The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-02-14
LAST OF THE SLAVERS.
Explorer johnson Hangs the Arab
Ml0Zi.
End of the Conflict Between the British
and the Arab Slave Raiders.

| Sir III. III. Johnston ana Ills little army
had completely defeated the Arab slave
raiders at the north end of Lake Nyassa,
alter two and a half days. fighting, and
| had captured their principal chief, the
notorious Mlozi, and promptly hanged
him. SO ends the career of one OF the
most implacable foes of the whites In
| Africa, who merited death long ago Tor
his terrible crimes against the helpless
natives.
There was a white station at KaroDga,
| near the northwest corner of Lake Nyas-
sa, when the Arabs swept down upon the
country about ten years ago. only Two
or three white men with their native
workmen were there, and they were pow
erless TO stop the murderous work OF
Mlozi and his brother chiefs.
At the north end OF the lake lived q
tribe, the wakonde, than whom no Afri-
can people have been more highly praised
by explorers. They inhabited a large and
beautiful plain girdled on three sides by
| lofty mountains, while the waves Of Lake
Nyassa bounded their territory on the
fourth side. Explorers have said they
never saw so neat and Clearly a people
in Africa. Their houses were well built,
and even picturesque in appearance. No
Yankee housewife keeps her dwelling
more scrupulously clean than Elton, Stew
art, Thomson and other explorers declar-
ed the Wakonde cabins To be.
The people were nearly naked. and
were fine specimens of physique. Tohac-
co, banana, rice, corn and other products
grew in their plantations. Large herds
of cattle graZed in their meadows. The
lake yielded them a bountiful supply OF
fish, which they caught in nets. Three
perennial streams kept their land green in
the hottest summer. SIN this beautiful
land" wrote Julius Richter in 1892,
'lived a happy and industrious people
whose large villages were models OF the
most painstaking neatness.
Then came the plague of the Arabs, led
by Mlozi, to mar utterly this picture OF
peace and contentment. In a few weeks
they completely destroyed fourteen vii
lagos OF the Wakonde. Most OF the in
habiiants were murdered, and the rest
w ere dragged to the Arab camp to be
slaves the rest of their lives.
Mlozi has been hanged at the very place
where he carried out an ingenious and
devilish scheme to put q final end to the
tribe which he had already nearly EXTERN
mated or enslaved. Not far from KaroDga,
where the tockade of the white men
stood, is the large lagoon Kambwe, which,
in the wet season, is a lake, but at the
time referred to was two-thirds dried up.
II was covered with high reeds, and in
the center was n body OF water teeming
with crocodiles. Mlozi and the two other
Arab leaders induced some hundreds OF
tHo 'UNOht0 w bPRAOuNh nv ioBDoh VII
the pretext OF making peace with them.
The terrible scene that followed has been
graphically described by Richter and 9TH
ers, but the account given by Mr.. Foth-
e%ringham is reproduced here because he
was one of the white men at Karonga
who was powerless to interfere. He
wrote:
"About noon we heard firing in the d.
rection of the lagoon. BY a stealthy and
rapid march they 1.-THE Arabs) surrounded
the lagoon before the natives were well
aware OF their presence. Immediately a
scene OF the widest excitement prevailed.
The war-whoops of the Ruga-ruga (Arab
m~ercenaries) smote the Wakonde heart
with terror. Armed with spears, they
were no match for the Arabs, who, keep
ing at a safe distance, poured voiiey after
volley into the reeds, which were Dol
red with the blood OF the dying. Every
black who jumped out OF the lagoon was
shot in the open, and not a native escaped
who came within range of the rifles.
"There was no outlet to the west side
(the lake lay Mt the entrance on the east),
and but small chance Of escape on the
north. The Arabs gradually moved for
ward, and the terror-stricken Wakonde
were forced into the swamp yard by yard.
Maddened by their success, the Ruga-rnga
rushed upon the natives and drove them
further back, spearing those that stuck
fast in the mud. Then they fired the
reeds, and as the flame rose the yells of
the poor creatures behind might be heard
Tar n near above the steady discharge
of the u
Nov another enemy arose against the
natives in their dire extremity. This was
the crocodile. Those who did not perish
by the rifle and spear were either burned
to death or devoured by the innumerable
~crocodiles that infest the lagoon. While
the attack was In progress the three Arab
leaders, in order TO crafty their morbid
curiosity, climbed into the trees, and
with diabolical interest watched and reg
ulated the work of determination"
rs soon as possible news of these ter
riole outrages was sent To the southern
end OF the lake, and a few white men, all
who could be mustered, were sent north
10 rescue the b~eleagured whites and in
fiict punishment upon the Arabs. In the
war between the whites and these Arabs
that then hegan, nine years ago, the
British, with their small forces, have
never been able until now to dislodge
Mlozi and the other leaders from their
strong s~tockades. 1t was in one of the as
saults on Mlozis stockade that the now
famous Captain Lugard rece ived six
wounds and nearly lost his life.
Ten or eleven yearsssago the missionaries
among theNyassa Highlands south of
the lake used TO write OF slave caravans a
thousand strong passing their doors on
their way TO the coast. Women and
youths fastened together. one behind the
other, half starved and cruelty treated by
their merciless overseers, silently walked
IN single file toward the sea. Il hey were
never TO see their own land aga in. Their
husbands and fathers had been killed
when they were captured, their huts
burned, their gardens destroyed, and the
peaceful districts where they lived had
become an unpcopled wilderness.
These scenes OF murder and misery will
be witnessed no more In these regions Of
Nyassa-land, which for five years past
have formed the pro~tectorate OF British
Central Africa. Zaraf, the last OF the
Arab slave raiders at the south end of the
lake, was completely vanquished last fall,
aud then sir H.. II. Johnston, the we'll
known explorer, ana the British commits
sioner In the protectorate, led his force OF
100 Sikhs and 800 negro soldiers against
Mlozi With the defeat and exec ution of
this merciless scoundrel the last slave
raider and the last stronghold OF the
slave trade In all the region around the
great lake have passed awav The chapter
OF Arab atrocities around Lake Nyassa is
probably closed forever. The Sun.