“If slavery is to be defended, it is not to be by arguments drawn from
the Bible, but by arguments drawn from its happy influences on
agriculture, commerce, and the arts; * * * on its elevating the black
man, and making him more intelligent and happy than he would be in his
own land; on its whole benevolent bearing on the welfare of the slave,
in this world and the world to come.”
It must give every good man the deepest grief to discover this growing
disposition among religious teachers to thrust aside the teachings of
the Bible, and to place in its stead the worldly advantages and personal
considerations of individual benefit. What shall we think of the
religious feeling and orthodoxy of him who places “agriculture,
commerce, and the arts” in higher authority than the books of Divine
revelation. Thus, this teacher says, “If the Bible teaches slavery, then
the Bible is the greatest curse that could happen to _our race_;” yet
allows, that if slavery shall have a beneficial and happy influence on
“agriculture, commerce, and the arts,” it may be sustained and defended.
Such is the obvious deduction from the proposition! Mistaken man! But,
since we say that slavery is most triumphantly sustained and defended by
the Bible, let us take a view of it agreeably to Mr. Barnes’s direction.
So far as we have means, it may be well to examine the negro in his
native ranges.
About thirty years ago, we had a knowledge of an African slave, the
property of Mr. Bookter, of St. Helena Parish, La. Sedgjo was apparently
about sixty years of age—was esteemed to be unusually intelligent for an
African. We propose to give the substance of his narrative, without
regard to his language or manner. For a length of time we made it an
object to draw out his knowledge and notions; and on the subject of the
Deity, his idea was that the power which made him was _procreation_; and
that, as far as regarded his existence, he needed not to care for any
other god. This deity was to be worshipped by whatever act would
represent him as _procreator_. It need not be remarked that this worship
was the extreme of indecency; but the more the act of worship was
wounding to the feelings or sense of delicacy, the more acceptable it
was to the god. The displays of this worship could not well be
described.
Sedgjo’s account put us in mind of Maachah, the mother of Asa. In this
worship, it was not uncommon to kill, roast, and eat young children,
with the view to propitiate the god, and make its parents prolific. So
also the first-born of a mother was sometimes killed and eaten, in
thankfulness to the god for making them the instruments of its
_procreation_. The king was the owner and master of the whole tribe. He
might kill and do what else he pleased with them. The whole tribe was
essentially his slaves. But he usually made use of them as a sort of
soldiers. Those who were put to death at feasts and sacrifices were
generally persons captured from other tribes. Persons captured were also
slaves, might be killed and eaten on days of sacrifice, or sold and
carried away to unknown countries. If one was killed in battle, and fell
into the hands of those who slew him, they feasted on him at night. If
they captured one alive who had done the tribe great injury, a day was
set apart for all the tribe to revenge themselves and feast on him. The
feet and palms of the hands were the most delicious parts. When the king
or master died, some of his favourite wives and other slaves were put to
death, so that he yet should have their company and services. The king
and the men of the tribe seldom cultivated the land; but the women and
captured slaves are the cultivators. They never whip a slave, but strike
him with a club; sometimes break his bones or kill him: if they kill
him, they eat him.
Sedgjo belonged to the king’s family; sometimes commanded as head man;
consequently, had he not been sold, would have been killed and eaten.
The idea of being killed and eaten was not very dreadful to him; he had
rather be eaten by men than to have the flies eat him.
He once thought white men bought slaves to eat, as they did goats. When
he first saw the white man, he was afraid of his red lips; he thought
they were raw flesh and sore. It was more frightful to be eaten by red
than by black lips.
On shipboard, many try to starve, or jump into the sea, to keep
themselves from being eaten by the red-lips. Did they but know what was
wanted of them, the most would be glad to come. He cannot tell how long
he was on the way to the ships, nor did he know where he was going;
thinks he was sold many times before he got there; never saw the white
man till he was near the sea; all the latter part of his journey to the
coast the people did not kill or eat their slaves, but sold them. Their
clothing is a small cloth about the loins. The king and some others have
a large cloth about the shoulders. Many are entirely naked all their
lives. Sedgjo has no wish to go back; has better clothing here than the
kings have there; if he does more work, he has more meat. If he is
whipped here, he is struck with a club there. There, always afraid of
being killed; jumped like a deer, if, out of the village, he saw or met
a stranger; is very glad he came here; here he is afraid of nobody.
Such is the substance of what came from the negro’s own lips. It was
impossible to learn from him his distinct nation or tribe. Mr. Bookter
thought him an Eboe, which was probably a mistake.
* * * * *
The Periplus, or voyage of Hanno, was made 570 years before the
Christian era. Its account was written in Punic, and deposited in the
temple of Moloch, at Carthage. It was afterwards translated into Greek;
and thence into English, by Dr. Faulkner, a sketch of which may be found
in the “Phœnix of Rare Fragments,” from which we quote, pp. 208–210:
“Beyond the Lixitiæ dwell the inhospitable Ethiopians, who pasture a
wild country, intersected by large mountains, from which they say the
river Lixus flows. In the neighbourhood of the mountains lived the
‘Troglodytæ,’ (people who burrowed in the earth,) men of various
appearance, whom the Lixitiæ described as swifter in running than
horses. * * * Thence we proceeded towards the east the course of a day,
* * * from which proceeding a day’s sail, we came to the extremity of
the lake, that was overhung by large mountains, inhabited by savage men
clothed in skins of wild beasts, who drove us away by throwing stones,
and hindered us from landing. * * * Thence we sailed towards the south
twelve days, * * * the whole of which is inhabited by Ethiopians, who
would not wait our approach, but fled from us. Their language was not
intelligible, even to the Lixitiæ who were with us. * * * When we had
landed, we could discover nothing in the daytime except trees; in the
night we saw many fires burning, and heard the sound of pipes, cymbals,
drums, and confused shouts. We were then afraid, and our diviners
ordered us to abandon the island; * * * at the bottom of which lay an
island like the other, having a lake, and in this lake another island,
full of savage people, the greater part of whom were women, whose bodies
were hairy, and whom our interpreters called _Gorillæ_. Though we
pursued the men, we could not seize any of them; all fled from us,
escaping over the precipices, and defending themselves with stones.
Three women were however taken; but they attacked their conductors with
their teeth and hands, and could not be prevailed on to accompany us.
Having killed them, we flayed them, and brought their skins with us to
Carthage.”
See also King Humpsal’s History of African Settlements, translated from
the Punic books, by Sallust and into English by H. Stewart, page 221:
“The Gætuli and the Libyans, as it appears, were the first nations that
peopled Africa; a rude and savage race, subsisting partly on the flesh
of wild beasts, and partly, like cattle, on the herbs of the field.
Among these tribes social intercourse was unknown; and they were utter
strangers to laws, or to civil government; wandering during the day from
place to place, as inclination prompted; at night, wherever chance
conducted them they took up their transient habitation.” See page 224,
same book: “At the back of Numidia, the Gætuli are reported to inhabit,
a savage tribe, of which a part only made use of huts; while the rest,
less civilized, lead a roving life, without restraint or fixed
habitation. Beyond the Gætuli is the country of the Ethiopians.”
In _Judg._ iii. 7, 8, we have as follows: “And the children of Israel
did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God. * * *
Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them
into the hand of _Chusan Rishathaim_," (כּוּשָׁן רִשְׁעֲתַיִם) which,
means the “_wicked Ethiopians_.” Let us notice its similarity of
sentiment with a record in hieroglyphics, in the temple of Karnac, where
_Cush_ is used as the general term to mean the negro tribes: thus,
“_Kush_, _barbarian_, _perverse race_;” and there inscribed over the
figures of negro captives, two thousand years before our Christian era.
See Gliddon’s Lectures, page 42.
We quote from Horne’s “Introduction to the Study of the Scriptures,”
thus: “It is a notorious fact that these latter” (the Canaanites) “were
an abominably wicked people.”
“It is needless to enter into any proof of the depraved state of their
morals; they were a wicked people in the time of Abraham; and even then
were devoted to destruction by God. But their iniquity was not yet full.
In the time of Moses, they were idolaters; sacrificers of their own
crying and smiling infants; devourers of human flesh; addicted to
unnatural lusts; immersed in the filthiness of all manner of vice.” See
_Christian Observer_ of 1819, p. 732.
But let us look at the negro tribes in more modern days. We quote from
Lander, p. 58: “What makes us more desirous to leave this abominable
place, is the fact (as we have been told) that a sacrifice of no less
than _three hundred_ human beings, of both sexes and all ages, is
shortly to take place. We often hear the cries of many of these poor
wretches; and the heart sickens with horror at the bare contemplation of
such a scene as awaits us should we remain here much longer.”
And page 74: “We have longed to discover a solitary virtue lingering
among the natives of this place, (Badagry,) but as yet our search has
been ineffectual.”
And page 77: “We have met with nothing but selfishness and rapacity,
from the chief to the meanest of his people. The religion of Badagry is
Mohammedanism, and the worst species of paganism; that which sanctions
and enjoins the sacrifice of human beings, and other abominable
practices, and the worship of imaginary demons and fiends.”
Page 110: “It is the custom here, when a governor dies, for two of his
favourite wives to quit the world on the same day, in order that he may
have a little pleasant, social company in a future state.”
Page 111: “The reason of our not meeting with a better reception at
Loatoo, when we slept there, was the want of a chief to that town, the
last having followed the old governor to the eternal shades, for he was
his slave. Widows are burned in India, just as they are poisoned or
_clubbed_ here; but in the former country, I believe no male victims are
destroyed on such occasions.”
“At Paoya, (page 124,) several chiefs in the road have asked us the
reason why the Portuguese do not purchase as many slaves as formerly;
and make very sad complaints of the stagnation in this branch of
traffic.”
Page 158: “At Leograda, a man thinks as little of taking a wife as
cutting an ear of corn. Affection is altogether out of the question.”
Page 160: “At Eitcho, it will scarcely be believed, that not less than
one hundred and sixty governors of towns and villages between this place
and the seacoast, all belonging to Yariba, have died from natural
causes, or have been slain in war, since I was last here; and that of
the inhabited places through which we have passed, not more than a
half-dozen chiefs are alive at this moment, who received and entertained
me on my return to Badagry, three years ago.”
Page 176: “They seem to have no social tenderness; very few of those
amiable private virtues which would win our affection, and none of those
public qualities that claim respect or command admiration. Their love of
country is not strong enough in their bosoms to incite them to defend it
against the irregular incursions of a despicable foe. * * * Regardless
of the past as reckless of the future; the present alone influences
their actions. In this respect they approach nearer to the brute
creation than perhaps any other people on the face of the globe.”
Page 181: “In so large a place as this, where two-thirds of the
population are slaves.” * * *
Page 192: “The cause of it was soon explained by his informing us that
he would be doomed to die with two companions, (slaves,) as soon as
their governor’s dissolution should take place.”
Page 227: “In the forenoon we passed near a spot where our guides
informed us a party of Falatahs, a short time ago, murdered twenty of
their slaves, because they had not food sufficient,” &c.
Page 232: “At Coobly, he would rather have given us a boy (slave)
instead of the horse.”
Page 233: “Monday, June 14th.—The governor’s old wife returned from
Boossa this morning, whither she had gone in quest of three female
slaves who had fled from her about a fortnight since. She has brought
her fugitives back with her, and they are now confined in irons.”
Page 272: “Both these days the men have been entering the city; and they
have brought with them only between forty and fifty slaves.”
Page 278: “The chief benefits resulting to Bello from the success of the
rebels, were a half-yearly tribute, which the magia agreed to pay him in
slaves.”
Page 282: “At Yaooris.—And many thousands of his men, fearing no law,
and having no ostensible employment, are scattered over the face of the
whole country. They commit all sorts of crimes; they plunder, they burn,
they destroy, and even murder, and are not accountable to any earthly
tribunal for their actions.”
Page 312: “At Boossa.—The manners of the Africans too, are hostile to
the interest and advancement of woman, and she is very rarely placed on
an equality with her husband.”
Page 228: “A man is at liberty to return his wife to her parents at any
time, and without adducing any reason.”
Page 345: “The Sheikh of Bornou has recently issued a proclamation, that
no slaves from the interior countries are to be sent for sale farther
west than Wowow,—so that none will be sent in future from thence to the
seaside. The greatest and most profitable market for slaves is said to
be at Timbuctoo, whither their owners at present transport them to sell
to the Arabs, who take them over the deserts of Tahara and Libya to sell
in the Barbary States. An Arab has informed us that many of his
countrymen trade as far as Turkey, in Europe, with their slaves, where
they dispose of them for two hundred and fifty dollars each. * * *
Perhaps it would be speaking within compass to say that four-fifths of
the whole population of this country, (the Eboe,) likewise every other
hereabouts, are slaves.”
Vol. ii. page 208: “It may appear strange that I should dwell so long on
this subject, for it seems quite natural that every one, even the most
thoughtless barbarian, would feel at least some slight emotion on being
exiled from his native land and enslaved; but so far is this from being
the case, that Africans, generally speaking, betray the most perfect
indifference on losing their liberty and being deprived of their
relatives; while love of country is seemingly as great a stranger to
their breasts as social tenderness and domestic affection. We have seen
many thousands of slaves; some of them more intelligent than others; but
the poor little fat woman whom I have mentioned,—the associate of beasts
and wallowing in filth,—whose countenance would seem to indicate only
listnessness, stupidity, and perhaps idiotism, without the smallest
symptom of intelligence—she alone has shown any thing like regret on
gazing on her native land for the last time.”
Page 218: “It has been told us by many that the Eboe people are
confirmned Anthropophagi; and this opinion is more prevalent among the
tribes bordering on that kingdom than with the nations of more remote
districts.”
We shall close our extracts from Lander’s work, by the following,
showing that the Africans made slaves of the two Landers themselves.
Page 225: “The king then said, with a serious countenance, that there
was no necessity for further discussion respecting the white men, (the
two brothers Lander,) his mind was already made up on the subject; and
for the first time, he briefly explained himself, to this effect: That
circumstances having thrown us in the way of his subjects, by the laws
and usages of the country he was not only entitled to our own persons,
but had equal rights to those of our attendants. That he should take no
further advantage of his good fortune than by exchanging us for as much
English goods as would amount in value to twenty slaves.”
The following we transcribe from Stedman’s Narrative, vol. ii. page 267:
“I should not forget to mention that the Gingo negroes are supposed to
be Anthropophagi, or cannibals, like the Caribbee Indians, instigated by
habitual and implacable revenge. Among the rebels of this tribe, after
the taking of Boucore, some pots were found on the fire, with human
flesh, which one of the officers had the curiosity to taste; and
declared that it was not inferior to some kinds of beef or pork. I have
since been informed, by a Mr. Vaugils, an American, who, having
travelled a great number of miles inland in Africa, at last came to a
place where human arms, legs, and thighs hung upon wooden shambles, and
were exposed to sale like butcher’s meat. And Captain John Keen,
formerly of the Dolphin, but late of the Vianbana schooner, in the
Sierra Leone Company’s service, positively assured me that, a few years
since, when he was on the coast of Africa, in the brig Fame, from
Bristol, Mr. Samuel Briggs, owner, trading for wool, ivory, and
gold-dust, a Captain Dunningen, with the whole crew belonging to the
Nassau schooner, were cut in pieces, salted, and eaten by the negroes of
Great Drewin.”
But this is nothing to what is related, on good authority, respecting
the Giagas, a race of cannibals who are said to have overrun a great
part of Africa. These monsters, it is said, are descended from the Agows
and Galia, who dwell in the southern extremity of Abyssinia, near the
sources of the Nile. Impelled by necessity or the love of plunder, they
left their original settlements, and extended their ravages through the
heart of Africa, till they were stopped by the Western Ocean. They
seized on the kingdom of Benguela, laying to the south of Angola; and in
this situation they were found by the Romish missionaries, and by our
countryman, Andrew Battel, whose adventures may be found in Purchas’s
Pilgrim. Both he, and the Capuchin Cavozzi, who resided long among them
and converted several of them to Christianity, gave such an account of
their manners as is enough to chill the blood with horror. We shall
spare our readers the horrid detail, only observing that human flesh is
one of their delicacies, and that they devour it, not from a spirit of
revenge, or from any want of other food, but as the most agreeable
dainty. Some of their commanders, when they went on an expedition,
carried numbers of young women along with them, some of whom were slain
almost every day, to gratify this unnatural appetite.” See Modern
Universal History, vol. xvi. p. 321; also Anzito; also Edin. Encyc. vol.
ii. p. 185.
In continuation of this subject, permit us to take a view of these
tribes, at a time just before the slave-trade commenced among them with
Christian nations. The Portuguese were first to attempt to colonize
portions of Africa, with the double view of extending commerce and of
spreading the Christian faith. They commenced a settlement of that kind
in the regions of Congo, as early as 1578; shortly after which, the
Angolas, an adjoining nation, being at war with each other, one party
applied to Congo and the Portuguese for aid, which was lent them. Soon a
battle took place, in which 120,000 of the Angolas and Giagas were
slain. See Lopez’s Hist. of Congo.
About the same time, we find in _Dappus de l'Afrique_, the following
data:
“The natives of Angola are tall and strong but, like the rest of the
Ethiopians, they are so very lazy and indolent, that although their soil
is admirably adapted to the raising of cattle and the production of
grain, they allow both to be destroyed by the wild beasts with which the
country abounds. The advantages which they enjoy from climate and soil
are thus neglected. * * * We are told that the people in some of the
idolatrous provinces still feed on human flesh, and prefer it to all
other; so that a dead slave gives a higher price in market than a living
one. The cannibals are in all probability descended from the barbarous
race of the Giagas, by whom the greater part of the eastern and
south-eastern provinces were peopled. One most inhuman custom still
prevails in this part of the kingdom, and that is, the sacrificing of a
number of human victims at the burial of their dead, in testimony of the
respect in which their memory is held. The number of these unhappy
victims is therefore always in proportion to the rank and wealth of the
deceased; and their bodies are afterwards piled up in a heap upon their
tombs. * * * This prince (Angola Chilvagni) became a great warrior,
enlarged the Angolic dominions, and died much regretted; and was
succeeded by his son, Dambi Angola. Unlike his father, he is described
as a monster of cruelty, and, happily for his subjects, his reign was of
short duration. Nevertheless, he was buried with great magnificence;
and, according to the barbarous custom of the country, a mound was
erected over his grave, filled with the bones of human victims, who had
been sacrificed to his manes.”
“He was succeeded by Ngola Chilvagni, a warlike and cruel prince, who
carried his victorious arms within a few leagues of Loando. * * *
Intoxicated with success, he fancied himself a God, and claimed divine
honours. * * * Ngingha was elected his successor, a prince of so cruel a
disposition that all his subjects wished his death; which, happily for
them, soon arrived. Nevertheless, he was buried with the usual pomp,
with the usual number of sacrifices. His son and successor, Bandi
Angola, discovered a disposition still more cruel than his father’s. * *
* To counteract these and other idolatrous rites, and to soften that
barbarity of manners which so generally prevailed, the Portuguese, when
they established themselves in the country, (1578,) were at great pains
to introduce the invaluable blessings of Christianity. * * * so that
from the year 1580 to 1590, we are informed, no less a number than
20,000 were converted and publicly professed Christianity.” * *
“Her remains were no sooner deposited beside her sisters, in the church
which she had built, than Mona Zingha declared his abhorrence to
Christianity, and revived the horrid Giagan rites. Five women, of the
first rank, were by his orders buried in the queen’s grave, and upwards
of forty persons of distinction were next sacrificed. * * * He wrote the
viceroy at Loando, that he had abjured the Christian religion, which he
said he had formerly embraced merely out of respect * * * to his queen,
and that he now returned to the ancient sect of the Giagas. That there
might remain no doubt of his sincerity in that declaration, he followed
it with the sacrifice of a great number of victims, in honour of their
bloody and idolatrous rites, with the destruction of all Christian
churches and chapels, and with the persecution of the Christians in all
parts of his kingdom.”
And we may here remark that even the nations of the coast could never be
persuaded to abolish human sacrifice, nor to the introduction of
Christianity, to any extent, until after the introduction of the
slave-trade with christian nations. See also Osborn’s Collection of
Travels, vol. ii. p. 537; Mod. Universal Hist. vol. 43; and Edin. Encyc.
vol. ii. pp. 107, 109, 110, 113.
Over two hundred years ago, and during the reign of Charles I. of
England, Sir Thomas Herbert, (not Lord Edward Herbert, who wrote a
deistical book, entitled, “Truth,”) a gentleman of most elevated
connection, and a scholar devoted to science and general literature,
with a mind adorned by poetry and influenced by the strongest impulses
of human sympathy; and one, of whom Lord Fairfax said,
“He travelled, not with lucre sotted,
But went for knowledge—and he got it!”
This author, in his Tour in Africa, writes thus: “The inhabitants here
along the Golden coast of Guinea, and Benin, bounded with Tombotu,
(Timbuctoo,) Gualata, and Mellis, and watered by the great river Niger,
but, especially in the Mediterranean (inland) parts, know no God, nor
are at all willing to be instructed by nature—“Scire nihil
jucundissimum.” Howbeit the Divel, who will not want his ceremonie, has
infused prodigious idolatry into their hearts, enough to relish his
pallet, and aggrandize their tortures, where he gets power to fry their
souls, as the raging sun has scorched their cole-black carcasses. * * *
Those countries are full of black-skinned wretches, rich in earth, as
abounding with the best minerals and with elephants, but miserable in
Demonomy. * * * Let one character serve for all. For colour they
resemble chimney-sweepers; unlike them in this, they are of no
profession, except rapine and villany make one; for here, _Demonis omnia
plena_. * * * But in Loango and the Anziqui the people are little other
than divels incarnate; not satisfied with nature’s treasures, as gold,
precious stones, flesh in variety, and the like; the destruction of men
and women neighbouring them, whose dead carcasses they devour with a
vulture relish and appetite; whom if they miss, they serve their friends
such scurvy sauce, butchering them, and thinking they excuse all in a
compliment that they know no better way to express love than in making
two bodies in one, by an inseparable union; yea, some, as some report,
proffering themselves to the shambles, accordingly are disjointed and
set to sale upon the stalls. * * * The natives of Africa being
propagated from Cham, both in their visages and natures, seem to inherit
his malediction. * * * They are very brutes. A dog was of that value
here that twenty salvages (slaves) have been exchanged for one of them;
but of late years the exchange here made for negroes, to transport into
the Cariba isles and continent of America, is become a considerable
trade.”
It will be remembered how great have been the exertions of the British
Government to abolish totally the slave-trade in Africa. A great number
of slave ships were captured, and the negroes found on board sent to
Sierra Leone. Strong hopes were entertained that “_poor, suffering
Africa_” was about to be civilized.
We quote from the Hibernian Auxiliary Missionary Report, Christian
Observer, 1820, pages 888 and 889:
“The slave-trade, which like the (fabled) upas, blasts all that is
wholesome in its vicinity, has, in one important instance, been here
overruled for good. It has been made the means of assembling on one
spot, and that on a Christian soil, individuals from almost every nation
of the western coast of Africa. It has been made the means of
introducing to civilization and religion many hundreds from the interior
of that vast continent, who had never seen the face of a white man, nor
heard the name of Jesus. And it will be made the means under God of
sending to the nations beyond the Niger and the Zaire, native
missionaries who will preach the Redeemer in the utmost parts of the
country, and enable their countrymen to hear in their own tongue the
wonderful works of God. European avarice and native profligacy leave no
part of Africa unexplored for victims; and these slaves, rescued by our
cruisers, and landed on the shores of our colony, are received by our
missionaries and placed in their schools.”
The sympathies of the world were excited on this subject, and every
civilized heart cried _amen_, in union with the impulsive feelings of
this Hibernian Report.
But let us remember to inquire a little into the facts, and examine
whether these hopes were well or ill founded. We quote from vol. xix. of
the Christian Observer, page 890:
“Mr. Johnson was appointed to the care of Regent’s Town, in the month of
June, 1816. On looking narrowly into the actual condition of the people
intrusted to his care, he felt great discouragement. Natives of
twenty-two different nations were there collected together. A
considerable number of them had been but recently liberated from the
holds of slave-vessels. They were greatly prejudiced against one
another, and in a state of continual hostility, with no common medium of
intercourse but a little broken English. When clothing was given to
them, they would sell it, or throw it away: it was difficult to induce
them to put it on; and it was not found practicable to introduce it
among them, until led to it by the example of Mr. Johnson’s
servant-girl. None of them, on their first arrival, seemed to live in a
state of marriage; some of them were soon afterwards married by the late
Mr. Butscher; but all the blessings of the marriage state and of female
purity appeared to be quite unknown. * * * Superstition, in various
forms, tyrannized over their minds; many devil’s houses sprang up, and
all placed their security in wearing gregrees. Scarcely any desire of
improvement was discernable. * * * Some, who wished to cultivate the
soil, were deterred from doing so by the fear of being plundered of the
produce. Some would live in the woods, apart from society; and others
subsisted by thieving and plunder: they would steal poultry and pigs
from any who possessed them, and would eat them raw; and not a few of
them, particularly of the Eboe nation, the most savage of them all,
would prefer any kind of refuse meat to the rations which they received
from Government.”
Doubtless Mr. Johnson and his successors have done all that good men
could do, even under the protection of the British Government; but have
they, in the least, affected the slave-trade of Africa, otherwise than
to divert its direction, or have they diminished it to any observable
extent? True, its course has been changed, and its enormities thereby
increased tenfold. Instead of its subjects being brought under the
regenerating influences of Christianity, they are sacrificed at the
shrine of friends at home, or sent among pagans or Mohammedans! Let the
Christian philosopher think of these things.
While we recollect the proclamation of the Emperor of Bourno, let us
look at the slave-trade as now carried on with the Barbary States, the
Arab tribes, and Egypt and Asia, as well as Turkey in Europe. We quote
from “Burckhart’s Travels in Nubia,” as reported in the Christian
Observer, vol. xix. p. 459:
“The author had a most favourable opportunity of collecting intelligence
and making observations on this subject, (slavery,) as connected with
the northeastern parts of Africa by travelling with companies of slaves
and slave-merchants through the deserts of Nubia. * * * The chief mart
in the Nubian mountains, for the Egyptian and the Arabian slave-trade,
is Shendy. * * * To this emporium, slaves are brought from various parts
of the interior, and particularly from the idolatrous * * * tribes in
the vicinity of Darfour, Bozgho, and Dar Saley.”
Our traveller calculated the number sold annually in the market of
Shendy at five thousand. “Far the larger part of these slaves are under
the age of fifteen.”
See page 460: “Few slaves are imported into Egypt without changing
masters several times. * * * A slave, for example, purchased at Fertit,
is transferred at least six times before he arrives at Cairo. These
rapid changes, as might be expected, are productive of great hardship to
the unfortunate individuals, especially in the toilsome journey across
the deserts. Burckhart saw on sale at Shendy, many children of four or
five years old, _without their parents_. * * * Burckhart has entered
into the details of cruelties of another kind, practised on the slaves
to raise their pecuniary value. The particulars are not suitable for a
work of miscellaneous perusal. * * * The great mart, however, for the
supply of European and Asiatic Turkey with the kind of slaves required
as guardians for the harem, Mr. Burckhart informs us, is not at Shendy,
but at a village near Siout, in Upper Egypt, _inhabited chiefly by
Christians_.” (Abyssinians, we suppose.)
The mode of marching slaves is described as follows: “On the journey,
they are tied to a long pole, one end of which is tied to a camel’s
saddle, and the other, which is forked, is passed on each side of the
slave’s neck, and tied behind with a strong cord, so as to prevent him
drawing out his head: in addition to this, his right hand is also
fastened to the pole, at a short distance from the head, thus leaving
only his legs and left arm at liberty. In this manner he marches the
whole day behind the camel: at night he is taken from the pole and put
in irons. While on the route to Souakim, I saw several slaves carried
along in this way. Their owners were afraid of their escaping, or of
becoming themselves the objects of their vengeance; and in this manner
they would continue to be confined until sold to a master, who,
intending to keep them, would endeavour to attach them to his person. In
general, the traders seem greatly to dread the effects of sudden
resentment in their slaves; and if a grown-up boy is to be whipped, his
master first puts him in irons.”
Page 333: “Females with children on their backs follow the caravans on
foot; and if a camel breaks down, the owner generally loads his slaves
with the packages; and if a boy in the evening can only obtain a little
butter with his _dhourra_ bread, and some grease every two or three days
to smear his body and hair, he is contented, and never complains of
fatigue. Another cause which induces the merchants to treat the slaves
well (?) is their anxiety to dissipate the horror which the negroes all
entertain of Egypt and the white people. It is a common opinion in the
black slave countries that the Ouleder Rif, or children of Rif, as the
Egyptians are there called, devour the slaves, who are transported
thither for that purpose: of course, the traders do every thing in their
power to destroy this belief; but, notwithstanding all their endeavours,
it is never eradicated from the mind of the slaves.”
Page 462: “The manners of the people of Souakim are the same as those I
have already described in the interior, and I have reason to believe
that they are common to the whole of eastern Africa, including
Abyssinia, where the character of the inhabitants, as drawn by Bruce,
seems little different from that of these Nubians. I regret that I am
compelled to represent all the nations of Africa which I have yet seen,
in so bad a light.”
We next quote from the Family Magazine, 1836, page 439, as follows:
“Many of the Dayaks have a rough, scaly scurf on their skin, like the
Jacong of the Malay Peninsula. * * * The female slaves of this race,
which are found among the Malays, have no appearance of it. * * * With
regard to their funeral ceremonies, the corpse * * * remains in the
house till the son, the father, or the next of blood, can procure or
purchase a slave, who is beheaded at the time the corpse is burned, in
order that he may become the _slave_ of the deceased in the next world.
* * * Nobody can be permitted to marry till he can present a human head
of some other tribe to his proposed bride. * * * The head-hunter
proceeds in the most cautious manner to the vicinity of the villages of
another tribe, and lies in ambush till he can surprise some heedless,
unsuspecting wretch, who is instantly decapitated. * * * When the hunter
returns, the whole village is filled with joy, and old and young, men
and women, hurry out to meet him, and conduct him, with the sound of
brazen cymbals, dancing, in long lines, to the house of the female he
admires, whose family likewise come out to greet him with dances, and
provide him with a seat, and give him meat and drink. He holds the
bloody head still in his hand, and puts part of the food into his mouth,
after which the females of the family receive the head from him, which
they hang up to the ceiling over the door. If a man’s wife die, he is
not permitted to make proposals of marriage to another till he has
procured another head of a different tribe. The heads they procure in
this manner, they preserve with great care, and sometimes consult in
divination. The religious opinions connected with this practice are by
no means correctly understood: some assert they believe that every
person whom a man kills in this world becomes his _slave_ in the next. *
* * The practice of stealing heads causes frequent wars among the tribes
of the Idean. Many persons never can obtain a head; in which case they
are generally despised by the warriors and the women. To such a height
is it carried, however, that a person who has obtained eleven heads has
been seen, and at the same time he pointed out his son who, a young lad,
had procured three.”
James Edward Alexander, H.L.S., during the years 1836 and 1837, made an
excursion from the Cape of Good Hope into the interior of South Africa
and the countries of the Namaquas, Boschmans, and Hill Damaras, under
the auspices of Her Majesty’s Government and the Royal Geographical
Society, which has been published in two volumes; from which we extract,
vol. i. page 126: “I was anxious to ascertain the extent of knowledge
among the tribe (Damaras) with which I now dwelt; to learn what they
knew of themselves, and of men and things in general; but I must say
that they positively know nothing beyond tracing game and breaking in
jack-oxen. They did not know one year from another; they only knew that
at certain times the trees and flowers bloom, and then rain was
expected. As to their own age, they knew no more what it was than
idiots. Some even had no names. Of numbers, of course, they were nearly
or quite ignorant; few could count above five; and he was a clever
fellow who could count his ten fingers. Above all they had not the least
idea of God or of a future state. They were, literally like the beasts
which perish.”
Page 163, 164, and 165: “At Chubeeches the people were very poor. * * *
Standing in need of a shepherd, I observed here two or three fine little
Damara boys, as black as ebony. * * * I said to the old woman to whom
Saul belonged, ‘You have two boys, and they are starving; you have
nothing to give them.’ ‘This is true,’ she replied. ‘Will you part with
Saul?’ said I; ‘I want a shepherd, and the boy wants to go with me.’
‘You will find him too cunning,’ returned the old dame. ‘I want a clever
fellow,’ said I. ‘Very well,’ she replied; ‘give me four cotton
handkerchiefs and he is yours.’ ‘Suppose,’ said I, ‘you take two
handkerchiefs and two strings of glass beads?’ ‘Yes! that will do;’ and
so the bargain was closed; and thus a good specimen of Damara flesh and
blood was bought for the value of about four shillings. * * * I told him
to go and bring his skins; on which he informed me that he had none,
saving what he stood in—and that was his own sable hide, with the
addition of the usual strap of leather around his waist, from which hung
a piece of jackal’s skin in front. Constant exposure to the vicissitudes
of the weather, without clothes, hardens the skin of the body like that
of the face; and still it is difficult to sleep at nights without proper
covering. In cold weather, the poor creatures of Namaqua Land, who may
have no karosses, sit cowering over a fire all night, and merely doze
with their heads on their knees.”
Vol. ii. page 23: “Can any state of society be considered more low and
brutal than that in which promiscuous intercourse is viewed with the
most perfect indifference; where it is not only practised, but spoken of
without any shame or compunction? Some rave about the glorious liberty
of the savage state, and about the innocence of the children of nature,
and say that it is chiefly by the white men that they become corrupt.
The Boschmans of Ababres had never seen white men before; they were far
removed from the influence of the Europeans.”
Vol. i. page 102: “Notwithstanding that some people maintain that there
is no nation on earth without religion in some form, however faintly it
may be traced in their minds, yet, after much diligent inquiry, I could
not discover the slightest feeling of devotion towards a higher and
invisible power among the Hill Damaras.”
In Mohammedan countries, the most unfavourable portions of the slave’s
existence, as such, is while in the hands of the geeleb, or
slave-merchant, and until he is sold to one who designs to keep him
permanently. In the first instance, if negroes, they suffer much in the
journey from the place of purchase to that of sale. For instance, it has
been known, in the journey from Sennaar and Darfour to the slave-mart at
Cairo, or even the intermediate one at Siout, the loss in a slave
caravan, of men, women, camels, and horses, amounted to not less than
4000. The circumstances of the mart itself scarcely appear in a more
favourable aspect than those of the journey,—whether we regard the
miserable beings, as in the market at Cairo, crowded together in
enclosures like the sheep-pens in Smithfield market, amid the abominable
stench and uncleanness which result from their confinement; whether, as
at another great mart at Muscat, we perceive the dealer walking to and
fro, with a stick in his hand, between two lots of ill-clothed boy and
girls, whom he is offering for sale, proclaiming aloud, as he passes,
the price fixed on each; or else leading his string of slaves through
the narrow and dirty streets, and calling out their prices as he
exhibits them in this ambulatory auction. * * * The slaves, variously
exhibited, usually appear quite indifferent to the process, or only show
an anxiety to be sold, from knowing that as slaves, finally purchased,
their condition will be much ameliorated. * * * How little slavery is
dreaded is also shown by the fact that even _Mohammedan parents or
relatives_ are, in cases of emergency, ready enough to offer their
children for sale. During the famine which a few years since drove the
people of Mosul to Bengal, one could not pass the streets without being
annoyed by the solicitations of parents to purchase their boys and girls
for the merest trifle; and even in Koordistan, where no constraining
motive appeared to exist, we have been sounded as to our willingness to
purchase young members of the family. Europeans in the East are scarcely
considered amenable to any general rules, but Christians generally are
not allowed to possess any other than negro slaves.” _London Penny Mag._
1834, pp. 243, 244; also, _Sketches of Persia_, and _Johnson’s Journey
from India_.
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