68 
MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE SELECT COMMITTEE 
Rev. 
H. Waller. 
24 July 
1871. 
should he placed at different parts of the coast to 
watch the slave trade, and to aid the fleet, as they 
certainly would be able to do in a most valuable 
way. General Rigby thinks that it would be 
difficult to get men to undertake that office, on 
account of the unhealthiness of the coast, but I 
think that difficulty might be removed in a 
measure, by having what I have heard called a 
Floating-consul that is a consul who should 
have a yacht at his command, and who should ply 
between, say, Zanzibar and Madagascar ; he 
might spend some part of his time at Kilwa, 
and some part of his time in Mozambique 
harbour ; he might cross to Johanna, where a 
large slave trade is going on, and he might cruise 
along the coast of Madagascar if need be, though, 
perhaps that would be too large a field. At all 
events, I think the danger to a man’s life would 
be obviated by his being able to move about. 
To put a man in a very unhealthy place is not 
only likely to kill him in a short time, but it 
makes him non-efficient very quickly indeed. 
The result of two or three attacks of fever is 
very serious ; if the man is not moved away, he, 
in some cases, becomes morbid in his ideas, and, 
in other cases, he becomes exceedingly nervous. 
In some cases I have known men become really 
demented as long as they have been within the 
reach of the malaria that has made them ill. It 
is necessary, in that country, to be moving 
about. You may undergo any hardships as long 
as you move about, and are in active employ 
ment; but once be stationary in an unhealthy 
place (and there is no place so unhealtliy as a 
small Arab town), and your life is very much 
hazarded. I would add thaf I think there are 
also other advantages in such a plan. I think 
the slave dealers would then never know where 
to expect this officer ; he would be master of his 
own actions and movements much better than he 
would if he had to be dependent on calling upon 
a man-of-war to take him from one place to 
another. I do not think the expense of such a 
sei vice would be very great; it would be a 
popular service, and many men would be found 
who would enter heart and soul into it. 
959. Do not you think the same service could 
be performed by one of the fleet cruising about 
in the same way from poVt to port?—I think not 
so well, because I attach importance to the vice- 
consul being enabled to reside on shoie for a 
short time, by which means he would be able to 
obtain information which he otherwise could not 
obtain. The floating-consul might go to any of 
those ports, and remain a short time at them ; 
and then, without the necessity of asking any 
one’s leave, he might weigh anchor the next 
morning, and communicate with any of the fleet. 
960. Have you any other suggestion to make 
with a view to putting a stop to this slave trade ? 
— I will simply add this ; I have seen a good deal 
of the Arabs in the Comoro Islands, and other 
places, and I should certainly advise that we 
should deal with them with a strong hand in pre 
ference to any dallying wdth them ; I would put 
the utmost pressure upon the Sultan of Zanzibar 
at once ; I should show him that though we might 
be taking away from him shillings by stopping 
his slave trade, yet that the vast increase in the 
legitimate trade that there must be in the course 
of a few years would be putting back pounds 
into his pocket. He is now a beggar set upon 
horseback ; he is a man of enormous income ; 
and from what General Rigby has said, he is a 
man with whom I think strong action would have 
more effect than any paper w'arfare in the way 
of treaties, and so forth. 
961. You have probably seen a great deal to 
enable you to form an opinion as to what would 
be the increase of commercial intercourse if the 
slave trade w ere abolished ?—I know most of the 
merchants connected with the trade on the East 
Coast, and I get letters constantly from Dr. Kirk 
at Zanzibar ; I also know Dr. Steere, who has 
resided there some time, and Mr. Alington who 
was there ; I knew Mr. Thornton who was with 
Baron Von Der Decken ; and I have indirectly 
had very many opportunities of knowing how the 
trade of Zanzibar is increasing daily. 
962. Do you think that the merchants resident 
there are anxious to have the slave trade put a 
stop to?—I think they are certainly. When the 
northern Arabs come down with the monsoon to 
carry away the slaves to Arabia and the Persian 
Gulf, there is no security for the life of Europeans 
in Zanzibar, and if a better state of things were 
established, if safety could bo ensured, I am sure 
they would all be very glad. I cannot conceive 
that Europeans could have twm opinions about it. 
963. They are not themselves at all connected 
w ith the slave trade, are they ?—Kot at present. 
I cannot say that such was the case a few years 
ago. I know that a great commotion existed at 
Zanzibar, and also in the Comoro Islands, from 
the fact that Englishmen were very large em 
ployers of slave labour, but that has been put a 
stop to by the Foreign Office. 
964. \ ou think now there is a very general 
feeling among the merchants there that their 
interests .would be promoted by the suppression 
of the slave trade ?—I am sorry I cannot back 
my opinion by evidence upon that point, but 
there are gentlemen in this country (one gentle 
man especially whose house is connected with 
Zanzibar, a member of the firm of Wiseman and ' 
Company, one of the leading merchants there) 
who, I am sure, could offer you better information 
on the subject than I can. 
965. Mr. Crum-EwingCaptain Fraser had 
a large number of slaves, had he not?—Yes; the 
fact of Captain Fraser employing slaves led to 
everlasting murmuring on the part of the natives. 
One morning they wmuld see us burning the 
dhows which were engaged in the slave trade, 
and the next morning they would see an English 
man working factories and plantations with those 
slaves safely landed ; it was a question which 
puzzled far more acute people than they were. 
The same thing existed at the Comoro Islands ; 
it was a mere sham and delusion; the poor slaves ! 
were hired in gangs from their Arab master; tliR j 
Arab master was called in by the English em 
ployer, who, merely as a matter of form, said 
Now mind all these people are to be free • 
labourers on my plantation. I will hand over 
their wages to you. But, of course, they were 
not handed over. It was encouraging the slave 
trade. | 
966. Sir R. A7istriither.~\ As far as the slaves 
were concerned, they were as much slaves after 
the transaction as before ? Yes. 
967. Mr. Crum- Ewing.After they were 
manumitted, did not they remain with Colonel 
Fraser of their own accord?—I am not sure 
about that; I know at the time it was a oreat 
scandal. ^ 
968. Sit