Sacramento daily record-union., 1889-09-28

states that dhows carrying French colors
were constantly and regularly leaving for
| the Cormoro Islands, Mayotta, and Mada.
| gsscar, loaded with slaves. In June, 1883,
Brgadier General Hogg, dating from the
/ Alden ResIdency, wrote To- the Bombay
Government: have the honor to bring
to the notice OF the Government that bave
from time TO time received reports of toe
activity OF the slave trade from the neigh
borhood OF the Gulf of Tsjourra. and |
deem it my duty TO inform the Govern.
ment of this fact with view TO such sc.
tlcn being taken as may be deemed ad-
| ylssble." Turning to very different region.
we ind Consul 0'Neill addressing letter to
the Marquis of Salisbury with reference to
the coast of Mozambique: Il have the
honor to say that with the opinion that the
East African slave trade has received some
considerable impulse, and has greatly in
creased and strengthened, / am compelled
regrettnily but entirely 10 concur. The eyi-
dence | have myself received from the in
| terror is OF similar nature The Portu-
guese authorities in that district concur in
these statements. Thus the commaudant
of the lately established military post of
NIL Mkwali, in his monthly report of the
state OF the province, calmly writes, under the
heading Commerce u: "The sole trade of
this district, at the present, is in slaves
The cause of this revived activity of the
slave trade is not far to seek. 1t is the nor
NAL expansion OF paying business. More
| men engage in il; more capital is invested
in iC. The Arab never retires from bUsi-
| ness. With the profits of his first small
caravan he squips and heads a larger one.
AS the years pass, his flying columns grow
| larger and larger, and fiercer and fiercer.
Now he can attack with impunity region
which, in former days, he must have let
alone. Formerly he fraternized and traded
| with the great interior nations; now he
| overthrows and carries them off bodily.
! Having much capital and better fire arms
| he can push farther and farther into the
country, establishing depots as he goes,
which become minor centres of the trade.
] Long ago the Arab dared not venture be-
yond limited distance from the coast-line.
| Now he pervades and almost dominates The
continent As one region after another is
drained of its slaves and ivory, fresh and
remoter fields have to be sought out. So
/ home after home is made desnlate, re-
! gion after region is ravished, State after
| State is demolished, Nation after Nation
is moved down like grass. Such being
! the state of matters in the interior of the
country, to talk of the civilization of Africa
| till this butchery is stopped is but mock
cry. No nation has either time, or heart,
| or encouragement to improve. To be rich
is to excite cupidity and invite disaster; to
! be Door is to be the prey of the first muir
dering Arab who happens to pass that
| wav.
Where do the slaves go to? What is
their final market and destination? These
questions are among the first to be asked
by those whose interest is awakened in the
! slave trade, and the answers are not so easy
| to put together. In the first place multi
| tudes are used up as mere beasts of burdeR.
| The mortality in a slave caravan has al
ready been referred to. Now, in all cases
where slave who is carrier or porter
! succumbs on the march. fresh man has to
be secured from some neighboring tribe to
carry on his load. Vacancies caused by
desertion are supplied in the same way
The vacancies caused among the local
| tribes due to the filling up of these vacan-
cies, again, have to be supplied by fresh
/ seizure OF slaves from surrounding tribes,
so that a perpetual circulation Of this
human currency is set in motion. Again,
| the domestic slaves of the coast regions
were for a long time drained away by ship
ment from the various shaving ports The
| supply throughout vast littoral territories
was thus exhausted, and had to be contin-
| uously replenished from caravans arriving
| from the interior. These domestic slaves
| were absolutely necessary to the coast tribes
for household and agricultural purposes.
and there can be no doubt that enormous
numbers of slaves have lately been absorbed
| TO replace those exported from the littoral
zone at earlier periods.
| But, in addition to this, it is an open Sc
cret that several large and defined markets
for slaves exist in many parts of Africa and
the adjoining islands. Off the Zanzibar
coast, for instance, the extensive plantations
OF Pemba are wrought by slave labor
| nrx-iY 10 hn r,ofn Of Tln II II
| fatal insalubrity of the climate, the death
| rate here is terrible, and a ceaseless traffic
with the coast has to be kept up to supply
| the almost daily blanks. The slavers of
| the Mozambique channel find a ready
market in the Comoro islands, and even in
| Madagascar. Abyssinia, again, has many
slave markets, the slaves being taken over
| land to Roheita, on the south of Assab bay
whence they are shipped during the night
| in dhows to Jeddah, Hodeida, and else
where in Arabia. Turning to the north of
| the continent, we find that almost every
town in Morocco is furnished with its slave
market. A few years ago these markets ex-
! listed in all the Mediterranean provinces,
and they are still In active life everywhere
south of the European boundaries. In q
word, it may be said that almost every Mo-
| hammedan town in the country is a receiv-
| ing and distributing center for slaves.
| What, now, is being done to cope with
! this far-reachlng and stillgrowing wrong
That a cry so piteous and awful should
have long ago wrung the heart of the civil
lized world was to be expected. Let us see
in how many ways and from what diverse
sources the needed help begins to come
Many great and powerful ages are already
enlisted in this cause and some are
actually embarked upon the struggle
| These fall into four classes-phllanthropic
political, military and commercial; but,
| from the way in which their various in
| terests are linked together, it will not be
possible to separate them in making few
remarks upon each.
| In the foremost rank among those to re-
ceive honorable mention in contending
with the slave trade must be placed that
venerable and influential institution, the
British and Foreign Auti-Slavery Society
| This society has made it its one aim to
focus public attention upon the evils of
| slavery in every part of the world, and, by
agitation at public meetings, by the steady
dissemination of literature, and by the per
sonal influence of its few but devoted men,
! bers, has formed and guided public and
parliamentary opinion in England through
out a long course of years Its monthly
magazine, the Antj Slavery Reporter, of
which the eighth volume of a fourth series
lies before me as l write, is the classic of
slavery literature, and contains stofehouse
of carefully sifted facts upon every aspect
of the question. The creed of the society
may be gathered from single clause of its
constitution:
THAT, so long as slavery exists, there is
no reasonable prospect of the humiliation
of the slave trade, and OF extinguishing the
sale and barter of human beings that the
extinction of slavery and the slave trade
will be attained most effectually by the
employment of those means which are of
moral, religious and pacific character and
that no measures be resorted to by this
society, in the prosecution of these objects,
but such as are in entire accordance with
these principles"