Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1895-03-29
STOLEN AFRICANS.
The Inhuman Slave Traffic Still
Carried On.
Arabs Engaged In Ferpetuating the
slavery Of Their own Race
How the Natives Are
Captured.

e. E-onrhi. Italian consul general at
Zanzibar. va" lately arrived here &c
Succeed Nr I.ambcrt"nEhi as consul
general for thu Italian government, has
had some curious experiences and seen
many strange things during his stay in
Africa. saws the Sa1 Francisco Exam
liner. He spoke of the African slave
trade as il is now carried on at anc
near Zanzibar. told Of the pro-vess Of
the Arab slave catchcrs. and the efforts
If tlr dhoWS 10 run the blockade anc
land their human freight. One curious
thing which he rrcounted was that.
aside from the Arabs. those interested
in the traffic We're almost invariably
negroes. They are engaged in perpetu.
ating the slavery If their own race.
The Arab captur>." he said, are al
almost constant war with bands q.
negroes in the interior, and for every
slave that is captured and sold il
>laveN thirty or forty die. Some o,
them perish in the attack, other:
through privation while being trans
fcrred from the interior to the coast
where they can be shipped, other.
while on The dhows.
They are substantially the same type
of the full-hlooded c"lorrd people yor
SEE in the United States. They art
black As il is possible for people u be
The Arabs who 90 hunting fol
them penetrate hundreds and hundred.
of miles in the interior. Most of the
captures used t. be made in the lake
region, hut in late years it has beer
pretty well stopped there. Since the
great powers have taken possession
and nrportion"d out Innzibar the Arabs
are not allowed to pursue their nefari-
Gus business. Steps were taken right
away to prevent them. Both EnglanC
and Germany, as we'll as Italy, among
which Zanzibar was divided, have men
of-war on the alert for the slavers. but
for every man-of-war that Germany or
Italy has England has ten to twelve.
The task of preventing the slave traffic,
therefore, devolves almost entirely on
England. She does the best she can,
but nevertheless the traffic goes on
not in the degree it did formerly, but
still to q considerable extent.
Several ports are unguarded. and
into these the dhows sail and wait till
the bands of slaves are driven in from
the interior, where they have been
caught. A dhow is from twenty to
thirty feet long. as rule, though some
are considerably larger. Fifty, sixty, a
hundred or more naked slaves are
crowded into dhow, and the black men
in charge, who have bought them from
the Arabs, then make every effort to
run the blockade.
''Slavery itself, after the victims arc
turned over to their final owner, is not
so bad. The Shareholders treat them
fairly well. not beating or maltreating
them as a rule. The movements of
these Arabs and their Onclaughts are
conducted in desultory manner.
Bands prey upon savages wherever
they can be found. Cloves. which are
produced in immense quantities in Fan.
E;bar and the cultivation of which is
the main industry, are grown by slaves.
''They are kept labOriously at work
from one season to another. The
negroes are not naturally industrious.
4hCy "Ouhd AhuSu Pih>t shhu oihif
than be kept at work in the forests and
fields. They make strenuous efforts tc
escape and frequently succeed. IL an
attempt is made to capture them they
will fight to the death.
''What gives the Arab slavers such
an advantage over the poor Africans in
their native wilds are the guns which
they have in plenty. The natives, as q
rule, are not SO equipped. they have
other kinds and are unable to cope
with the most improved European and
American weapons which the Arabs
have. Even now the Arabs are able t.
secure SO many slaves that fifty or one
hundred dollars will buy one and some
times two slaves"