114 National Geographic Magazine. 



and 10° north latitude. From this region caravans of slaves are 

 sent to ports on the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, and thence 

 shipped to Indo-China, the Persian Gulf, Arabia, Turkey in 

 Asia, and even to Mesopotamia, wherever Mussulmans are found. 

 The English at Suakin are a constant hindrance to this traffic ; 

 and therefore Osman Digna has so often within the past five 

 years attacked Suakin, desiring to hold it as a port from which 

 to ship slaves to Arabia. Other caravans are driven across the 

 desert to Egypt, Morocco, and the Barbary States.- Portuguese 

 slave-traders are found in Central Africa, and, though contrary 

 to law, deal in slaves, and own and work them in large numbers. 

 Cameron says that Alrez, a Portuguese trader, owned 500 slaves, 

 and that to obtain them, ten villages, having each from 100 to 

 200 souls, were destroyed ; and of those not taken, some per- 

 ished in the flames, others of want, or were killed by wild beasts. 

 Cameron says, " I do not hesitate to affirm that the worst Arabs 

 are angels of mercy in comparison to the Portuguese and their 

 agents. If I had not seen it, I could not believe that there could 

 exist men so brutal and cruel, and with such gayety of heart." 

 Livingstone says, " I can consign most disagreeable recollections 

 to oblivion, but the slavery scenes come back unbidden, and 

 make me start up at night horrified by their vividness." 



If the chief or pacha of a tribe is called upon for tribute by 

 his superior, if he wishes to build a new palace, -to furnish his 

 harem, or fill an empty treasury, he sends his soldiers, armed 

 with guns and ammunition, against a Negro tribe armed with 

 bows and spears, and captures slaves enough to supply his wants. 



The territory from which slaves are captured is continually ex- 

 tending ; for, as soon as the European traveler has opened a new 

 route into the interior, he is followed by the Arab trader, who 

 settles down, cultivates the ground, buys ivory (each pair of 

 tusks worth about $500 at Zanzibar or Cairo); invites others to 

 come, and when they have become acquainted with the country, 

 and gathered large quantities of ivory, and porters are wanted 

 to carry the tusks to the coast, a quarrel is instigated with the 

 Negroes, war declared, captives taken, — men for porters, women 

 for the harem, — the villages are burned, and the caravan of 

 slaves and ivory takes its route to the coast, where ail are sold. 

 We are told on good authority that during the past twenty years 

 more slaves have been sent out than formerly wei-e exported in a 

 century. Wissmann tells us what he has seen : — 



