The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1886-10-28
A RICH AFRICAN.
Tippu Tib the Greatest Slave and Ivory
Trader in the World.

Trader in the World.
The wealthiest man in central Africa
is now on his way to the Indian ocean
in response to a letter from the sultan OF
Zanzibar requesting visit from him.
His name is Tippu lib, and he lives not
far from Nyangwe, the great trading
point of many black tribes on the upper
Congo Readers of African books of
travel have heard good deal of Tippu
Tib, and as recent years have greatly
increased his power and wealth, we are
likely to hear much OF him.
Tippu lib is only 45 years old, as
black as coal, and of negroid blood,
which means that he comes of an ad
mixture of the coast tribes of east Africa
and has also very little Arab blood in
his veins. He has been in central At
rica for twenty-five years, and is to-day
the greatest slave and ivory trader in
the world. He has outssipped all his
competitors through sheer force of in
tellect and strength of character. As
long ago as the time when Cameron in
troduced him to our notice he visited
Nyangwe and told the bullying Arab
traders there that if they did not leave
certain native allies of his alone it
lost no time in pledging eternal peace
with Tippu Tib and all his friends.
Cameron says Tippu lib was the
greatest dandy he saw among the trad
ers of Africa, and that. although of
negroid blood, he was thorough Arab
in manners and ideas. All his white
visitors speak of the elegance of his
Arab attire and of his courtly and affa-
bic bearing. Stanley says that at his
first meeting with Tippu lib he regard
ed him as the most remarkable man he
had met among the Arabs, Wa Swa-
hill, and half castles of Africa. Lieut..
Van Gale. of the Congo state, who met
Tippu lib in January last, says he was
surprised by the extent of his informa-
ton on European topics. He was fam
iliar with events occurring in Europe.
and was particularly interested III the
English, Germans, and Belgians. The
questions he asked me" says Van Gale,
showed that he is neither an ignorant
man nor one of ordinary mind" He
said he intended some day to go to Eu-
rope, visit the king of the Bel lgians. and
also spend some time in Constantinople.
In Tippu Tbs home, south of Nyan-
give, Cameron says that large gangs of
slaves walking about in chains met his
eye at every turn. They were leading
easy lives, were well fed, and he saw no
acts of cruelty there. All had been vic
TINS however, of the crying wrongs
that are still decimating the simple saw
ages of Africa They had been surprised
in their peaceful homes by the sudden
onslaught of Tippu Tbs ruthless sol
dier slaves, who had burned their huts,
killed their friends. and dragged them
off into captivity. Tippu lib is the
who are to-day inflictng more suffering
upon their fellow-creatures than any
other human beings-the professional
slave traders of Africa. Few of Tlppu
Tbs slaves ever reach the Indian ocean.
They are sold among the numerous
tribes on the way TO the sea. Long
caravans, however, richly laden with
his ivory, are often dispatched to the
coast.
1t was Tippu Tib who helped Stanley
start down the Congo from Nyangwe,
the point where both Livingstone and
Cameron were defeated in their efforts
to follow the river further. For some
weeks Stanley's little party was aug
mented by over two hundred of Tippu
Tbs men. Twenty very dark beauties
from the great traders harem accom-
panied him on this his first trip down
the Congo, where he is now in absolute
control of the river and adjoining terri
tories for about $50 miles below Nyan-
give. 1t was his slave pen near Stanley
falls, in which twenty-five hundred
wretched captives were found two years
ago when the agents of the lnternation-
al association reached that point.
For many miles below these falls
Stanley was chased by large fleets of
canoes, and his party suffered severely
from the lances and arrows of the most
ferocious savages whom he met Oh the
Congo. These natives are among the
most peaceable on the Congo now, and
one good reason is that they have no
weapons to fight with. They have all
been disarmed by Tippu lib for dis
tance OF about eighty miles along the
river for daring to attack some of his
men. Dr. Lenz, the explorer, wrote
from Stanley falls in March last that be-
tween the falls and the Aruwimi river
the natives were incapable of making
any resistance. "One can rarely find
among them,' he writes. "a lance or
any other weapon except small knives. "
DR.. Lenz adds that 1.-THE influence of the
opulent Tippu lib is far greater all
through this region than that of the
Free Congo state"
Tippu lib has thus far maintained
very amicable relations with the whites.
He has invited missionaries to settle
near him. and has promised them pro-
tection.~NeU York San.