Chap. XXIX. EUROPEAN SLAVE AGENCY. 593 



superior in intellect to many others, are so thoroughly de- 

 graded morally, that they have been known to sell, for a 

 tusk that took their fancy, their own daughters or newly- 

 married wives. The members of the same tribes who are 

 settled, and have never engaged in slaving, would be shocked 

 at the bare mention of such enormities. 



And lastly, we have still another and more ample source of 

 supply for the ocean slave-trade, and we regret to say the 

 means for its success are drawn directly from Europeans. 

 Trading parties are sent out from Portuguese and Arab coast 

 towns with large quantities of muskets, ammunition, cloth, 

 and beads. The two last articles are used for paying their 

 way during the earlier part of the journey from the Coast, 

 and for the purchase of ivory. From a great number of cases 

 we have examined, these slaving-parties seem to preserve the 

 mercantile character for a large portion of the trip. They 

 usually settle down with some Chieftain and cultivate the 

 soil ; but we know of no instance in which they have not, at 

 one part of their journey, joined one tribe in attacking another 

 for the sake of the captives they could take. This is so fre- 

 quent an occurrence, that the system causes a frightful loss of 

 life. The bow cannot stand for a moment against the musket. 

 Flight, starvation, and death ensue ; and we must again record 

 our conviction that the mortality after these slave wars, in 

 addition to the losses on the journey to the Coast and during 

 the middle passage, makes it certain that not more tlian one 

 in five ever reach the " kind masters " in Cuba and elsewhere, 

 whom, according to slave-owners' interpretation of Scripture, 

 Providence intended for them. 



The Portuguese at Tette followed the last of these systems. 

 The waste of life we witnessed is beyond description. As 

 members of the medical profession our eyes were familiar 

 with scenes truly sad enough, but this misery by the slave- 

 trade fairly outstrips all we ever saw. Part of the captives 

 realized were sent up the Zambesi above Tette to be sold for 



2 Q 



