cattle, and extend his creed; for the Arabs believe the
day mnst come when the tenets of Mohammed will be
accepted by all men.
The slave in this new position finds himself much better
off than he ever was in his life before, with this exception,
that as a slave he feels himself much degraded in the social
scale of society, and his family ties are all cut off from
him—probably his relations have all been killed in the
war in which he was captured. Still, after the first qualms
have worn off, we find him much attached to his master,
who feeds him and finds him in clothes in return for the
menial services which he performs. In a few years after
capture, or when confidence has been gained by the attachment
shown by the slave, if the master is a trader in ivory,
he will intrust him with the charge of his stores, and send
him all over the interior of the continent to purchase for
him both slaves and ivory; but should the master die,
according to the Mohammedan creed the slaves ought to
be freed. In Arabia this would be the case; but at Zanzibar
it more generally happens that the slave is willed to
his successor.
The whole system of slaveholding by the Arabs in
Africa, or rather on the coast or at Zanzibar, is exceedingly
strange; for the slaves, both in individual physical
strength and in numbers, are so superior to the Arab
foreigners, that if they chose to rebel, they might send
the Arabs flying out of the land. It happens, however,
that they are spellbound, not knowing their strength any
more than domestic animals, and they even seem to consider
that they would be dishonest if they ran away after
being purchased, and so brought pecuniary loss on their
owners.
There are many positions into which the slave may get
by the course of events, and I shall give here, as a specimen,
the ordinary case of one who has been freed by the
death of his master, that master having been a trader in
ivory and slaves in the interior. In such a case, the slave
iso freed in all probability would commence life afresh by
¡taking service as a porter with other merchants, and in
the end would raise sufficient capital to commence trading
himself—first in slaves, because they are the most easily
Jot, and then in ivory. All his accumulations would then
& to the Zanzibar market, or else to slavers looking out off
the coast. Slavery begets slavery. To catch slaves is the
prst thought of every chief in the interior; hence fights
fend slavery impoverish the land, and that is the reason
Iboth why Africa does not improve, and why we find men
¡of all tribes and tongues on the coast. The ethnologist
[heed only go to Zanzibar to become acquainted with all
the different tribes to the centre of the continent on that
Side, or to Congo to find the other half south of the
equator there.
■ Some few freed slaves take service in vessels, of which
they are especially fond; but most return to Africa to trade
in slaves and ivory. All slaves learn the coast language,
C a lle d at Zanzibar Kisuahili; and therefore the traveller, if
judicious in his selections, could find there interpreters to
Parry him throughout the eastern half of South Africa.
To the north of the equator the system of language
entirely changes.
■ Laziness is inherent in these men, for which reason,
although extremely powerful, they will not work unless
compelled to do so. Having no God, in the Christian
sense of the term, to fear or worship, they have no love
for truth, honour, or honesty. Controlled by no government,
nor yet by home ties, they have no reason to think
of or look to the future. Any venture attracts them when
hard-up for food; and the more roving it is, the better
they like it. The life of the sailor is most particularly
attractive to the freed slave ; for he thinks, in his conceit,
|that he is on an equality with all men when once on the
muster-rolls, and then he calls all his fellow-Africans