392 LAEGE SLAVE-PAETY. Chap. XIX. 



and die of their wounds and famine, driven from their villages 

 by the slave raid proper. Thousands perish in internecine 

 war waged for slaves with their own clansmen and neigh- 

 bours, slain by the lust of gain, which is stimulated, be it re- 

 membered always, by the slave purchasers of Cuba and 

 elsewhere. The many skeletons we have seen, amongst rocks 

 and woods, by the little pools, and along the paths of the 

 wilderness, attest the awful sacrifice of human life, which 

 must be attributed, directly or indirectly, to this trade of hell. 

 We would ask our countrymen to believe us when we say, as 

 we conscientiously can, that it is our deliberate opinion from 

 what we know and have seen, that not one-fifth of the victims of 

 the slave-trade ever become slaves. Taking the Shire Valley 

 as an average, we should say not even one-tenth arrive at 

 their destination. As the system, therefore, involves such 

 an awful waste of human life, — or shall we say of human 

 labour ? — and moreover tends directly to perpetuate the bar- 

 barism of those who remain in the country, the argument 

 for the continuance of this wasteful course because, forsooth, 

 a fraction of the enslaved may find good masters, seems of no 

 great value. This reasoning, if not the result of ignorance, 

 may be of maudlin philanthropy. A small armed steamer 

 on Lake Nyassa could easily, by exercising a control, and 

 furnishing goods in exchange for ivory and other products, 

 break the neck of this infamous traffic in that quarter ; for 

 nearly all must cross the Lake or the Upper Shire. 



Our exploration of the Lake extended from the 2nd 

 September to the 27th October, 1861 ; and, having expended 

 or lost most of the goods we had brought, it was necessary to 

 go back to the ship. When near the southern end, on our 

 return, we were told that a very large slave-party had just 

 crossed to the eastern side. We heard the fire of three guns 

 in the evening, and judged by the report that they must be 



