Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1888-10-10

=. AFRICAN SLAVE-HUNTERS.
T9na Arabs Still Desolating the Country
With the Internal Traffic.

With the Internal Traffic.
The life Of the native African is not
MylHc- I. is darkened by tragedy
uhose terrors are unknown to any
0skaer people under heaven. OF its
1ziId domestic slavery | do not speak,
nEM its revolving yitchcraft, nor of
atk endless ouarrals and frequent tribal
uaxs. These r..iluc evils are lost in
9n9shadow of a great national wrong.
among these simple and unprotected
fxibes, Arabs - unlimited strangers
Hnm another race and nature-pour in
from the North and East with the de-
Ehnrate purpose OF making this para
dino hell. 1t seems the awful destiny
akfhis homeless people to spend their
EsBs in breaking u2 the homes ct
others. Il ilaEeFor tIeJ so Ill Africa,
TIA followers of Islam are the destroy
.~s OF peace, the breakers up of the
pntriarchal life, the DISCOVERS of the
family tie. Already they hold the
whole continent under one reign OF
Herror. They have effected this in vir-
Ftae of one thing-they possess fire.
arms. They do it for one object
Ivory ard slaves, for these two are one
The slaves are needed to buy ivory
with; then more slaves have to be
&solen to carry it. So living man him.
self has become the commercial cur
yrency of Africa.
It is quite mistake to imagine that
;sEAve-hunting is thing of the past.
On the contrary, the Arabs have quite
recently become holder than ever.
Many at home imagine that the death
Ikmell of slavery was struck with the
events which followed the death of
livingstone. In the great explorers
time we heard much of slavery; we
were appealed to; the Government
busted itself; something was really
done. But the wall is already forgot
tan, and England hears little now of
the open sore of the world. But the
tragedy [ have alluded to is repeated
every year and every month-witness
such recent atrocities as those of the
Upper Congo, of the Kassai and San
karu region described by Wissman,
<AAA III Ol1C w oAooA IOo 10
ferred to by Van Gele. It was but the
other day that an explorer crossing
from Lake Nyassa to Lake Tanganyika
saw the whole southern end of Tangan-
.yika peopled with large and prosper
Gus villages. The next to follow him
found not a solitary human being moth
ing but burned homes and bleaching
skeletons. 1t was but yesterday-the
close of 1887-that the Arabs at the
north end of Lake Nyassa, after destroy
ing fourteen villages with many of
their inhabitants, pursued the popula-
ton of one village into patch of tall
dry grass, set it on fire, surrounded it,
and slew with the bullet and the spear
those who crawled out from the more
merciful flames. The Wa-Nkonde tribe,
towhich these people belonged, were,
until this event, one of the most pros
porous tribes in East Central Africa.
They occupied a country ofexceptional
fertility and beauty. Three rivers
which never failed in the severest
drouth run through their territory,
and their crops were the richest and
most varied in the country. They pos
sessed herds OF caotle and goats; they
fshed in the lake with nets; they
wrought iron into many patterned
spear-heads with exceptional ingenuity
and skill; and that even artistic taste
had begun to develop among them was
evident from the ornamental work upon
their huts, which were themselves
unique in Africa for clever construction
and beauty of design. This people, in
short, by their own inherent ability and
the natural resources of their country
were on the high road to civilization.
Henry Dr1nanaoaad.