CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
TREATS OF LOVE, HATRED, AND SORROW, AND PROVES THAT SLAVERY AND ITSCONSEQUENCES ARE NOT CONFINED TO BLACK MEN AND WOMEN.
We must now change the scene to the garden of that excellent Governor,Senhor Francisco Alfonso Toledo Bignoso Letotti, and the date to threemonths in advance of the period in which occurred the events related inthe last chapter.
"Maraquita, I am sorry to find that you still persist in encouragingthat morbid regret for the loss of one who cannot now be recovered."
Thus spoke the Governor in tones that were unusually petulant for onewho idolised his child.
"Father, why did you sell her without saying a word to me about yourintention? It was very, very, _very_ unkind--indeed it was."
Poor Maraquita's eyes were already red and swollen with much weeping,nevertheless she proceeded to increase the redness and the swelling by arenewed burst of passionate distress.
The worthy Governor found it difficult to frame a reply or to administersuitable consolation, for in his heart he knew that he had sold Azinte,as it were surreptitiously, to Marizano for an unusually large sum ofmoney, at a time when his daughter was absent on a visit to a friend.The noted Portuguese kidnapper, murderer, rebel and trader in blackivory, having recovered from his wound, had returned to the town, and,being well aware of Azinte's market value, as a rare and remarkablybeautiful piece of ivory of extra-superfine quality, had threatened, aswell as tempted, Governor Letotti beyond his powers of resistance.Marizano did not want the girl as his own slave. He wanted dollars,and, therefore, destined her for the markets of Arabia or Persia, wherethe smooth-tongued and yellow-skinned inhabitants hold that robbery,violence, and cruelty, such as would make the flesh of civilised peoplecreep, although horrible vices in themselves, are nevertheless, quitejustifiable when covered by the sanction of that miraculous talismancalled a "domestic institution." The British Government had, by treaty,agreed to respect slavery in the dominions of the Sultan of Zanzibar, asa domestic institution with which it would not interfere!
Governor Letotti's heart had smitten him at first for he really was anamiable man, and felt kindly disposed to humanity at large, slavesincluded. Unfortunately the same kindliness was concentrated withtenfold power on himself, so that when self-interest came into play theamiable man became capable of deeds that Marizano himself might havebeen proud of. The only difference, in fact, between the two was thatthe Governor, like the drunkard, often felt ashamed of himself, andsometimes wished that he were a better man, while the man-stealergloried in his deeds, and had neither wish nor intention to improve.
"Maraquita," said Senhor Letotti, still somewhat petulantly, though withmore of remonstrance in his tone, "how can you speak so foolishly? Itwas out of my power you know, to speak to you when you were absent aboutwhat I intended to do. Besides, I was, at the time, very much in needof some ready money, for, although I am rich enough, there are timeswhen most of my capital is what business men called `locked up,' andtherefore not immediately available. In these circumstances, Marizanocame to me with a very tempting offer. But there are plenty ofgood-looking, amiable, affectionate girls in Africa. I can easily buyyou another slave quite as good as Azinte."
"As good as Azinte!" echoed Maraquita wildly, starting up and gazing ather father with eyes that flashed through her tears, "Azinte, who hasopened her heart to me--her bursting, bleeding heart--and told me allher former joys and all her present woes, and who loves me as sheloves--ay, better than she loves--her own soul, merely because I droppeda few tears of sympathy on her little hand! Another as good as Azinte!"she cried with increasing vehemence; "would _you_ listen with patienceto any one who should talk to you of another as good as Maraquita?"
"Nay, but," remonstrated the Governor, "you are now raving; yourfeelings towards Azinte cannot be compared with my love for _you_."
"If you loved me as I thought you did, you would not--you could not--have thus taken from me my darling little maid. Oh! shame, shame onyou, father--"
She could say no more, but rushed from the room to fling herself downand sob out her feelings in the privacy of her own chamber, where shewas sought out by the black cook, who had overheard some of theconversation, and was a sympathetic soul. But that amiable domestichappened to be inopportunely officious; she instantly fled from thechamber, followed by the neatest pair of little slippers imaginable,which hit her on the back of her woolly head,--for Maraquita, like otherspoilt children, had made up her mind _not_ to be comforted.
Meanwhile the Governor paced the floor of his drawing-room with uneasyfeelings, which, however, were suddenly put to flight by the report of agun. Hastening to the window, he saw that the shot had been fired by awar-steamer which was entering the bay.
"Ha! the `Firefly;' good!" exclaimed the Governor, with a gratifiedlook; "this will put it all right."
He said nothing more, but left the room hastily. It may however be aswell to explain that his remark had reference to the mutual affectionwhich he was well aware existed between his daughter and the gallantLieutenant Lindsay. He had not, indeed, the most remote intention ofpermitting Maraquita to wed the penniless officer, but he had noobjection whatever to their flirting as much as they pleased; and hereadily perceived that nothing would be more likely to take theSenhorina's thoughts off her lost maid than the presence of her lover.
There was a bower in a secluded corner of the Governor Letotti's garden,a very charming bower indeed, in which Lieutenant Lindsay had been wontat times when duty to the Queen of England permitted, to hold sweetconverse with the "queen of his soul." What that converse was itneither becomes us to say nor the reader to inquire. Perhaps it hadreference to astronomy, perchance to domestic economy. At all events itwas always eminently satisfactory to both parties engaged, save when theSenhorina indulged in a little touch of waywardness, and sent the poorofficer back to his ship with a heavy heart, for the express purpose ofteaching him the extent of her power and the value of her favour. Sheoverclouded him now and then, just to make him the more ardently longfor sunshine, and to convince him that in the highest sense of the wordhe was a slave!
To this bower, then, the Senhorina returned with a sad heart and swolleneyes, to indulge in vain regrets. Her sorrows had overwhelmed her tosuch an extent that she failed to observe the `Firefly's' salute. Itwas therefore with a look of genuine surprise and agitation that shesuddenly beheld Lieutenant Lindsay, who had availed himself of the firstfree moment, striding up the little path that led to the bower.
"Maraquita!" he exclaimed, looking in amazement at the countenance ofhis lady-love, which was what Norsemen style "begrutten."
But Maraquita was in no mood to be driven out of her humour, even by herlover.
"I am miserable," she said with vehemence, clenching one of her littlefists as though she meditated an assault on the lieutenant--"utterly,absolutely, inconsolably miserable."
If Lindsay had entertained any doubt regarding the truth of herassertion, it would have been dispelled by her subsequent conduct, forshe buried her face in a handkerchief and burst into tears.
"Beloved, adorable, tender, delicious Maraquita," were words which leaptinto the lieutenant's mind, but he dare not utter them with his lips.Neither did he venture to clasp Maraquita's waist with his left arm, layher pretty little head on his breast and smooth her luxuriant hair withhis right hand, though he felt almost irresistibly tempted so to do--entirely from feelings of pity, of course,--for the Senhorina hadhitherto permitted no familiarities beyond a gentle pressure of the handon meeting and at parting.
It is unnecessary to repeat all that the bashful, though ardent, man ofwar said to Maraquita, or all that Maraquita said to the man of war;how, ignoring the celestial orbs and domestic economy, she launched outinto a rhapsodical panegyric of Azinte; told how the poor slave hadunburdened her heart to her about her handsome young husband and herdarling little boy in the far off interior, from whom she had beenrudely torn, and whom she never expected to see again;
and how she,Maraquita, had tried to console Azinte by telling her that there was aheaven where good people might hope to meet again, even though theynever met on earth, and a great deal more besides, to all of which theearnest lieutenant sought to find words wherewith to express his pityand sympathy, but found them not, though he was at no loss to find wordsto tell the queen of his soul that, in the peculiar circumstances of thecase, and all things considered, his love for her (Maraquita) wastenfold more intense than it had ever been before!
"Foolish boy," said the Senhorina, smiling through her tears, "what isthe use of telling me that? Can it do any good to Azinte?"
"Not much, I'm afraid," replied the lieutenant. "Well, then, don't talknonsense, but tell me what I am to do to recover my little maid."
"It is impossible for me to advise," said the lieutenant with aperplexed look.
"But you _must_ advise," said Maraquita, with great decision.
"Well, I will try. How long is it since Azinte was taken away fromyou?"
"About two weeks."
"You say that Marizano was the purchaser. Do you know to what part ofthe coast he intended to convey her?"
"How should I know? I have only just heard of the matter from myfather."
"Well then, you must try to find out from your father all that he knowsabout Marizano and his movements. That is the first step. After that Iwill consider what can be done."
"Yes, Senhor," said Maraquita, rising suddenly, "you must considerquickly, and you must act at once, for you must not come here againuntil you bring me news of Azinte."
Poor Lindsay, who knew enough of the girl's character to believe her tobe thoroughly in earnest, protested solemnly that he would do hisutmost.
All that Maraquita could ascertain from her father was, that Marizanomeant to proceed to Kilwa, the great slave-depot of the coast, there tocollect a large cargo of slaves and proceed with them to Arabia,whenever he had reason to believe that the British cruisers were out ofthe way. This was not much to go upon, but the Senhorina was asunreasonable as were the Egyptians of old, when they insisted on theIsraelites making bricks without straw.
He was unexpectedly helped out of his dilemma by Captain Romer, whocalled him into his cabin that same evening, told him that he hadobtained information of the movements of slavers, which induced him tothink it might be worth while to watch the coast to the northward ofCape Dalgado, and bade him prepare for a cruise in charge of the cutter,adding that the steamer would soon follow and keep them in view.
With a lightened heart Lindsay went off to prepare, and late that nightthe cutter quietly pulled away from the `Firefly's' side, with awell-armed crew, and provisioned for a short cruise.
Their object was to proceed as stealthily as possible along the coast,therefore they kept inside of islands as much as possible, and cruisedabout a good deal at nights, always sleeping on board the boat, as thelow-lying coast was very unhealthy, but landing occasionally to obtainwater and to take a survey of the sea from convenient heights.
Early one morning as they were sailing with a very light breeze, betweentwo small islands, a vessel was seen looming through the haze, not farfrom shore.
Jackson, one of the men, who has been introduced to the reader at anearlier part of this narrative, was the first to observe the strangers.
"It's a brig," he said; "I can make out her royals."
"No, it's a barque," said the coxswain.
A little midshipman, named Midgley, differed from both, and said it wasa large dhow, for he could make out the top of its lateen sail.
"Whatever it is, we'll give chase," said Lindsay, ordering the men toput out the oars and give way, the sail being of little use.
In a few minutes the haze cleared sufficiently to prove that Midgley wasright. At the same time it revealed to those on board the dhow thatthey were being chased by the boat of a man-of-war. The little windthat blew at the time was insufficient to enable the dhow to weather apoint just ahead of her, and the cutter rowed down on her so fast thatit was evidently impossible for her to escape.
Seeing this, the commander of the dhow at once ran straight for theshore. Before the boat could reach her she was among the breakers onthe bar, which were so terrible at that part of the coast as to renderlanding in a small boat quite out of the question. In a few minutes thedhow was hurled on the beach and began to break up, while her crew andcargo of slaves swarmed into the sea and tried to gain the shore. Itseemed to those in the boat that some hundreds of negroes werestruggling at one time in the seething foam.
"We must risk it, and try to save some of the poor wretches," criedLindsay; "give way, lads, give way!"
The boat shot in amongst the breakers, and was struck by several seas insuccession, and nearly swamped ere it reached the shore. But they weretoo late to save many of the drowning. Most of the strongest of theslaves had gained the shore and taken to the hills in wild terror, underthe impression so carefully instilled into them by the Arabs, that theonly object the Englishmen had in view was to catch, cook, and eat them!The rest were drowned, with the exception of two men and seven littlechildren, varying from five to eight years of age, who were foundcrawling on the beach, in such a state of emaciation that they could notfollow their companions into the bush. They tried, however, in theirown feeble, helpless way, to avoid capture and the terrible fate whichthey thought awaited them.
These were soon lifted tenderly into the boat.
"Here, Jackson," cried Lindsay, lifting one of the children in hisstrong arms, and handing it to the sailor, "carry that one verycarefully, she seems to be almost gone. God help her, poor, poorchild!"
There was good cause for Lindsay's pity, for the little girl was so thinthat every bone in her body was sticking out--her elbow and knee-jointsbeing the largest parts of her shrunken limbs, and it was found that shecould not rise or even stretch herself out, in consequence, as wasafterwards ascertained, of her having been kept for many days in thedhow in a sitting posture, with her knees doubled up against her face.Indeed, most of the poor little things captured were found to be more orless stiffened from the same cause.
An Arab interpreter had been sent with Lindsay, but he turned out to beso incapable that it was scarcely possible to gain any information fromhim. He was either stupid in reality, or pretended to be so. Thelatter supposition is not improbable, for many of the interpretersfurnished to the men-of-war on that coast were found to be favourable tothe slavers, insomuch that they have been known to mislead those whomthey were paid to serve.
With great difficulty the cutter was pulled through the surf. Thatafternoon the `Firefly' hove in sight, and took the rescued slaves onboard.
Next day two boats from the steamer chased another dhow on shore, butwith even less result than before, for the whole of the slaves escapedto the hills. On the day following, however, a large dhow was captured,with about a hundred and fifty slaves on board, all of whom wererescued, and the dhow destroyed.
The dhows which were thus chased or captured were all regular andundisguised slavers. Their owners were openly engaged in what they knewwas held to be piracy alike by the Portuguese, the Sultan of Zanzibar,and the English. They were exporting slaves from Africa to Arabia andPersia, which is an illegal species of traffic. In dealing with these,no difficulty was experienced except the difficulty of catching them.When caught, the dhows were invariably destroyed and the slaves setfree--that is to say, carried to those ports where they might be setfree with safety.
But there were two other sorts of traffickers in the bodies and souls ofhuman beings, who were much more difficult to deal with.
There were, first the legal slave-traders, namely, the men who conveyslaves by sea from one part of the Sultan of Zanzibar's dominions toanother. This kind of slavery was prosecuted under the shelter of whatwe have already referred to as a domestic institution! It involved, aswe have said before, brutality, injustice, cruelty, theft, murder, andextermination, but, being a domestic institution of Zanzibar,
it washeld to be _legal_, and the British Government have recognised andtolerated it by treaty for a considerable portion of this century!
It is, however, but justice to ourselves to say, that our Governmententered into the treaty with the view of checking, limiting, andmitigating the evils of the slave-trade. We have erred in recognisingany form of slavery, no matter how humane our object was--one proof ofwhich is that we have, by our interference, unintentionally increasedthe evils of slavery instead of abating them.
It is worth while remarking here, that slavery is also a domesticinstitution in Arabia and Persia. If it be right that we should notinterfere with the Zanzibar institution, why should we interfere withthat of Arabia or Persia? Our treaty appears to have been founded onthe principle that we ought to respect domestic institutions. Wemaintain a squadron on the east coast of Africa to stop the flow ofAfricans to the latter countries, while we permit the flow by _treaty_,as well as by practice, to the former. Is this consistent? The onlydifference between the two cases is one of distance, not of principle.
But to return to our point--the legal traders. In consequence of theSultan's dominions lying partly on an island and partly on the mainland,his domestic institution necessitates boats, and in order to distinguishbetween his boats and the pirates, there is a particular season fixed inwhich he may carry his slaves by sea from one part of his dominions toanother; and each boat is furnished with papers which prove it to be a"legal trader." This is the point on which the grand fallacy of _our_interference hinges. The "domestic institution" would be amply suppliedby about 4000 slaves a year. The so-called legal traders are simplylegalised deceivers, who transport not fewer than 30,000 slaves a year!It must be borne in mind that these 30,000 represent only a portion--theZanzibar portion--of the great African slave-trade. From the Portuguesesettlements to the south, and from the north by way of Egypt, the exportof negroes as slaves is larger. It is estimated that the total numberof human beings enslaved on the east and north-east coast of Africa isabout 70,000 a year. As all authorities agree in the statement that, atthe _lowest_ estimate, only _one_ out of every five captured survives togo into slavery, this number represents a loss to Africa of 350,000human beings a year. They leave Zanzibar with full cargoes continually,with far more than is required for what we may term home-consumption.Nevertheless, correct papers are furnished to them by the Sultan, whichprotects them from British cruisers within the prescribed limits,namely, between Cape Dalgado and Lamoo, a line of coast about 1500 milesin extent. But it is easy for them to evade the cruisers in these wideseas and extensive coasts, and the value of Black Ivory is so great thatthe loss of a few is but a small matter. On reaching the northernlimits the legal traders become pirates. They run to the northward, andtake their chance of being captured by cruisers.
The reason of all this is very obvious. The Sultan receives nearly halfa sovereign a head for each slave imported into Zanzibar, and ourGovernments, in time past, have allowed themselves to entertain thebelief, that, by treaty, the Sultan could be induced to destroy this thechief source of his revenue!
Surely it is not too much to say, that _Great Britain ought to enterinto no treaty whatever in regard to slavery, excepting such as shallprovide for the absolute, total, and immediate extirpation thereof bywhatsoever name called_.
Besides these two classes of slavers,--the open, professional pirates,and the sneaking, deceiving "domestic" slavers,--there are theslave-smugglers. They are men who profess to be, and actually are,legal traders in ivory, gum, copal, and other produce of Africa. Thesefellows manage to smuggle two or three slaves each voyage to the BlackIvory markets, under pretence that they form part of the crew of theirdhows. It is exceedingly difficult, almost impossible, for the officersof our cruisers to convict these smugglers--to distinguish betweenslaves and crews, consequently immense numbers of slaves are carried offto the northern ports in this manner. Sometimes these dhows carry Arabor other passengers, and when there are so many slaves on board that itwould be obviously absurd to pretend that they formed part of the crew,the owner dresses the poor wretches up in the habiliments that come mostreadily to hand, and passes them off as the wives or servants of thesepassengers. Any one might see at a glance that the stupid, silent,timid-looking creatures, who have had almost every human element beatenout of them, are nothing of the sort, but there is no means of _proving_them other than they are represented to be. If an interpreter were toask them they would be ready to swear anything that their owner hadcommanded; hence the cruisers are deceived in every way--in many waysbesides those now mentioned--and our philanthropic intentions areutterly thwarted; for the rescuing and setting free of 1000 or 2000negroes a year out of the 30,000 annually exported, is not an adequateresult for our great expense in keeping a squadron on the coast,especially when we consider that hundreds, probably thousands, of slavesperish amid horrible sufferings caused by the efforts of theman-stealers to avoid our cruisers. These would probably not lose theirlives, and the entire body of slaves would suffer less, if we did notinterfere at all.
From this we do not argue that non-interference would be best, but thatas our present system of repression does not effectively accomplish whatis aimed at, it ought to be changed. What the change should be, manywise and able men have stated. Their opinion we cannot quote here, butone thing taught to us by past experience is clear, we cannot cure theslave-trade by merely limiting it. Our motto in regard to slavery oughtto be--_Total and immediate extinction everywhere_.