ON SLAVE TRADE (EAST COAST OF AFRICA). 
23 
slave trade ?—I think the Arabs do not under 
stand forbearance at all ; they put it down to 
inipotency ; they think you are not in a position 
fo insist upon anything, and they misunderstand 
motive ; in iny opinion, the best plan would 
have been to have adopted strong measures 
towards the Sultan, and to have forced him to a 
certain extent. 
300. What sort of strong measures do you 
î’efer to ?—One would be to curtail his income, 
yhich we can very well do. Our British sub 
jects have been in the habit for a long course of 
years, of paying an export duty of 5 per cent, on 
produce from the coast, coming to Zanzibar. The 
Sultan has a perfect right of levying octroi duty 
CR the coast, and to facilitate matters ; as the 
CRstom-house officer is an Indian, he insists upon 
^he Indians, who are the people who carry on 
l-his trade, paying him at Zanzibar the 5 per 
cent., instead of getting it paid inland. If 
the Hindoos were told that they would -no 
longer he obliged to pay this, I do not think 
the Sultan would be able to raise the money, 
^Rd it is a considerable sum ; something like 
36,000 dollars. I think by our supporting 
the Hindoos in refusing to pay that, we should 
bring the Sultan to his bearings immediately ; he 
would see we could do him a great deal of harm, 
and he would, in order that we should not do 
him that harm, come to terms with regard to the 
slave trade. 
appears 
that we 
the im- 
amount 
Then, 
301. Have you any information as to the 
amouRt of trade at Zanzibar, and the probability 
^1 increase in it ?—I have looked into the returns 
sent by Dr. Kirk, from which it appears that 
^10,000 dollars is paid by Jairam Sewji as the 
farmer of the revenue, and it further 
b’om the table of imports at Zanzibar, 
have 2,055,954 dollars as representing 
ports ; 5 per cent, on that, which is the 
levied, would come to 100,000 dollars 
CR the other side, we have the exportations ; the 
fötal amount is 1,527,800 dollars, but out of this 
you have to take 100,000 dollars for copal which 
PRys a special duty, 2,400 dollars for hippopota- 
^^Rs teeth, 663,600 dollars for ivory, and also 
‘b,Ooo dollars for slaves, that amount repre 
senting the value of the slaves. Altogether the 
^ductions which would have to be made from 
fhe amount I have given, namely, 1,527,800, 
^euld reduce it to 792,900 dollars, on which 
^ per cent, is paid, making 36,780 dollars, 
•hhis, added to the amount received from the 
copal, which is 20 per cent., would make 20,000 
dollars more ; add to this the amount received 
rom ivory, which is about 12 dollars per frasilah, 
^ Would make an addition of 132,700 dollars, 
altogether amounting to 289,000 dollars in- 
? Cud of 310,000. Evidently, from this calcu- 
ation, Jairam Se’wji, who is the farmer of 
Re customs, has not put down the amount at its 
proper value ; he has reduced it considerably ; 
e must make a profit, no doubt, out of the busi- 
Ress, and if you put it down at 400,000 dollars, it 
Would show that the importations and exporta- 
lons of Zanzibar are at least one-third more 
îRan they have been represented. 
. your idea as to the increase of 
rallie in the event of the abolition of the slave 
® f think it would increase considerably 
Ri the course of time, but it would depend on the 
auRer in which the abolition was carried out. 
g ^'°}\Rffempted to suppress the slave traffic by 
sudden stroke, the immediate effect would 
tl*116. 
be to decrease the trade of Zanzibar, but if it 
were done gradually I do not think it would 
decrease the trade much, and in the course of 
time it would increase it considerably.. 
303. There is a certain slave trade recognised 
as legal, viz., the slaves wanted for the service of 
Zanzibar proper?—For Zanzibar and the coast. 
304. Are there 1,700 required for the pur 
poses of Zanzibar ?—In my opinion, that amount 
is too small ; I think that it is more than that ; I 
would say 3,000 or 4,000 ; when I was there, 
between 17,000 and 18,000 were imported in the 
year. 
305. Whatever the number may be that is 
required for service in Zanzibar, it is only the 
traffic in slaves required for that purpose that 
our treaties eountenance ?—Our treaties do not 
go into those details ; they merely say we will 
not interfere in the transport of slaves from one 
end of the Sultan’s dominions to the other, from 
Kiliva to Lamoo; but what we protest against 
and forbid in the treaty is the carrying of slaves 
from the coast of Africa to the coast of Arabia. 
306. If you carry them from the coast of 
Africa to the coast of Arabia via Zanzibar, is not 
that as clearly a breach of the treaty as anything 
else?—Yes, undoubtedly. 
307. Is not it obvious, if there is only a cer 
tain small number of slaves required annually 
for the service of Zanzibar, that the large pro 
portion of those that are proved to be shipped 
from Africa to Zanzibar are so shipj)ed for 
the illegal traffic?—Yes, only the Sultan and 
the people of Zanzibar would never acknowledge 
that they require a limited number of slaves at 
Zanzibar; they are all interested in the slave 
trade ; I think the Sultan indirectly is interested 
in it too. For instance, his relations with Mus 
cat induce him to favour the northern Arabs ; 
not only does he favour them by allowing them 
in an underhand manner to take away the slaves, 
but he sends them large presents amounting to 
something like 40,000 dollars a year. 
308. You say that you think the requirements 
of Zanzibar would be from 3,000 to 4,000 slaves ? 
—Yes. 
309. Large numbers of slaves are sent to the 
north ?—Large numbers are sent to the north 
of the Sultan’s dominions during the season when 
the carrying of slaves is allowed, and they are 
there kept in readiness by the inhabitants to be 
shipped off to the north, and as soon as the season 
comes round, the northern Arabs transport them 
to Arabia. 
310. Are the hardships to which they are sub 
jected very great ?—They are very considerable ; 
I have witnessed them myself ; the slaves are 
starved while they are on board. I was in 
the “ Daphne” when there were about 325 
liberated slaves taken, and 11 of them died before 
we reached Zanzibar; that was only eight or 10 
days’ voyage ; they died from shear starvation ; 
the captain and the crew of the Daphne ” took 
the greatest care of them, and tried to bring 
them round ; the doctor used to visit them every 
day, but he could do nothing, they had become 
so much reduced. 
311. Viscount Enfield.'] Were they in that 
condition before they were shipped?—No, I do 
not think so ; they had not been shipped very 
long ; they had been taken on the coast be 
tween the northern limit of the Sultan of Zan 
zibar’s dominions and Brava on the Equator, be 
yond the dominions of the Sultan of Zanzibar, and 
C 4 that 
Mr. 
Churchill. 
13 July 
1871.