XXI.] A SLAVE-HOLDER. 281 



tipo's camp was the number of slaves in chains who met my September, 

 eyes at every turn ; but, except being deprived of their free- i^"^*- 

 dom, and confined in order to prevent their running away, they 

 had a tolerably easy life, and were well fed. 



Tipo-tipo and many Arab traders asserted that they would be 

 glad to find other means of transport for their goods, instead of 

 trusting to slaves ; but, not regarding slave-dealing as a sin in 

 the abstract, they availed themselves of the means at their dis- 

 posal. 



Yery few slaves are exported from Manyuema by the Arabs 

 for profit, but are obtained to fill their harems, to cultivate the 

 farms which always surround the permanent camps, and to act 

 as porters. 



By the time a caravan arrives at Tanganyika from the west- 

 ward, nearly fifty per cent, have made their escape, and the ma- 

 jority of those remaining are disposed of at Ujiji and Unyan- 

 yembe, frequently as hire for free porters, so that comparative- 

 ly few reach the coast. Slavery, nevertheless, is increasing, ow- 

 ing to the number of coast people settling in the interior, who 

 fancy that it adds to their dignity to possess large numbers of 

 slaves. 



We left the camp on the 12th of September, with the usual 

 amount of trouble caused by meii skulking, and pretending to 

 be unable to carry any thing ; and on halting after a very short 

 march, I had to send for men and loads remaining behind. In 

 the night two men deserted ; but I went on without them, not 

 finding out until afterward that they had stolen a quantity of 

 Snider cartridges. To this they had been incited bv Syde Mez- 

 rui, who also left at N^yangwe, by " accident," a rifle I had lent 

 him during the journey from Ujiji. 



For some days we journeyed through a fairly populated 

 country, with large villages of well-built and clean huts dis- 

 posed in long streets, with bark-cloth trees planted on each side. 

 All the streets ran east and west, but the reason for this cus- 

 tom I was unable to discover. The people seemed friendly, and 

 the chiefs usually brought small presents of corn or dried white 

 ants — which are eaten here with porridge as a relish on account 

 of the scarcity of animal food — and they were perfectly satis- 

 fied with very small presents in return. 



