KIDNAPPING. 



369 



feud and foray. The process of kidnapping, an in- 

 veterate custom in these lands, is in every way agreeable 

 to the mind of the man-hunter. A "multis utile bellum" 

 it combines the pleasing hazards of the chase with the 

 exercise of cunning and courage ; the battue brings 

 martial glory and solid profit, and preserves the bar- 

 barian from the listlessness of life without purpose, 

 Thus men date from foray to foray, and pass their days 

 in an interminable biood-feud and border war. A poor 

 and powerful chief will not allow his neighbours to rest 

 wealthier than himself ; a quarrel is soon found, the 

 stronger attacks the weaker, hunts and harries his 

 cattle, burns his villages, carries off his subjects and 

 sells them to the first passing caravan. The inhabitants 

 of the land have thus become wolves to one another ; 

 their only ambition is to dispeople and destroy, and the 

 blow thus dealt to a thinly populated country strikes at 

 the very root of progress and prosperity. 



As detrimental to the public interests as the border 

 wars is the intestine confusion caused by the slave trade. 

 It perpetuates the vile belief in Uchawi or black magic : 

 when captives are in demand, the criminal's relations 

 are sold into slavery. It affords a scope for the 

 tyranny of a chief, who, if powerful enough, will enrich 

 himself by vending his subjects in wholesale and retail. 

 By weakening the tie of family, it acts with deadly 

 effect in preventing the increase of the race. 



On the coast and in the island of Zanzibar the slaves 

 are of two kinds — the Muwallid or domestic, born in 

 captivity, and the wild slave imported from the in- 

 terior. 



In the former case the slave is treated as one of the 

 family, because the master's comfort depends upon the 

 man being contented ; often also his sister occupies the 



VOL. II. B B 



