1879. | Geography and Travels. 533 
GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.! 
THE SLAVE TRADE IN CENTRAL AFRICA.—While the transpor- 
tation of slaves from the coast to Zanzibar has been almost 
entirely stopped by the exertions of the British navy, slaves in 
arge numbers are still brought to the coast mostly from the tribes 
living to the east of Lake Nyassa. Huge caravans are reported 
passing north along the coast, and probably these slaves are 
embarked from points far to the north in the Somali country. 
Others are smuggled into dhows by twos and threes at the coast 
towns, and so escape detection. The presence of Europeans even 
singly and unarmed in the interior has done much to discourage 
the kidnapping of the natives. A missionary in East Africa, 
writing to the London Times, quotes a chief as saying: “We 
don’t want to sell slaves if we can get our wants supplied by other 
means. You have come here with cloth, and beads, and brass 
wire, things which we formerly bought with slaves, but now we 
can sell our grain, our rice, our beans, our eggs, our fowls for 
them, and we are well satisfied. As to gunpowder, you won't 
bring that and sell it to us, but we are safe now that you live 
here, people won’t come to sell us into slavery ; we are, like you, 
living in peace, and so we no longer want gunpowder.” 
e trade is also being stealthily carried on in the Red sea. 
An interesting letter to the Zimes, from Alexandria, gives an 
account of Col. Gordon’s successful efforts to destroy this traffic 
Nile to the equatorial lakes, from the western frontier of Darfur to 
Cape Gardafui and the towns of Berbera and Zyla on the Indian 
cean. . 
Having succeeded in the first two years of his government in 
establishing order throughout his dominions, he next turned his 
attention to breaking up the trade in slaves, prevailing chiefly 
between tenth and fifth degrees of north latitude, and especially in 
` the region described by Schweinfurth as forming the water-shed of 
the Bahr Gazel—a vast alluvial land formerly rich in population, 
corn and cattle, but now turned into “ barren wildernesses.” In 
1871 Dr. Schweinfurth estimated that 2000 traders were annually 
obtaining 15,000 slaves from one set of tribes alone. In the last 
half of 1878, Col. Gordon arrested forty-two caravans and liber- 
ated the slaves. Finally he despatched Capt. Gessi with 3000 
men against Suleyman, the principal slave dealer, who had broken 
out into open rebellion. 
In an attack made by Suleyman, with 11,000 men, on Capt. | 
Gessi’s entrenched position on the 27th of December last, the 
rebels were totally defeated, leaving 1087 dead on the field, and 
on the following day 5000 deserters came over to Gessi’s camp. _ 
“The enemy retired but Gessi followed them up and killed ten 
chiefs and over 2000 of his men, and is still in pursuit.. ie 
l Edited by ELLIS H. YARNALL, Philadelphia. _ 
