New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-09-22
SLAVERY IN AFRICA.
DOMESTIC SLAVERY.

- be has almost Lothing to do, agriculture being
peaub unknown. He is considered "a 8 member
Of the family Of bis nsser partakes of his joy. aud
Of bis troubles, and goes 10 war with him, II war
there be.
Wealth among these Africans consists OF wives
and slaves. These are considered the necessary
atteI dante of fortune, and form the cortege of
nan of rank A master will consult his slaves 10
napy thipgs. and when desJing anything from
IL ~ bis orders are given in such way that they
are glad TO help him who has often helped them,
and who has many times before settled their pata5.
us'
The domestic slave ia not generally sold for the
slave-narket unles. he has iDfrnged the laws, or
become Indifferent 10 the welfare Of his master,
and this is but seldom the case. The children
shyes are free, and consequently Slavery Is not
entsiled upon them from generation to generation.
The ,laye looks up to his master and learns TO
consider him as bis father and always calls him so.
He has DO one else on whom be can lean in case Of
trouble, or on whom be can rely in the hour OF
trial. Being a stranger and without master be
would often be subject TO a multitude Of pal.vers
which would soon make him victim ID the foreign
Slave trade.
The government Of the multitude Of villages and
little tribes scattered almost all over Africa among
the heathenish tribes is patriarchal wi,h few ex-
e@pti,ps Not only the slave, but also the free
man puts himself under the patronage Of some man
Of power, that be msy have some one on whom to
lean when trouble comes upon him.
have often seen a master who, when bis slaves
were condemned 10 be sold, would pay two or three
other slaves bought for the foreign market, rather
than sell one whom be has held as a domestic, or
whom be received by way Of Inheritance.
Bot notwithstanding this seeming equality be-
tween the master and bis servants, there Is, to
close observer, a vast difference between the free
blood and those descended from slaves The later
though the children Of several free generations
have The sta of Slavery upon them, even If the
chiefs of villages. In that case, however, the vii
hge must be male up Of those who are also slave
descended, as one of that class can never be ruler
of the free From those of the pure free blood the
bead chiefs are always chosen, even where the
population Of the descendants Of slaves is ten
times more numerous than the free, which lie the
case in several tribes among which have travelled
There 10 but one tr.be-that is the Mpongw6-
in which slaves only are put to death for the pen
atty of witchcraft, while the free are exempt from
it. In this tribe, also, slaves are sometimes killed
at the death of person of qualify, in honor of his
memory.
suppose that one of the main reasons why the
masters do not treat their slaves harshly is because
of the singular custom or law of MboDgo or
NbongoD, which is SIMPLY this: When a slave is
4 ,a 70 of her
man he chooses, aud, laying his two hands upon
his head, claim protection. The man who is thus
appealed to 10 obliged to give the succOr prayed
for, and keep the suppliant as one Ct his own
slayes No objection can be urged and no patarer
can DO made by the master
There 10 also the fear of witchcraft, which keeps
not only the master in check but even the Chief.
They are restrained from acting too harsh'y by tire
fear Of being be.i'cbed by the injured party
This domestic slavery exists in all that part OF
Africa lust south of the Equator, and a few de-
grees north Of it, Bot there is no foreign slave-
trade among these tribes, and, think, never has
been, probably because they have no single king
with power enough to establish it,
THE FOREIGN SLAvE-TRADE.
come, may say almost with tears, to the for
eisn slave trade for the market of the white man'
Poor, down.trodden Africa when will the civil
lied world cease to send its vessels to bag thy
people; when will this most abomuable traffic
cease; when will humanity triumph over the love
of gain; when will the nations Of the earth unite
toRctter and listen to the clies Of thy woes; when
will they I'm ierstsud the SORROWS of wretchedness
we heap upon thee
We know not nor can conceive Of the misery
which is visited on poor, benighted Africa uoless
we 90 among the numbe'le tribes which peopelts
shores Blu, cannot doubt that if the civilized
world could see how great that wretchednes' is,
there is Christianity enough and philanthropy
enough to end it. If the voice of one who has
been lonely traveller and a wanderer among them
can help but ieebly by telling the miseriss he has
seen, and which have been occasioned by the
foreign slave-trade, he will be too glad to be able
to render that service.
Goanywhere along the shores of Africa, and oneis
sure TO see wherever the sayetrsde has been carried
on, natives who form the worst and most wretched
population. There is more drunkenness than else
where, more trouble ofevery sort, more wretcned-
ness, lower morality, more crime, more lniquity,
than il ,ver in any other tribe. 1t is easy to
upderstand this. The save-dealer arrives with his
careoes of rum and of goods. 1t is his interest TO
Keep, should say almost all the time, the people
in state of drunkenness, that he may have power
over them and that they may carry on their niquit
Gus traffic without scruple. 50 for years it