East African Slavery, 
497 
heaps ! Many a wretched man has sought deli- 
verance from his misery by throwing himself into the 
sea ; while others, becoming troublesome through 
sickness, etc., have been remorselessly pitched head- 
long to the same fate. What matters it that they 
were not quite dead ! They would have died ; and 
they were but slaves ! Think of what happens even 
through English endeavour to rescue them. As the 
slaver holds on her course, on some fine morning 
those on board see something like smoke on the 
distant horizon. They tremble, for there is no 
mistaking that smoke. Presently a steamer looms 
into view. It is one of the dreaded British cruisers ! 
She is on the course of the slaver, and those on 
board the latter know that it is all over with them. 
Muzungu ! Muzungu ! The slaves are told that 
the fiery white man is after them, '^on blood and 
slaughter bent that they will all be cut to pieces, 
flayed and disjointed alive ; and that after that they 
will all be roasted and devoured. This is enough for 
the slave-dealer s purpose ; the whole cargo becomes 
frantic ; and before they can be rescued many of them 
have leapt overboard ! Those that remain are so 
terror-stricken, that, deaf to all assurances of kind 
intentions on the part of their deliverers, they refuse 
to be removed, and have to be conveyed by main 
force to the cruiser ! 
But should the slave not be captured, his after 
course may be indicated under three heads : the 
custom-house^ the ma7'ket, and the mill — the mill, 
at which he grinds for the Philistines, and at which 
the Philistines grind him. 
Once, when at the custom-house at Malindi, I 
32 
