The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1886-10-23
A RICH AFRICAN.

Tlppu Tib, the Greatest Slave and Ivory
Trader in the World.
The wealthiest man in Central Africa
is now on his way to the Indian Ocean
in response to u letter from the Sultan
of Zanzibar requesting visit from him.
His name is Tippu Tib, 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 a good deal of Tippu
lib, and as recent years have greatly
increased his power and wealth. we are
likely to hear much of him.
Tippu Tib is only forty-five years old,
black rs coal, and of negroid blood,
which means that he comes of an adj
mixture of the coast tribes of East
Africa and has also very little Arab
blood in his veins. He has been in Gen.
tral Africa for twenty-five years, and is
to-day the greatest slave and ivory
trader in the world. He has outstripped
all his competitors through sheer force
of intellect and strength of character.
As long ago as the time when Cameron
introduced him to our notice he visited
Nyangwe and told the bullying traders
there that if they did not leave certain
native allies of his alone it would be tia
worse for them. They lost no time in.
pledging eternal peace with Tippu Tib
and all his friends.
Cameron says Tippu Tib was the
greatest dandy he saw among the trad
ers of Africa, and that. although of
negroid blood, he was thorough Arab
I in manners and ideas. All his white
: visitors speak of the elegance of his
Arab attire and of his courtly and affi,-
ble bearing. Stanley says that ut his
first meeting with Tippu lib he regard
ed him as the most remarkable man he
had met among the Arabs, Wa Swahili
and half castles of Africa. Lieutenant
Van Gale, of the Congo State, who met
Tppu lib in January lass, says he was
surprised by the extent of his informa-
ton on European topics. He was
familiar with events occurring in
Europe, and was particularly interested
in the English. Germans and Belgians.
1.-The questions he asked me-, says Van
Gale, ''showed that he is neither an ig-
norant man nor one of ordinary mind"
He said he intended some day to go to
Europe, visit the King of the Belgians,
and also spend some time in Constanti-
nople.
In Tippu Tbs home, south of
Nyangwe, Cameron says that large
gangs of slaves walking about in chains
met his eye at every turn. They were
leading easy lives, were we'll fed, and
he saw no acts of cruelty there. All had
been victims, however, of the crying
wrongs that are still decimating the
simple savages of Africa. They had
been surprised in their peaceful homes
= by the sudden onslaught of Tippu
Tbs ruthless soldier slaves, who had
burned their huts, killed their friends
and dragged them off into captivity.
Tippu lib is the most noted representa-
tive OF those men who are to-day in
ilicting more suffering upon their fell
low-crentures than any other human
beings-the professional slave-traders
of Africa. Few of Tippu Tbs slaves
ever reach the Indian Ocean. They are
sold among the numerous tribes on the
way to the sea, Long caravans, how
ever, richly laden with his ivory, are
often dispatched to the coast.
1t was Tippu lib 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
mentod 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 three hundred and fifty
miles below Nyangwe. 1t was his
slave-pen near Stanley falls, in which