The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-19 00:00:00

English Captives in Africa.

A painful interest has lately been excited by the
publication of narratives whichwarrant a belief that
a number of Englishmen have been for more than
10 years past, and probably some of them still are,

held as captives by the barbarous native tribes of
Eastern Africa, whose cruelty and treachery were

exemplified in the murder of the Belgian traveller,
Baron Von der Decken, who a few months since

met his death at the hands of the Somali tribe.

The subject to which we have now to call the at-
tention of our readers is very painful, not only on

account of the numerous sufferers themselves, bit'

also by reason of the prolonged anxieties, uncer-
taixties, and suspense which have been endured by
their relatives in this country. The facts are these :
—ln June, 1855, a ship called the St. Abbs, while on
a voyage from London to Bombay, struck on the

island of San Juan de Nuova, off the eastern coast of

Africa. In attempting to launch them all the boats ex

eept onewere sw;mped. The remaining boat was taken
by the captain and two of the crew, who landed on
the island, where they were afterwards joined by one
of the passengers, who swam ashore (another being
drowned in the attempt), and by two others of the
crew. The remainder of the crew. numbering with

four young cadet passengers, 26 in all, continued
on board the dismasted ship which, after, hanging

on the reef for two days, disappeared iu the course

of one night, and was reported by the survivors on
the island to have broken up. It afterwards, how-
ever, became known that the hull of the St. ebbs
had gone to pieces on the island of San Juan de

Nuova, but had been swept off by the current and

had drifted to the coast of Africa near Alagdesho

where she was boarded.by the natives, who possessed
themselves of everything on the wreck. A great
many articles known to have been on board the St.
Abbs were afterwards brought to Zanzibar and dis-

posed of by the natives of lqagdesho. The St. Abbs
was taking out Government stores, and among the
articles brought for sale were light infantry bugles,

cases of surgical instruments, &c., all containing
the Government mark, also boxes of books, ivory
billiard balls (the St. Abbs was taking out. several
billiard tables), surveying instruments, officers'

epaulettes, &c. As the wreck occurred at the sea-
son when vessels all go north from the coast of
Africa, most of the articles recovered were conveyed
to the Red Sea and Persian Gulf to be disposed of,
and only those articles for which there was no sale
in native markets were brought to Zanzibar to be
disposed of among the European residents. No cause
for doubting that those on board the vessel had
perished with her was entertained until four years
later, when reports reached Ceylon and the Mauri-
tius that a number of Englishmen were in captivity
somewhere on the coast of Africa. Colonel Rigby,
who was then consul at Zanzibar, instituted in-

quiries, which convinced him that the hull of the
St. Abbs had been driven ashore near Magdesho,
and the persons on board had been captured by
the :Abghal Somalis and carried into the in-
terior. Colonel Rigby learnt that a caravan of
pilgrims to Mecca from Magdesho had seen seve-
ral white prisoners at one place, but upon arriving
at Jeddah the pilgrims found that the British Con-
sul and all the Christians had been murdered, so
that there was no means of forwarding intelligence
to Europe, but they mentioned the circumstances to
pilgrims from Ceylon and the Mauritius, through
whom they were made known to the British autho-
rities. The Governor of the Mauritius issued a
proclamation in various languages offering a reward
of £lOO for each white prisoner who should be re-
stored, and a native of Magdesho, who had himself
been on board the wrecked ship, incited by the re-
ward, started for the interior, but was stopped and
imprisoned at Lamoo. This circumstance is with
great force urged by those interested in the subject
as strong evidence of the truth of the statement that
white men were actually kept prisoners in the inte-
rior. From information obtained by Col. Rigby at
Zanzibar there appears no doubt that the survivors
of the St. Abbs were divided into two parties--one
of which was taken a long distance into the interior,
and the other, consisting of three persons, was kept
by the Abghal tribe of Somalis, not far from Mag-
desho. Attention has recently been called to this
subject from the cir:duemsotantoce
zathantziababr, which had
b hidead
Magdesho brought from Ma
br
ieveend purchased
the from
interior, a
lair
aasv af no Solis,uonfd tom
havea
several
English letters carved on it. The man who had pur-
chased the hide put it aside, and on his arrival at
Zanzibar took it to Messrs. Oswald and Sons, who
gave it to Col. Playfair, the British Consul. Ile
further stated that he had seen other hides with let-
ters cut on them. Those letters were, no doubt, carved
by one of the captives, perhaps in the faint hope
of their meeting
Rigby, who the eye of some European. Colonel
recentlyefroeradthaeveirtyoyiani Geographical
gphaipeear
upon the subject h
l
e
Society, states that the part of Africa inhabited by
these Somali tribes is very
salubrious and fertile.
The natives possess large
herds of cattle and the
hides are brought to Zanzibar for sale. There is
communication with this part of Africa from Zcvla
and Berbera on the Gulf of Aden. The Oghaden
caravan to the great annual fair at Berbera tra-
verses a great part of the country to the banks of