East African Slavery. 493 
of this question ; it is a fact, established upon un- 
questionable data, that for every slave brought to the 
market, at least four others have to pay the penalty 
of death ; for only one in five persons survives the 
terrible ordeal of the slave-making process ! Seventy 
thousand slaves, therefore, brought to the market, 
represent no fewer than 350,000 victims ! Dr. Living- 
stone's estimate regarding the Zambezi traffic was 
that only one in ten survived ! 
As to the origin of slavery in Eastern Africa there 
can be no doubt that it is indigenous, and has existed 
among the natives from the earliest ages. It seems 
to have arisen among them as it arose among the 
early Hebrews, as a kind of penal institution, in- 
tended as a punishment for, and as a means of obtain- 
ing indemnification and compensation from criminals, 
debtors, prisoners of war, etc. ; but the modern traffic 
has been developed by foreigners, chiefly by the 
Arabs, who have so long been supreme upon the East 
Coast, and whose religion teaches them to regard all 
unbelieving " races as having been intended to 
become their slaves. Enquiries have been made 
whether the slave traffic has given rise to the feuds 
which prevail among the tribes of the interior, or 
whether the traffic has arisen out of those feuds. 
Neither, we should say, would be the exact truth. To 
charge all African quarrels upon the slave traffic 
would be wrong ; for Africans are but men at best, 
and are the subjects of such passions as would lead 
them often enough into quarrels, even if slavery did 
not exist ; and, being barbarians, it would not be 
wonderful if these quarrels were pretty frequent. On 
the other hand, the constitution of Arabian society 
