54 
minutes of evidence taken before select committee 
20 July 
1871. 
tic slaves on board, would in your opinion account 
L. Or. Heath, for a great number of these at present unaccounted 
for?—No, I think not; because till November 
1869, dhows having domestic slaves on boards had 
always been captured. 
707. In 1868, 66 dhows were captured, while 
in 1869 only 32 were captured ; but if this order 
did not come till November 1869, it would not 
have any bearing upon that decrease ?—No ; the 
larger number of captures in the earlier year was, 
because in the previous year the slave dealers had 
been left alone, owing to the Abyssinian War. 
708. There is a large diiference between those 
captured and those who appear from the Custom 
House returns to have been exported, and which 
are unaccounted for in any way ?—Yes. 
709. Sir R. Anstrutherr\ What means have you 
of distinguishing domestic slaves on board a dhow 
from any other slaves?—The Admiralty in that 
circular have laid down as a definition of what are 
to be considered domestic slaves, “ where the 
slaves found on board are very few in number, 
are unconfined, and appear to be on board for the 
purpose of loading or working the ship, or at 
tending upon the master or the passengers, and 
there is no other evidence that the vessel is en 
gaged in or equipped for the slave trade.” 
710. I may take it as your view that the action 
of this circular to which you have referred has 
been more or less to impede the squadron in the 
capture of slaves?—If you put it in the future 
tense it will have that efiect very largely, I 
think. I should like to quote, as illustrating 
my views on that point, a portion of my annual 
Report of 22nd January 1870 (it is in the Cor 
respondence for the year 1870): “On the 6th 
November, their Lordships issued ‘ Instructions 
for tiie Guidance of Naval Officers employed in 
the Suppression of the Slave Trade-’ Those in 
structions forbid the detaining of vessels having 
slaves on board, if there are attendant circumstan 
ces showing that the slaves are not being trans 
ported for the purpose of being sold as slaves; and 
there is added, as an example of the nature of 
those cireumstances, Where the slaves found on 
board are very few in number, are unconfined, 
and appear to be on board for the purpose of 
loading or working the ship, or attending upon 
the master or the passengers, and there is no other 
evidence that the vessel is engaged in, or equipped 
for, the slave trade.’ I believe that, just as it is 
said a drunkard can only be cured by total absti 
nence, so the slave trade by sea can only be put 
down, if at all, by a rigid forbidding of the carry 
ing to sea of any slaves of any description. As I 
have before remarked, even what is called a 
domestic slave is not only a saleable article, but 
an article \\ hich is very often sold ; and the re 
turn of those embarked to the port thev originally 
left depends solely upon whether or no a good 
oiler has been made for them at the ports they 
have visited in the interval.” 
711. Chairman.'] Seeing that the fleet* you 
have had under your command is not sufficient 
to prevent the escape of a very large proportion 
of the slaves exported, has your attention been 
directed to any measures which might be adopted 
to prevent the continuance of the slave trade ?— 
In answer to your question, I will quote part of 
my letter dated 1st March 1869, addressed to the 
Secretary of the Admiralty, in the Blue Book, 
containing the correspondence of 1869 : I ob 
serve that it is not unusual to close these reports 
with an expression of hope that the heavy blows 
which have been dealt at the trade during th& 
past year, will go far to check it for the future- 
I can express no such hope. The trade is fat 
too profitable, and will not be affected by a risk 
so small as that incurred by the proceedings of 
Her Majesty’s ships. It supplies a want which 
has not been left unsatisfied for many centuries 
past ; a want which, sanctioned by the relio-ioU 
of the country, has grown almost into an instinct. 
To pant down this trade, requires far more effort, 
and far more energy than England has yet shown 
in the matter. Twenty-five years have elapsed 
since the first treaty with Muscat, and all that 
time we have been contented with the capture of 
a very small per-centage of the total exports ; a 
per-centage large enough to irritate the legal 
traders, who are harrassed and annoyed bv the 
visits of our cruisers, but too small to affect 
materially the illegitimate trade, ^Ye must do 
far more than this to insure success. We must 
double or treble our squadron. lYe must esta 
blish vice consulates at the ports of export, but 
above all, we must force the Government of 
Zanzibar into active acquiescence in our views, 
and, if necessary, purchase or take possession of 
that island.” In subsequent letters urging the 
same view, I have altered this last sentence, 
and said, “ purchase the sovereignty of the 
island.” ^ 
712. Is that the only thing that occurs to you 
as a means of putting' a stop to the trade ?—I 
think that if a treaty is made in the sense of 
Lord Clarendon’s proposals to Mr. Churchill 
(page 30, Correspondence of 1870), if that part of 
the existing treaty which is supposed to alloW 
domestic slavery afloat is abrogated, and if the 
squadron is increased so as to make it difficult 
to evade that treaty when made, we shall have 
a chance of success; but I still hold that the 
only radical cure will be the making Zanzibar a 
centre from which British civilisation can radiate 
into that part of Africa 
713. You mean becoming actually possessed 
of it as being a colony of Great Britain?—Yes. 
714. Or a protected state ?—That is a matter 
for the Foreign Office to determine. 
715. Zanzibar is not a very healthy place, is 
it? Zanzibar is undoubtedly an unhealthy place, 
but I do not know that it is more so than many 
other tropical colonies or English settlements. 
716. We heard of its being im%)ossible to sleep 
out of the town?—Bishop Tozer has a sort of 
missionary school superintended by two or three 
English ladies, and he has two or three clergy 
men with him. I know he has a farm-house three 
miles outside Zanzibar, and my belief is that that 
is considered a sort of sanatorium. Captain 
Fraser, an Englishman, who has a large sugat 
manufactory, goes out to his estate as a sort of 
change, when he wants fresh air, and I was sur 
prised to hear the accounts given by General 
Rigby of the extreme deadliness of the climate. 
/17. Are you able to give us any information 
as to the ^ nealthmess of those parts of the coast 
where it is proposed that vice consuls should be 
stationed . — The only fact I know as to that is, 
that a Ml. Heale, an Englishman, engaged in the 
purchase of hides at Brava, lived there for some 
nmnths, and I never heard that he was seriously 
affected by the climate. 
718. Have you read the Report of the Com 
mittee which sat at the Foreign Office?—Yes, I 
read it, and I was called upon officially to report 
upon it. 
719. Is