Chap. XVI. KIDNAPWxVG. 203 



the woman who holds the office of water carrier for Shinte; 

 as she passes along she rings a bell to give warning to all tc 

 keep out of her way ; for it would be a grave offence for any- 

 one to exercise an evil influence by approaching the drink of 

 the chief. 



I suspect that offences of the slightest character among the 

 poor are made the pretext for selling them or their children 

 10 the Mambari. For instance, a young man of Lobale had 

 located himself in the country of Shinte without showing 

 himself to the chief. This was considered an offence sufficient 

 to warrant his being offered for sale while we were there. 

 Not having reported himself, or explained the reason of his 

 running away from his own chief, they alleged that they 

 might be accused of harbouring a criminal. It is curious to 

 notice how the slave-trade blunts the moral susceptibility . 

 no chief in the south would have treated a fugitive in this 

 way. Another incident which occurred while we were here 

 may be mentioned, as of a character totally unknown in the 

 south. Two children, of seven and eight years old, who had 

 gone out to collect firewood about a quarter of a mile from 

 the village, disappeared. As no beasts of prey are found so 

 close to the town, we suspect that they were kidnapped by 

 some of the high men of Shinte's court, and sold by night. 

 The Mambari erect large square huts for the concealment of 

 these stolen ones. The frequent kidnapping from outlying- 

 hamlets explains the stockades we saw around them ; the 

 parents have no redress, for even Shinte himself seems fono 

 of working in the dark. One night he sent for me, and, on 

 my arrival, presented me with a slave-girl of about ten years 

 old ; saying that he had always been in the habit of presenting 

 his visitors with a child. On my declining the present or 

 the ground that I thought it wrong to take away children 

 from their parents, he urged that she was " to be a child" tc 

 bring me water, and that a great man ought to have a child 

 for the purpose. As I replied that I had four children, and 

 should be very sorry if my chief were to give away my little 

 girl, and that I would prefer this child to remain and carry 

 water fur her own mother, he thought I was dissatisfied with 

 her size, and sent for one a head taller ; after many explan- 

 ations of our abhorrence of slavery, and how displeasing it 



