The morning call., 1890-06-17
IN THE SLAVE SHED.
Some OF the Pitiable Sights Witnessed in
Africa.

Some OF the Pitiable Sights Witnessed In
Africa.
From E. j. Glave's profusely illustrated
article under the above title in the Cen
fury" we quote as follows: These hungry
creatures form, indeed. pitiable sight.
After suffering captivity for short time
they become mere skeletons. All ages, OF
both sexes, are to be seen; mothers with
their babes; young men and women; boys
and girls, and even babies who cannot walk,
and whose mothers have died of starvation.
or, perhaps, been killed by the Lufembe.
One seldom sees either old men or old
women; they are all killed in the raids ;
their market value being very small no
trouble is taken with them.
witnessing groups OF these poor, nelp-
less wretches, with their emaciated forms
and sunken eyes, their faces very picture
Of sadness, it is not difficult to perceive the
intense grief that they are inwardly suffer-
ing; but they know too we'll it is of no use
to appeal for sympathy to their merciless
masters, who have been accustomed from
childhood to witness acts of cruelty and
brutality, so that to satisfy their Unsuitable
greed they will commit themselves,
or permit to be committed. any
atrocity, however great. Even the
pitiabe sight of one Of these slave sheds
does not half represent the misery caused
separated from their babies, husbands
from wives and brothers from sisters.
When last at Masankusu l saw a
slave woman who had with her one
child, whose starved little body she was
clutching to her shrunken breast. l was
attracted by her sad face, which betokened
great suffering l asked her the cause or 1t,
and she told me in low. sobbing voice the
following tale:
81 was living with my husband and
three children in an inland village, a few
miles from here. My husband was hunt
er. Ten days ago the Lufembe attacked
our settlement; my husband defended him.
self, but was oyerpOwered and speared to
death with several of the other viii
layers. l was brought here with my
three children, two Of whom have already
been purchased by the traders. | shall
never see them any more. Perhaps
they will kill them on the death Of
some chief, or perhaps kill them for food.
My remaining child, you see, is i'll, dying
from starvation; they give us nothing to
eat. expect even this one will be taken
from me to-day, as the chief, fearing lest it
should die and become total loss, has Of
fered it for very small price. AS for N.Y.
selt,' said she. they will sell me to one of
the neighb0rlng tribes, to toll in the planta-
tions, and when / become old and unit for
work | shall be killed.
There were certainly 800 slaves exposed
for sale in this one village alone. Large
canoes were constantly arriving from down
river with merchandise of all kinds, with
which they purchased these slaves. A large
trade is carried on between the Ubangi and
Lulungu rivers. The people inEabitng the
mouth of the Ubangi buy Balolo slaves
ut Masankusu and the other markets.
They then take them up the Ubangi River
and exchange them with the natives there
for ivory. The natives buy their slaves solely
for food. Having purchased slaves. they
faah fab oil
and when they get them into good cOndi-
ton they kill them. Hundreds of the
Balolo slaves are taken into the river and
disposed of in this way every month. A
great many other slaves are sold to the
large villages on the Congo, 10 supply vic
tins for the execution ceremonies.
9 Much life is lost in the capturing OF
slaves, and, during their captivity, many
succumb to starvation. OF the remainder,
numbers are sold to become victims to
cannibalism and human sacrifice cere-
monies. There are few. indeed, who are
allowed to live and prosper.