428 EXPLORE THE ROVUMA. Chap. XXI. 



under the circumstances could be done to infuse a desire 

 for freedom, by paying regular wages; and has established 

 a large factory, and brought 300 acres of rich soil under 

 cultivation with sugar-cane. We trust he will realize the 

 fortune, which he so well deserves to earn. Had Mr. 

 Sunley performed the same experiment on the mainland, 

 where people would have flocked to him for the wages he 

 now gives, he would certainly have inaugurated a new era 

 on the East Coast of Africa. On a small island where the 

 slaveholders have complete power over the slaves, and 

 where there is no free soil such as is everywhere met with 

 in Africa, the experiment ought not to be repeated. Were 

 Mr. Sunley commencing again, it should neither be in Zan- 

 zibar nor Johanna, but on African soil, where, if even a slave 

 is ill-treated, he can easily by flight become free. On an 

 island under native rule a joint manufacture by Arabs and 

 Englishmen might only mean that the latter were to escape 

 the odium of flogging the slaves. 



On leaving Johanna and our oxen for a time, H. M. S. 

 Orestes towed us thence to the mouth of the Kovuma at the 

 beginning of September. Captain Gardner her commander, 

 and several of his officers, accompanied us up the river 

 for two days in the gig and cutter. The water was unusually 

 low, and it was rather dull work for a few hours in the 

 morning ; but the scene became livelier and more animated 

 when the breeze began to blow. Our four boats then swept 

 on under full sail, the men on the look-out in the gig and 

 cutter calling, "Port, sir!" "Starboard, sir!" "As you go, 

 sir !" while the black men in the bows of the others shouted 

 the practical equivalents, " Pagombe ! Pagombe ! " " Enda 

 quete ! " " Berane ! Berane ! " Presently the leading-boat 

 touches on a sandbank ; down comes the fluttering sail ; 

 the men jump out to shove her off, and the other boats, 



