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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43 CN SLAVE TßADE (EAST COAST OF AFRICA). the slave trade ; they used to have splendid ^6ssels come out ; no expense was spared, and a large amount of capital was embarked in he trade; that was a great deal checked, and the last year that I was at Zanzibar, out six vessels that were sent out from a certain house at Marseilles, five were either lost or cap tured. 544. Was there at that time any considerable ^^de carried on by the Arabs?—Yes, but not to ®Y^h an extent as now, because the French out- the Arabs very much ; they eould afibrd to a larger price for the negroes than the Arabs could. d45. What was the price of a slave at that at Zanzibar ?—Whilst the French were haying them, I should say the price of a full 8^0wu slave was from 30 to 40 dollars. 546. That gave a very large profit to the ^ller of the slave to the French, did it not?— t-es. 547. To what extent was the Arab slave trade Carried on while you were there ?—I think the ®Ccond year after I was there I got the returns the Custom House, which showed that it ^as 19,000. 548. That included all, I suppose ? —Those ^^cre the slaves which passed the Custom House Y Zanzibar, and which were supposed to be kept, they had obeyed the treaties within the Zan- ^bar dominions, but probably at the very lowest ^®tiinate, three-fourths of those were sold to the ^^^thern Arabs. g 549. Xot to the French? — No; the late ^Itan was always very fair ; he was himself y^^y anxious to put a stop to this French slave ^ade in his dominions, and he remonstrated con- ®^autly with the French ; but he said, what can do when they send their slave vessels with ^cu-of-war ; if I attempt to interfere, the French „ cnsul immediately threatens me with the inter- c^ence of his Government. d50. Did the Sultan derive the same profits oui the slaves carried by French vessels, as from .,c others?—He derived no profit at all from them. d5l. JJis only profit was from those carried by northern Arabs?—Yes, those that passed the t^stom House at Zanzibar. 552. Where did the French take them from ? ^■^11 parts of the coast. They used to send Kcuts to the Island of Zanzibar also, and have ' .®tn collected and taken to the back side of the ® ^nd which is almost uninhabited ; where there ho roads and no huts, and have them shipped ®ccretly from there. g d3. Was the Sultan equally honest with re- fo the slaves carried by the northern Arabs ? . 5; he was afraid of the northern Arabs,they of his own race ; I have intercepted letters ^ ^ .his own nearest relatives sending orders to of describing the exact number and sexes gg c slaves they required, just as if they were dmg orders for horses to be shipped, horiif’ besides any fear he might have of the Pi’ofl Arabs, he would be deprived of the Y on the slaves by putting down the trade ? pas because a tax is paid upon the slaves dol^^^ the Custom House. At that time it was a the per head, and I think in 1860 he increased by 1 to two dollars. On all slaves imported ^^It^^ own family no tax is paid, so ^5inb^ ‘^oes not get a revenue upon 0-1% that the the whole 555. Were you called upon to remonstrate much with the Sultan as to the continuance of the trade notwithstanding our treaties with him ? —During the whole of the four years I was there I was perpetually remonstrating with him. His attitude towards us depended a great deal upon the state of eircumstances in which he happened to be in at the time. When he was in want of our assistance he would act very fairly, and do anything I wished, at other times, when he thought there was no danger of rebellion, he would not. 556. What was the sort of assistance whieh he expected to obtain from us ?—Whilst I was there, his brother, the present Sultan, Syed Bur- gash, rebelled against him, and no doubt the Sul tan would have lost his life and the whole of his dominions would have been in a state of anarchy, had not he given me sole authority over the town to do what I liked. Fortunately I got assistance from a man-of-war which happened to be at the time in the harbour, and I went and seized the present Sultan, who had hidden himself in his house in the town, and I made him prisoner, and sent him to Bombay. At that time the Sultan would do anything ; but after the danger had passed he gradually relaxed ; he became very much annoyed by the more active proceedings of our cruisers, and at last he got into a very bad temper, and would not assist us in any way. 557. At that time was it your opinion that he had some reason to complain of the proceedings of our eruisers ?—In very few instances. Great complaints were made, but, when investigated, it turned out in almost every case that the Arabs were instigated by the French or other foreigners who viewed our interference with the slave trade with the greatest dislike and jealousy. 558. We had no assistance from the French ships?—Quite the reverse. Previous to my arrival in Zanzibar, I had not known of any in stance of a slaver being captured in the Zanzibar territories by any of our cruisers ; certainly no captures took place for six years before that. After that our cruisers were very active indeed, and a great many slavers were taken, particularly northern Arab dhows. As nothing had been done previously to my arrival, of course the Sultan and all the Arabs considered that the activity of our cruisers was owing to my personal action, and they had the idea that when I left the whole thing would drop. 559. Did the seizures by our cruisers give any considerable check to the trade?—Very great ; so much so, that I found, when I was leaving Zanzibar in October 1861, that on the coast north of Zanzibar slaves were selling for five dollars a piece ; the sale of them had become so difficult then that the men who had bought them at Zanzibar and taken them north, with a view to shipping them to Persia and Arabia, were glad almost to give them away ; they found sueli difficulty in getting rid of them. 560. Is the profit of the trader who buys slaves at Zanzibar and on the coast adjoining Zanzibar, and exports them to the Bed Sea, very large ?— Apparently it is very large, that is to say, a slave sold in the market at Zanzibar for, say 20 dollars, would be resold in Muscat for 60 to 100 dollars, but the mortality during the sea passage is so very great that it very mueh reduces the profit. 561. What occasions that very great mortality ? —The way they pack the slaves in those small dhows ; the want of proper food ; the state of filth they are in ; the want of water ; and if they F 2 happen. Maj. Gen. C. P. Mxghy^ 20 July ,1871.

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