The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-06-10

inhabitants of which, together with their
cattle, they carry off" "Several
of these parties were sent out during our stay
in Bondoo, and, with one or two exceptions,
came off victorious-if the word can be made
use of with propriety in describing the ex.
ploits of horde of plunderers, whose Chief
object is, invariably, the obtaining Of slaves,
for whom they always fnd a market, either
with the travelling merchants of the countrv
or the Senegal vessels at Galam."
Captain Canot, modern slave dealer. in his
experience in the business, gives the manner
In which he acquired q boat load in an emer
gency, at the mouth of the Matican river coast
OF Guinea give an extract (page 228-'9l to
show the workings of those laws of property
which the common law has so kindly domiciled
among us: =
Next day we proceeded to formal business.
His Majesty called a regular palaver' of his
chiefs and headmen, before whom stated NV
ddnttcd, and announced the terms. Very
soon, several young folks we're brought for
sale, who, i am sure, never dreamed, at rising
from last nights sleep, that they we're destined
for Cuban Slavery. My merchandise revived
the memory of peccadilloes that had been long
forgotten, and sentences that were forgiven.
Jealous husbands, when they tasted my rum,
snddenly remembered their wives infidelities,
and sold their better halves for more of the
oblivious huid. In truth, was exalted into
magician, unroofng the village, and leaving
its crime and wickedness to the eve of ;ustice.
Law became profitable, and virtue never
reached so high price. Before night, the
town was in turmoil, for every man cudgel-
ed his brain for an excuse to kidnap his
neighbor, 80 as to share my commerce As
the village was too small to supply the entire
gang OF fifty, l had recourse to the neighbor-
ing settlements, when my bankers or agents
did their work in mastery manner. Traps
were adroitly baited with goods, to lead the
unwary into temptation, when the unconscious
'pilferer was caught by his ambushed foe and
an hour served to hurry him to the beach as
a slave forever. In fact, five days are stuff.
cient to stamp my image permanently upon
the Matican settlements, and to associate my
memory with anything but blessings in at
least fifty of their families"
Again, on page 1872, in speaking of the ma
tives amid the slave factories of the Gallinas,
the same author says
In proportion as these upstairs were educa-
ted IN slave trade under the influence Of opu.
lent factors, they greedily acquired the habit
of hunting their own kind, and abandoned all
other occupations but war and kidnapping
AS the country was prolific and the trade prof
liable, the thousands and tens of thousands
annually sent abroad from Gallinas soon be-
gan to exhaust the neighborhood; but the ap-
petite tor plumber was neither satiated nor
stopped by distance, when it became necessary
for the neighboring nations to extend their
forays and hunts far into the interior Ia a
few years, war ragged wherever the influence
of this river extended. The slave factories
supplied the huntsmen with powder, weapons,
and enticing merchandise, so that they fear.
lessly advanced against ignorant multitudes,
who, too silly to comprehend the benefit of
alliance, fought the aggressors singly, and, Of
course, became their prey"
This condition of property in man is &C
quired in Central and Eastern Africa by the
same process Of Lap " as in Western. Shiek
Mohammed, of Tunis, the great Mohammedan
traveller, described the slave expeditions of
Darfur and Wadai. For the full narrative,
must refer the curious student of African slave
law, if his philology is at fault in the original
Arabic, to De Perron's French version, or to
chapter nine of st. Johns English abridgment
OF the work. In those more regular and stable
Mohammedan Kingdoms, distinguished sub
ject is commissioned to raise gazwak, or slave
hunt, and becomes, for the time, the sultan of
his troop. This troop invades some Pagan com.
munity, named in the commission, sezes all
who can be found, occasionally hats to divide
and assign the spoils, continues the hunt till,
saiiated with robbery and blood, the chief drives
home his horde of human property, regularly
acquired under African law. If the obsti.
nate Pagans resist, of course they are slaugh.
tered without mercy; if, when surrounded, they
"yield without resistance, the sultan takes the
chief as prisoner, treats him honorably, gives
him dress, and afterwards liberates him; but
he seizes on all the grown men, the youths,
the women, and girls, leaving only the old PEG.
pie, and those who do not seem to be in state
to undergo the fatigues of a Journey" The
author narra.es, with becoming GOODNESS, the
horrors of these hunts; says that, from the fire.
quency of the commissions, the market would
be glutted, but that, from fatigue exposure, and
cruelty, but a small portion of the captives sur.
vive, and fewer still are able to reach Egypt.
About the same conjunction seems to be felt
by these hunters as by boat load of Nantucket
whalemen after their prey, or a troop of prairie
Indians in pursuit of buffalo, or a United
States marshal in chase of fugitive slave. Since
the destruction of the Egyptian market by TIE
fanatical folly" of the Turks in overtbrowing
the slave trade, these hunts are doubtless less
profitable; and, indeed, there is great danger
that, by the persevering efforts of Moslem and
Christian Europe, even Africa, the hitherto i'm
pregnable refuge of the idea of property in man,
may yield to the progress of Christian civilza.
ton. 1t may then be question whether this
law of property, after it shall have been over.
thrown in this, its most ancient and faithful
seat, will survive in those countries that have
thence derived it.
So in Bornou, Mr.. Denham, and more re-
Gently DR.. Barth, describe the manner in which
this "condition as property" is acquired
by men and women, according to the laws of
the State. 1t 30 closely resembles the methsd
described by the Mohammedan traveller, as to
induce me to believe that this State, as well as
others through which these gentlemen travel
led, acknowledge the same code and bow to the
same fundamental idea of property. Usually,
the execution of law is left to its minister at
least, strangers do not feel called on to enforce
it. But full examination has satisfied me that
"legal process upon the coast of Guinea may
be served as well by strangers as by members,
or even Ministers of State. / accordingly find
that, as commerce becomes dull, either from
deficiency in its staple or the means of pur-
chase, the foreign slavers, with the alacrity of
true law and order men, often lend themselves
to enforce the laws of the land. Thus, after
the manner of the native hunter, we find them
stealing by night upon some defenceless village,
and while the inhabitants are dreaming
of their pastimes and their loves, and some, es
pecialy those who feel the cares Of State, of the
coming hunt to supply the white mans ships
all are seizsd, bound, and driven to these ships !;
end the blaze of their empty dwellings, lights
the march that converts-and by methods long
sanctifed by African lava village of saw.
ages into cargoes of valuable property. This
method of conversion was more common when
the early captives, in their condition of prop