in that way be should be called to account for it. 415. Has the late or present Sultan, to your knowledge, ever offered to sell or cede the island of Zanzibar?—No, never; he on one occa sion said, “ If you go so far as to demand the total abolition of slavery, and the carrying of slaves on my coast, you had better take the island away from me altogether.” But that did Hot mean that he would either give or sell it. 416. Would a free settlement on the coast tend to prevent the slave trade, do you think ?— t think so. 417. Where would you suggest it should be Established ? — I should think Monfia, to the ®Euth of Zanzibar, between Kilwa and Zan- ^^har, a very good place. 418. What would be the cost of protecting ®}ich a settlement?—It would not be very con siderable. I think it would pay itself in the Eoui’se of a few years ; you would have to have ^ governor there, I should say ; and 200 or 300 would protect the whole place ; it is a small island. , 419. Lord F. CavendishP^ Whom does it oelong to?—It belongs to the Sultan of Zan- ^ffiar. I do not think he would offer much difficulty to our securing it. 420. Chairman.~\ Would it be possible to pre- yERt the slave hunting in the interior; and, if so, how ?—Only by a decree from the Sultan ; that to say, that he should prevent his own subjects Tom engaging in that trade ; and it is generally his own subjects who go up country with mer chandise and set the negroes fighting against Each other for the purpose of obtaining slaves. 421. We have been told that most of the slave Raders come from Muscat, or from places in the north with which we have slave treaties ; could ^E not prevent the annual visits of these northern Arabs to Zanzibar?—We have treaties ^ith them that, so long as they carry on a legi- iRiate trade, we are to protect them in that 0.116. trade ; therefore when they go down in a proper way, for the purpose of carrying on a honaJide trade, I do not think we could or ought to pre vent them ; but, unfortunately, it so happens that they are almost all more or less engaged in the slave trade. They take down merchandise from Muscat, and return with a cargo of slaves. The Arab authorities on the coast of Arabia, with whom we have treaties, must necessarily take cognisance of this illicit trade, and they should be called upon to punish most severely those who engage in it. 422. Should we be justified in charging the Sultan of Muscat, or the chiefs in the Persian Gulf, with violating their Slave Trade Treaties, and in insisting upon them stopping their slave dhows from coming to Zanzibar ?—I do not think we should be justified in stopping all the dhows; every dhow is susceptible of being a slave dhow in the country ; there are not particular dhows for the purpose. 423. They are not particularly fitted up for the slave trade?—No; that idea has misled a good many people. On the West Coast of Africa there were vessels fitted out purposely for the slave trade, with slave decks, and everything else ; but on the East Coast there is no such thing. 424. Sir J. Hay.'] Then how is it possible for a slaver to be detected ?—That is the great diffi culty that is encountered by our men-of-war; when they first go to the East Coast of Africa they are liable to take almost every dhow for a slaver. 425. Without a certain amount of water butts and other fittings, I suppose ?—There are only two or three sizes of water butts. A small dhow may have a very large water tank, but that would not be a criterion of the dhow being a slaver ; they may require a great deal of water, and a tank, about a cubic yard, is not a very considerable size. 426. There are no special fittings, then, by which a vessel is supposed to be condemned ?— Most of the vessels that I would condemn would be those on which slaves were found on board, but the difficulty is in knowing a domestic slave from a slave that is for sale. The latter have particular marks on their heads when they come from Kilwa ; they are marked like sheep. A part of the hair is taken off, and if you see 20 or 30 of them marked in the same way, you may be quite sure that they are for sale. 427. Chairman^ Can you suggest any means to prevent those northern Arabs from engaging in the slave trade, while at Zanzibar on profes sional or commercial pursuits ?—The only means would be to have a good strong police force, but unfortunately the Sultan's troops are not very well in hand ; when I was there they were bribed right and left to allow the dhows to go. 428. Do you think that it would be imprac ticable to reconvey the slaves to their own homes in the interior?—It would be very difficult; many of the villages from which they came have been destroyed when they have been taken. Villages are destroyed, and children are kid napped, and the old are allowed to die on the spot, and if the liberated slaves were to return to their country, they would find nothing but deso lation there. 429. Would the establishment of such a free depot as the Foreign Office Committee suggested cost more than the 3,000 Z. a year, which is now D 4 paid Mr. H. A Churchillf C.B. 17 July 1871.

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