The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-10-06
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE TRADE
IN AFRICA -

N teccnt IhNeleI III AiIlcdJ aul ID. uu
Chaillu, young French gentleman, who, we
believe, has become a naturalzea citizen of
ahis country, furnishes the New York Tribune
with the following interesting account of sla-
very and the Slave Trade in Africa:
Domestic Slavery.
Domestic Slavery exists among those tribes
Of Africa which / have visited but is of a mild
orm. The slave is well treated, and is not
S,verworked, as he has almost nothing to do,
griculture being nearly unknown. He is con-
,yidered as member Of the family of his master,
partakes of his joys and of his troubles, and
goes to war with him, if war there be.
: Wealth among these Africans consists of
wives and slaves. These are considered the
necessary attendants of fortune, and form the
ttortege of a man of rank. A master will con-
1ult his slaves in many things, and when de-
iring anything from them, his orders are given
n such way that they are glad to help him
4ho has often helped them, and who has many
Zines before settled their pdlarers.*
The domestic slave is not generally sold for
he slave market, unless he has infringed the
avs, or become Indifferent to the welfare of his
Easter, and this is but seldom the case. The
hildren of slaves are free, and CONSEQUENTLY
Fflavery is not entaied upon them from gen.
ration to generation.
The slave looks up TO his master, and learns
70 consider him as his father, and always calls
gim so. he has no one else on whom he can
Gan IN case of trouble, or on whom he can rely
IN the hour of trial. Being stranger and with
tut master, he would often be subject to a
multitude of palavers, which would soon make
i'm victim to the foreign slave trade.
The government Of the multitude of villages
md little tribes scattered almost all over Africa
,mong the heathenish tribes, is patriarchal with
Jew exceptions. Not only the slave, but also
Sae free man, puts himself under the patronage
i some man of power, that he may have some
lSne on whom to lean when trouble comes upon
kim.
:. l have often seen master who. when his
caves we're condemned to be sold, would pay
Two or three other slaves, bought for the foreign
2 arket, rather than sell one whom he has held
- domestic, or whom he received by way of
ssheritance.
But notwithstanding this seeming equality
between the master and his servants there is
10 close observer, vast difference between
S9e free blood and those descended from slaves
@he latter, though the children of several free
generations, have the stain of Slavery upon
tlem, even if the chiefs of villages. In that
case, however, the village must be made up of
those who are also slave-descended, as one of
I-OI
From those of the pure free blood the head
olleis are always chosen, even where the popu.
lehon of the descendants of slaves is ten times
Lore numerous than the free, which is the case
= several tribes among which have travelled
rsIhere Is but one tribe-that is the Mpongwe-
~ which slaves only are put to death for the
penalty of witchcraft, while the free are EXEMPT
f1om it. In this tribe, also, slaves are some
times killed at the death of person of quality
Is honor of his memory.
suppose that one of the main reasons why
SSe masters do not treat their slaves harshly is
because OF the singular custom or law of Mbon-
go, or Mbongon, which is simply this: When a
save IS dissatisfied with his master, be may go
L any other man he chooses, and, laying his
tao hands upon his head claim protection.
Che man who is thus appealed to is Obliged TO
9Sve the succor prayed for, and keep the sup
Eilant as one of his own slaves No objection
Can be urged, and no palaUer can be made, by
tie master.
There Is also the fear Of witchcraft, which
t.feps not only the master in check, but even
t3e chief. They are restrained from acting too
tarshiy by the fear of being bewitched by the
Injured party.
:, Tins domestic slavery exists in all that part
q Africa just south of the equator, and few
e3grees north of it. But there is no foreign
save trade among these tribes, and think,
H7ver has been, probably because they have no
EngIe hing with power enough to establish it.
The Foreign Slave Trade.
l come, may say almost with tears, to the
freign slave trade for the market of the white
Ian.
Poor, down-trodden Africa when will the
S-yilized world cease to send its vessels to buy
e,y people2 When will this most abominable
tathc cease? When will humanity triumph
Ger the love of gain2 When will the nations
g the earth unite together, and listen to the
sizes of thy wOes2 When will they understand
~ sorrows of %retchedness we heap upon
See? ?
2 We know not nor can conceive Of the misery
which is visited on poor, benighted Africa, I'M
Lsss we 60 among the numberless tribes which
I,keople its shores. But cannot doubt, that if
t,e civilized world could see how great that
Nretchedness is there is Christianity enough
Sfd philanthropy enough to end it, If the voice
= one who has been lonely traveller and
vanderer among them can help but feebly, by
telling the miseries he has seen, and which have
| Eeen occasiOned by the foreign slave trade, he
lill be too glad to be able to render that ser
r,ce.
!. Go anywhere along the shores of Africa, and
enc is sure to see, wherever the slave trade has
E3en carried on, natives who form the worst and
sSost wretched population. There is more
Drunkenness than elsewhere more trouble of
e9ery sort, more Indebtedness, lower moral
lsS, more crime, more iniquity, than is ever
seen in any other tribe. 1t is easy to under:
sand this. The slave dealer arrives with his
carCOpS Of RIM and M un01a - he
u keep, should say almost all the time, the
eople in a state of drunkenness, that he NAV
lave power over them, and that they NAV carry
| U their Ubiquitous traffic without scruple.
| 80 Tor years 1t goes on, until the conscience
| cf the natives is perfectly obliterated We all
| now that the Africans are poor and degraded,
! tbd we all ought to knew that it makes them
! IN times worse when we go among them to
! Establish the slave trade. How long shall we
! t9lerate these unprincipled men who carry on
| S's Ubiquitous taafic, and who care nothing
! sr the woes they bring upon the Africans, pro,
| ,4ded their baracoons ashore are well filled
! ihth the spoils of the wars of these unfortunate
| tibes?
Let US realize for moment the woes we send
| N this doomed land. On the arrival of the
| liayer on the coast, see the frantic joy with
xhich the natives hail its approach The news
! tpreads from village to village, from tribe TO
| tribe. The white man has come and bids them
! legin their merciless work, and to resuscitate
! ID feuds which were forgotten, to make palav-
rs about witches, to bring accusations of witch.
s>att, to put IN force the penalties of slavery,
: lieh had been until then forgotten, to sell peo
ee for debt, to punish by slavery cases of
sdultery, which we're before passed over as ex
eusable in the loose moral code of the Africans.
20 encourage in many tribes the father to sell
Il. J