180 



TRADE IN IVORY. 



the carriers, the lowest free men. One class above the last 

 obtains the privilege of wearing shoes from the chief by paying 

 for it ; another, the soldiers or militia, pay for the privilege of 

 serving, the advantage being that they are not afterward liable 

 to be made carriers. They are also divided into gentlemen, and 

 little gentlemen, and, though quite black, speak of themselves 

 as white men, and of the others, who may not wear shoes, as 

 ' blacks.' " 



The lordly masters of the region manifest little concern 

 whether their subjects worship a bush, or the sun, or Christ, if 

 only their plantations and orchards yield abundantly, and their 

 pockets growing yearly more plethoric promise leisure and 

 comfort when they go back to their own country. 



Next to the trade in slaves, perhaps the most material export 

 from Loanda in the past has been ivory, which is brought from 

 the interior by means of slave carriers in great quantities ; and 

 since the serious efforts for the suppression of the former, this 

 latter article is greatly increased in relative value. Slaves, in- 

 deed, are very cheap. Dr. Livingstone mentions seeing a boy 

 twelve years old sold for a single fowl, which was the equiva- 

 lent of only a pound or two of ivory. Almost fabulous num- 

 bers of tusks are brought out by the traders yearly. And as 

 there is no wagon way, and all burdens must be conveyed by 

 hand, there are great numbers of men who are employed ex- 

 clusively in this labor. These carriers were formerly forced 

 into service in any numbers, as the demand might suggest ; and 

 even now it is more a service of compulsion than willingness; 

 for the government, while almost forced in self-respect to enact 

 laws which have a show of kindness and justice, really encour- 

 ages the disregard of those laws by the leniency with which it 

 regards their violation by the different commanders. Unwil- 

 ling to relinquish its authority in Angola, the Portuguese home 

 government seems equally unwilling to support it by the neces- 

 sary expense, and prefers to hire officials for it by rich oppor- 

 tunities rather than reasonable salaries. It cannot cancel the 

 opportunities without increasing the salaries, so the disregard 

 of all protective ordinances is winked at, and the natives serve 

 for nothing. 



It is interesting to observe in the natives of Angola — who, 



