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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67 ON SLAVE TRADE (EAST COAST OF AFRICA). Interior, and I would have that distinctly borne ^n mind ; that is in y own opinion and the opinion niany others who have the best means of of ^’^rining a judgment on the matter 943. That is to say, taking into account the n^es lost in warfare ?—Taking into account the hves lost in warfare, and in the famine that suc- ^^Gds, and those that are lost from the disease ^Idch always accompanies famine there ; I never Saw cholera break out, but I have seen a species dysentery sweep off whole villages at a bine. y 944. Brought about by want of proper food?— .^Gs, and the want of proper food has originated the disturbed state of the country ; drought '"'ill very often prevail for a long time in the Country, which, of course, aggravates the state things very much ; the yassa or Mahganja fribe are very timid, and they suffer exceed ingly. 945. Dr. Livingstone mentions one part of the Country which at one time he found well culti- ^^ted, and where a great quantity of cotton was gïown, and which on a subsequent visit he found ^htirely depopulated ?—Yes, that is the country am speaking of in which so great a change took place. Many of the Doctor’s statements have been discredited, but he is not a man to exaggerate in nny respect ; I know that contrary opinions about country have been stated, and it has been bjnted that he has coloured things rather too i^Jighly, but when I was there I had opportunities Seeing the remains of villages in all directions, Pc population of which had been entirely swept ^Way ; I have seen as many as three villages .lining in one morning within two hours, and I l^ave seen hundreds of captives carried a,way from ^hose villages. 946. The villages are set on fire, and, in the ^cnfuslon, the men, women, and children are ^^Ptured?—Yes. 947. M ithin what time did that change take P^ace from its being a flourishing cotton-growing ^cuutry to its being depopulated ?—In about two years. j .948. Do you remember in what year Dr. bivingstone saw it in its flourishing condition ?— fhink the Doctor came home to England and ^presented the flourishing state of affairs in 1859, We found the altered state of things in 1861 ; . inhabitants of that district were a very indus- ^^cus and intelligent race ; they had an immense ^^antity of iron all through the country ; coal was found there, and gold ; and copper taken away to the coast in the form of '"alachite. have been swept away ?—Entirely cpt away. I may say that the country was ^ftierly so thickly populated that you might b’aveiled for 70 or 80 miles, and have come a village at every two miles ; in many places Would have found a village at every half L ^ It is thoroughly well watered, and it is qJdly necessary in any case to take any precau- po^ water. Another proof of the great ^ Pulation in the hill country is this : that there game to be found at all, with the excep- y cf a few guinea fowl Sir R. AnstrutherS\ The consequence of ® depopulation is that all this land is lying ^—The Doctor, in one of his last letters to speaks of having to cross a tract of 120 miles Q they found not a human being of any kind. All this land that I am speaking of is perfectly swept of its inhabitants, and I have no hesitation in saying that every bit of this damage and misery has been caused by the slave trade. 951. ChairmanP\ Where are the slaves ob tained from now ?—The slaves are now brought from great distances in the interior. The belt of country between the Lakes and the East Coast is denuded of its inhabitants, and, therefore, they have to be brought from the west side of Lake Nyassa ; they are transferred across the lake in Arab dhows ; there are settlements of Arabs on both sides of the lake, and the Doctor in his travels has given very accurate accounts of the slave trade crossing the lake. 952. To what power are those Arabs subject ? —They are not subject to any one ; they are perfectly lawless; they have no master at all; the greater part of the slaves that go to Zanzibar now are brought from the vicinity of that lake, the great proportion of them from the west side of the lake, simply because the rest of the coun try is depopulated. 953. Of course the further the slave dealers haA e to go inland for the slaves, the greater the waste of life ?— The cheaper they are to buy, and the greater the loss of life there is in bringing them down to the coast. 954. You do not know anything as to what is going on now, I presume, except from the letters of Dr. Livingstone ?—I am in constant corre spondence with Dr. Kirk ; and I may state that Mr. Young, who went up to search for Dr. Livingstone in 1867, went through the greater part of the country I am speaking of, as far as the middle of Lake Nyassa, and according to his account the same state of things was going on at that time. I have since heard from more recent accounts that it is still going on, and, in fact, it must go on as long as slaves are exported from the East Coast. 955. Sir J. Hay.^ Are those slave dealers of whom you are speaking Portuguese subjects, or Arabs?—Most of them are Portuguese subjects ; some of them are Arabs. 956. Have the Portuguese Government no means of restraining them ?—I speak of things as they were ; I can only say that the Portuguese who were sent out there, were sent out to shift for themselves ; the Home Government did not wish to hear anything more of them, and the slave trade was never interfered with in any way except on paper. 957. Mr. J. Talbot,'I Did you accompany Dr. Livingstone on any j)art of his travels ?—Not as one of his expedition, I went out with Bishop Mackenzie, but I was with Dr. Livingstone, off and on, for nearly four years ; I joined him be cause we wished to save the lives of a great many of those poor meg and children who had been liberated by us, and the Doctor and myself were working together for that purpose for some time; eventually he sent me down to the Cape with them, and a great many of them are there at the present time. 958. Chairma7i.'] Have you any suggestion to offer to the Committee with the view of suppres sing the slave trade on the East Coast of Africa? —Having listened with much interest to the evidence which has been given here, I should like to suggest that which seems to me to be one very good plan, and which I think might be adopted. The suggestion has been made that vice consuls I 2 should Rev. H. Waller, 24 July 1871.

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