Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1858-10-01
From the New 7 Ork Post.
The Slave Trade of the Red Sea.

ders will be- to learn that while England has been COM
passing and land to suppress the traffic in slaves
the west coast of Africa she is open to the suspicion Of
connyng at the traffic in its most barbarous and revo
ting forms the other side of that continent. We
learn from entirely authentic sources that for the last
twenty-five years the English mail steamers have shared
the navigation of the Red Sea with smaller craft pro-
PEELED by huge latteen sails, which ply between Bah ell
Mandeb and Ras Mahamed loaded with the kidnapped
orphans of murdered parents.
Some five thousand Children we are advised are an
nuay brought to the Red Sea coasts and sod by the
Christian and MOhammedan Abyssnians in exchange
for foreign commodities. The great majority of these
slaves are girls of the interesting and weavored tribe
of the Gaas who nhabt the country to the southwest
of Abyssina.
As the Damakis and the Somauli form a considera-
BILE colony in the port of Alden, and English cruisers
for the protection of commerce. are constantly met with
between Taurra Bay and Mete, the slave trade from
Taurra and Zeyah and Berbera in the Somauli terri
tory has been rendered almost impossible and the ira
ders compelled to take crcuitous route to Masso
nah where the Turkish government, in spite of the
Transmata decree against the slave trade, adopted
thirty months since-sanctiOns the inhuman traffic
by levying per capita duty, after payment Of which,
and small to the governor, or kaimaku, the slave
be transported to Arabia without let hindrance.
One half the import duties in Massonah and Souakin
paid by slave dealers
1t is also susceptible of proof that some three thou
sand negro children are annually introduced into Arabia
from the Suahei coast. The duty upon negro and Gal
Ia slaves brought into the Arabian ports is not uni
form for instance in Lohea 81 cents per head is char
eed for the former, and So 80 for the latter while in
Jeddah twelve per cent ad Ualorem is exaced
The Egyptian authorities have always been indulgent
in enforcing laws against the slave traffic. and have suf
tered vessels from Jeddah to land their human cargoes
at deb Tor whence they could be transported without
difficulty overland to Cairo. At any season. almost,
the traveller in Upper Egypt may meet cargoes of slaves
coming down the Nile from Chartoum The disturb
ances occasioned by the continued transit of slaves
through Thor, however, finally compelled the Egyptian
authorities to interfere and the consequent return of
era cargoes to Jeddah caused sudden decline of one
third in the price Of slaves.
Neither in Egypt on the coast of Abyssinia"
writes intelligent correspondent of the Augsburg All
gemeine Zeitung, " did ever see young in the
hands of the slave dealers; the Mohammedans on the
Red Sea not requiring slaves for labor but simply to
crafty their lusts, and to wait upon them with their
chbouks and coffee. Girls who have not attained the
age of puberty bring half than after they have
reached that period, when they termed balia and
youths of eighteen or twenty positively unsaeable.
fair skin and straight hair enhance the value of the
girls. Gala girls of lightbrown compilations and smooth
hair although they have the reputation of being proud
and unyieding are held at the highest prices
The slave trade the Red Sea is exclusively in the
hands of the Hadram merchants who are enterprsing
and adventurous. One finds them in the principal mar
kes of the English and Dutch Indies well as in the
Turkish empOriums Of the Mediterranean. Like the
Savoyards and the Auvergnats the love of hcme is no
less strong with the Hadram than the desire to acquire
wealth. and they are parsmOnlOus to degree. TO them
the anatcism and dislike Of foreigners SO conspicuous
among the Arabs of the Red Sea- Justly chargeable
their object being to prevent Greeks and Franks from
entering into competition with them in their
kes.
Hadramaut was, according to tradition the home of
the antediluvian fathers, and the inhabitants still show
the stranger the grave of one of these pararchs whom
they call Huth. The Hadrami allow neither Franks
mn to Cntp nd will
temporarily in any country or city under the govern
ment of these hated foreigners. he Hadram, like all
Arabs, marry early, and 60 abroad without leav
ing behind domestic hearth to welcome them on his
return. OF course, it will not do for the Hadram grass
widower to bring children wives with him from a.
broad bence in order to crafty his passions without
endangerng his domestic peace, embarrassing his nan
ces or violating bis religious notions be has to
the slave trade
The Hadrami as well as the Abyssinian slavedealers
treat their victims women when they have attained
their eighth year. They do not keep possession of them
long, however for fear OF depreclatlng their value and
thus these unhappy creatures passed from
another from port to another, until at length
at the age of WomanhoOd their ruin is complete and
they fall into the hands of the Turks OF the seapors
where their wanderings cease and death prematurely
ends their degraded career.
The negro children brought from the Suahei coast
chiefly bought for their labor they do not fare
the Galas, are ted the remains of the frugal Arab
meals and subjected to frequent and severe coporea
punishments
The journey from Zanzibar to Jeddah in which the
trade wind in the Indian is encountered, usually
occupies month and half. The wretched diet, and
the cool nights which prevail towards the end OF the
Journey produce darrhea and cutaneous diseases with
which smallpox is very often allied The slave dealers
estimate the loss the journey at onethrd of the
60 The average cost of negro child on the Suaheli
coast is ST. which is increased by mortality at to
80 5O the expense during the voyage, including food
which consists Of coarse durrha bread and dried fish,
about 81 So the duty in Jeddah amounts to twelve
per cent, or S. so commissions 20 CENTS and other
expenses 10 making the total cost of the dealer
in Jeddah SIC 80. The average price of sound ne
the cargo usually brings less in consequence of having
been damaged on the voyage" Thus it will be per-
ceved that under fortunate circumstances this nhuman
traffic yields profit Of fifty ger cent. Twenty years