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.