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  captured. ­

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  outthe
  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  interc^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  refo
  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  Burgash,
  rebelled  against  him,  and  no  doubt  the  Sultan ­
  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  instance ­
  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.