Travels in Eastern Africa, volume 2 (of 2)

by Lyons McLeod

CHAPTER VIII.

Arrival at Aden—Arabia the Ancient Nursery of Commerce—How Aden became a British Possession—Description of the Peninsula, Town, Tanks, &c.—Departure from Aden—Perim—Sight the Comet—Crossing the Desert—Arrival in England.

On the 25th September, just one week after leaving the Seychelles, the “Granada” arrived at Aden, where we expected to meet with the steamer from Bombay on her way to Suez.

The “Simla,” the vessel expected from Bombay, had not arrived; and there being no hotel at Aden, the passengers were thrown upon the small village at Steamer Point, to find accommodation as best they could. This is a subject of continued complaint, and one great objection to the overland route, which the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company might easily obviate by erecting an hotel with reasonable charges, and keeping a steamer in the port of Aden until such time as the hotel is adapted for use. The accidents occurring in the Red Sea, and the frequent breaking down of the machinery of some of these vessels, will render a reserve vessel always necessary either at Suez or Aden; and, under existing circumstances, for the accommodation of passengers arriving at the latter place, and awaiting the irregular arrival of the company’s ships, Aden ought never to be without a reserve vessel.

For myself, I always make it a point to pay respect to my flag, and therefore paid my respects to the chief authority at Aden, Brigadier William Marcus Coghlan, Political Resident and Commandant of the forces at Aden.

The Brigadier was kind enough to give me a very hearty invitation to reside with him while at Aden; and Mrs. M’Leod and myself felt the benefit of the change from the “Granada,” in the harbour of Back Bay, to the Brigadier’s cool bungalow on Steamer Point.

Bunder Toowaï, or Aden Harbour, has at various periods of the world’s history commanded the commerce of the East; and, from the remotest antiquity, it has been an emporium for the great commercial nation of the age. It is not, therefore, surprising that at the present date the British flag should float triumphantly over the seaport of the Queen of Sheba.

On looking at a chart of the world we are at once struck with the position of Arabia, whose seaport Aden is.

It is almost insular, lying between Asia, Africa, and India. On two sides it is bounded by the ocean, on a third by the desert, and on the fourth side it was the point d’appui of the commerce established, by way of the Persian Gulf, between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean.

On the one side it has Egypt, on the other Palestine, Syria, Babylon, Chaldea; and the Divine Creator has given it the patient and unwearied camel, the ship of the desert, to cross the ocean of sand which divides it from those countries.

On the east lies the Gulf of Persia, which, by the river Euphrates, reaches the heart of Western Asia; while the island of Ormus forms a stepping-stone from its coast to that of India.

On the west the Red Sea protects it from the invasion of the Ethiopian nations; placing it in communication with Egypt and Abyssinia: while on the south the continent of Africa, at the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, visibly invites the natives of Arabia to visit its coasts.

Thus it is protected by a desert of sand, for the crossing of which there is an animal specially provided on the one side; and on two others by the ocean, which along six hundred miles of its coast invites the enterprise of its inhabitants to search for richer lands.

By its proximity to Africa, from which it is visible, the western shore of the Indian Ocean became known to the Arabs at an early date, with all its gold, pearls, precious stones, and valuable woods and spices; and, by way of the Persian Gulf, these first pioneers of commerce found a route to its eastern shores, and likewise formed colonies in Western India.

When we remember that the Arabs were the first astronomers, it is natural to suppose that these early observers of the heavens had, from the south of Arabia, remarked that the wind blew from one quarter half the year, and from the opposite for the remainder; and thus had been acquainted with the regularity of the monsoons for ages before this wonderful phenomenon of nature dawned upon the mind of the Greek philosopher and mariner, Hippalus.

The knowledge of this remarkable fact would enable them to put to sea with confidence, in search of the Arabian colonies already formed in India and Africa.

From the former country did they obtain a knowledge of the needle which points ever to the pole? This is probable, for the inhabitants of China were acquainted with the mariner’s compass ages before Flavio Gioia of Amalfi gave it to guide the wonderful discoveries of the European era of conquest; and from the remotest antiquity China had commercial relations with India.

From the Arab word “Maussem” (meaning “remarkable epoch”) the modern name, monsoon, for the periodical winds which blow in the Indian Ocean, is derived; and we know that when Vasco de Gama arrived at Mozambique, the Arab dhows which he met with there, trading to the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, Madagascar, and India, were all supplied with an astrolabe, or instrument for taking the altitude of the sun, moon, and stars, and with the mariner’s compass. This is very natural; the Arabs had been astronomers and navigators for many ages.

More than ten centuries before the advent of the Messiah, these Arabs must have traded with India and Ophir, or Sofala, in East Africa, for we find that the Queen of Sheba, or Saba or Yemen or Arabia (all names for the land of the Arabs), on visiting Solomon at Jerusalem, B.C. 981, “gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones; there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.”[5]

These spices came from India, or north-eastern Africa, and the gold and precious stones from Ophir;[6] for we have already proved that not one of these articles was the produce of Arabia. In the time of Moses spices were known and much used among the Hebrews, and the nearest places for obtaining them were north-eastern Africa, the Malabar coast and Ceylon, through the Arab’s emporium at Aden.

Aden has been successively occupied by the Persians and the Romans, and, in more modern times, by the Turks, and the Portuguese. It became a British possession under the following circumstances, as stated by Captain Playfair, assistant political agent, in his “History of Arabia Felix or Yemen” recently published, with the sanction of the Honourable East India Company.

On the morning of the 4th of January, 1836, the Madras ship, “Deria Dowlat,” under British colours, went on shore in the Koobet Sailán, a few miles distant from Aden, having on board a valuable cargo, and a number of pilgrims bound for Jedda. As daylight dawned she was boarded by crowds of Arabs from Aden, who plundered her of everything that could be removed. The passengers, amongst whom were several ladies of rank, landed on rafts, in doing which fourteen perished. The survivors were seized by the Arabs, stripped naked, and the females subjected to the most brutal indignities, and only saved from being carried off into the interior by the intercession of the Seyed of Aidroos, an influential family in Aden, who supplied them with food and clothing.

The government of Bombay felt bound not only to demand redress for this outrage, but to take such further precautions as should preclude the recurrence of similar atrocities.

For this purpose Captain Haines, I.N., was despatched to Aden in the Honourable Company’s sloop-of-war, “Coote;” and he was instructed, in the event of his negotiations proving successful, to endeavour to obtain the place by purchase, in order that British commerce in the Red Sea might be placed on a safer footing for the future, and that a secure coal depôt for the vessels engaged in the overland transit might be established.

On Captain Haines arrival at Aden, he had an interview with the Sultan of Aden, when the latter denied, most solemnly, all knowledge of, or participation in, the atrocity with which he was charged; but as the property of the “Deria Dowlet” was being sold publicly in the market, his assertion was not received. A formal demand was accordingly made for the sum of 12,000 dollars, as an indemnity, or the entire restitution of the plundered property. After much negotiation, goods to the value of 7,808 dollars were restored; and the Sultan passed a bill, at twelve months’ sight, to Captain Haynes, for the remaining 4,192 dollars.

Having thus settled the primary object of his mission, Captain Haynes succeeded in obtaining from the Sultan a written bond, dated 23rd January, 1838, that he would cede the peninsula on which Aden is built to the British in the following March, in consideration of an annual pension of 8,700 dollars. But before this could be embodied in a treaty, a plot had been formed by the Sultan’s son for the seizure of the papers and person of the political agent after the parting interview. Intelligence of the meditated treachery having reached Captain Haines, the interview was evaded, and he proceeded to Bombay.

On the 24th October, he again returned to Aden, authorized by his government to enforce the completion of the stipulated agreement.

Captain Haynes’ requisition to the Sultan was met with language and conduct the most violent and insulting. The Sultan refused to allow the plundered property, which had formerly been restored, to be removed from Aden: he issued orders that the “Coote” should not be supplied with water or provisions, and his soldiers fired upon the pinnace of that vessel, without the slightest provocation, slightly wounding two sailors.

In consequence of these outrages the port was blockaded; but ere a month had elapsed the Sultan begged a truce of three days, which he treacherously employed in sending a boat to Saiárah, on the African coast, whence the “Coote” was supplied with provisions, to endeavour, by a bribe of 200 dollars, to induce the Somalies to murder all the English who landed there.

On the 18th December, the H.C. schooner “Mahi” and the barque “Anne Crichton,” laden with coals, arrived; a most significant intimation to the Sultan, had he chosen to accept it, that the British were determined to enforce the fulfilment of the agreement into which he had voluntarily entered.

On the 11th of January a skirmish took place off Seerah Island, between the battery on the Mole, and the schooner “Mahi,” with two gunboats. Two seamen were wounded, and about twenty or thirty of the Arabs put hors de combat. On the 16th of January a force, consisting of H.M.S. “Volage,” 28 guns, under the command of Captain Smith, H.M.S. “Cruizer,” 10 guns, with 300 European and 400 native troops, commanded by Major Baillie, arrived at Aden. A final message was sent to the Sultan, directing him to deliver up the place; but as this was not complied with the town was bombarded and taken by assault. The loss on the side of the British was 15, and on that of the Arabs 150 men, killed and wounded.

The garrison consisted of 700 soldiers from the interior, and the remaining population did not exceed 600, of whom a great proportion were Jews. The Sultan, his family, and a number of the chief people of the city effected their escape to Láhej.

Thus Aden fell into the hands of the British, being the first capture in the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, and from this period the process of its restoration to something like its former importance was not less rapid than had been its decline.

I have been thus particular in giving the official account of the British conquest of Aden, as various erroneous statements have been made relative to its seizure by England. These statements are marked by that ignorance which usually accompanies the malevolent attacks on “perfide Albion.”

The British settlement of Aden is a peninsula of about fifteen miles in circumference, of an irregular oval form, five miles in its greater and three miles in its lesser diameter, connected with the continent by a low, narrow neck of land, 1,350 yards in breadth, but which is in one place nearly covered by the sea at high spring tides.

The formation of Aden is purely volcanic, and bears the appearance of having been in recent activity. It is supposed that the peninsula was originally an island, and became gradually connected by the accumulation of sand in the narrow channel which intervened between it and the mainland.

The whole peninsula is a large crater, formed by lofty and precipitous hills, the highest of which, Shumshum, has an elevation of 1,755 feet, but, being entirely destitute of vegetation, looks much higher.

The range of hills which forms the wall of the crater is nearly circular: on the western side the hills are very precipitous, and the rain-water descending from them is carried rapidly to the sea; on the interior, or eastern side, the hills are quite as abrupt, but the descent is broken by a table-land occurring midway between the summit and the sea-level, which occupies about one-fourth of the entire superficies of Aden. This plateau is intersected by numerous ravines, nearly all of which converge into one valley, which thus receives the drainage of the peninsula. From the remotest times this provision of nature has been seized upon for supplying the town of Aden with water. Tanks of various dimensions, and the most fantastic shapes, have been formed, in many cases by simply building a dyke across a ravine; while they are so constructed that on the overflowing of one the water reaches the next—and thus a complete chain has been formed, reaching the heart of the town.

The annual fall of rain in Aden is very limited, seldom exceeding seven inches; and as the neighbouring country is in too unsettled a state to restore the aqueduct built by the Sultan of Yemen, Melek-el-Mansoor, towards the close of the fifteenth century, which conveyed the water of the Bir Hameed into Aden, and it having been found that increasing the number of wells does not proportionately increase the supply of water, recourse is now being had to condensing the water of the bay into fresh water.

The scarcity of water in such a climate, and at a place of such importance, both in a commercial and also a strategic light, is a matter of serious consideration, and is engaging all the energies of Brigadier Coghlan to remedy, by clearing out and repairing all the ancient tanks.

The town and the principal portion of the military cantonments are within the crater already described, and consequently they are surrounded on all sides by hills, except on the eastern face, where a gap exists opposite the fortified island of Sheerah. This inlet is called Front or East Bay.

The crater has been cleft from north to south, and the rents thus produced are called the northern and southern passes; the former, better known as the main pass, is the only entrance into the town from the interior or from the harbour.

When this town was visited by Captain Haynes, of the Indian navy, the ruin of Aden appears to have been complete. It was nothing but a wretched village, built on the ruins of the former city, containing about ninety stone houses, in a dilapidated state, and only one mosque in a state of repair. The remainder of the dwelling-places were miserable huts made of mats. Its trade was annihilated, its wells brackish from neglect, and everything bearing the mark of ruin and decay.

Since the conquest in 1839, how rapidly has it changed! A neat and well-built town has superseded the former squalid-looking village. The population has increased from 600 to 25,000; while the value of the trade, including imports and exports, amounts to upwards of one million sterling per annum.

All the ancient defences have been abandoned, and the place has been entirely re-fortified. Strong by nature, immense sums have been expended, and the highest engineering skill employed, to render it impregnable to any probable attack. Nothing short of a large European force, naval and military, supplied with a complete siege train, could succeed in making any impression on it; and as long as Great Britain rules the ocean, with the aid which our navy would render in case of being attacked, it may be deemed impregnable, and pronounced the British Gibraltar of the Indian Ocean.

Curious coins have frequently been found after heavy rains, and also some highly interesting Himyaritic inscriptions. One had reached the Brigadier’s hands while we were at Aden, and we were politely favoured with a view of what may, by some, be deemed a portion of the inscription on the tomb of the Queen of Sheba.

On the 29th of September, the “Simla” called at Aden, and we took leave of our hospitable host, embarked, and were steamed out of Aden that evening.

At daylight on the next day we were off Perim, a small island commanding the entrance of the Red Sea, which has lately been re-occupied by the British.

As this island holds a very important position in the event of war, and is attached to the government of Aden, some account of it may be acceptable to the general reader.

By the Arabs it is called Mayoon; to the ancients it was most probably known as the island of Diodorus. It is situated in the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, a mile and a half from the Arabian shore, and eleven miles from the coast of Africa. The safe channel for shipping is on the north or Arabian side, and is barely half a mile in width. The passage on the southern shore is exceedingly difficult, and may with a little ingenuity be made impassable. It will thus be seen, that with suitable fortifications, rendered bomb-proof, and built with a ventilation so that the smoke of the gunpowder would clear away to enable the gunners to keep up a constant fire, Perim may command the passage of the Red Sea, and, if provided with impregnable fortifications, no fleet could force the passage.

Of late years, in consequence of increasing steam navigation in the Red Sea, the attention of the British government has been directed to the necessity of a lighthouse to facilitate the navigation of the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. And as the French government had early in 1857 despatched a ship-of-war to hoist the tri-color on this island, the political agent at Aden, very probably on being apprized of the circumstance, despatched the assistant political agent, Capt. R. L. Playfair, to Perim, for the purpose of re-occupying an island which, in the hands of Great Britain, will be a Pharos for the Red Sea, instead of a standing menace to the peaceful navigation of the East. With this intention the works have been already commenced, and Perim will soon become another link of that chain which shows our power to enlighten ignorance, and, if need be, to check arrogance.

The formation of Perim is purely volcanic, and consists of long, low, and gradually sloping hills, surrounding an excellent harbour, about a mile and a half in length, and half a mile broad. This capacious harbour has a depth of from four to six fathoms in the best anchorage, and could easily accommodate a numerous fleet of ships, having a large draught of water, should they be required for the protection of the island. About one-fourth of the island, on the north side, consists of low plains of sand and coral, scantily covered with salsola, sea-lavender, wild mignonette, and other plants which delight in a salt sandy soil. The remainder of the island is covered with a layer of loose boulders, or masses of black vesicular lava, in some places so thickly set as to resemble a rude pavement. Captain Playfair states the highest point of the island to be 245 feet above the level of the sea.[7]

Perim has never been permanently occupied by any nation except the British. The great Albuquerque landed upon it in 1513, on his return from his unsuccessful expedition in the Red Sea. He erected a cross upon an eminence, and called the island Vera Cruz.

The pirates who kept the Indian Ocean in such a state of excitement, during a great portion of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, made this their stronghold for some time; but having dug through the solid lava a distance of fifteen feet in search of water, they abandoned their intention of settling there, and took up their abode in St. Mary’s island, on the east coast of Madagascar. In 1799, a force from Bombay, under Lieutenant Colonel Murray, was sent to occupy it, with the view of preventing the French troops, then engaged in the occupation of Egypt, from proceeding to India to effect a junction with Tippoo Saib. The troops were subsequently withdrawn, and it has remained unoccupied until the British standard was again hoisted upon it in 1857.

There being no water on the island, and but a scanty supply to be obtained from the adjoining mainland, the water-tanks which have been lately constructed are supplied from Aden, and reservoirs to collect the rain are being erected, which, together with a condensing apparatus, will fully supply its wants in this respect.

In proceeding up the Red Sea the weather was oppressively hot, and at night the majority of the passengers were to be found on deck—sleep being almost out of the question. In the day time the awnings—good, strong, and thick as they were, well fitted, and beautifully spread—afforded but a poor protection against the powerful sun. From noon to three in the afternoon one was best below to avoid a sun-stroke, which with some appeared imminent.

The ship was greatly over-crowded with passengers; all invalids, and many of them in a most critical position. There was abundance of discontent, but those on board the vessel were not at all to blame; everything the vessel afforded was dealt out with a liberal hand, and from Captain Cooper, the commodore of the line, to the youngest subordinate, all was attention and civility.

Soon after passing Perim we sighted the comet, and this afforded a subject of wonder and conversation to all. Two days before arriving at Suez, the coals in the bunkers ignited, and the fire was kept down by large applications of water; but the matter was well concealed by the officers of the “Simla,” and I believe that few of those on board were aware of the great danger we were in at one time.

We arrived at Suez on the morning of the 6th October, and the “Columbia” arrived a few hours after us, with the Australian mails and passengers. As it was telegraphed from Alexandria that the steamer of the Australian line was at anchor in that harbour, and the Peninsular and Oriental steamer had not arrived, of course the “Australians” got the preference, and the “Indians” had to wait until the former were despatched by train.

By a succession of blunders, caused by the employés on shore, we had neither lunch nor dinner on board the “Simla;” and as we were all hurried to our breakfast at six o’clock in the morning, we were in want of some refreshment on landing at Suez at 4 P.M.

At the hotel they could have given us some dinner, but the railway people told them that a sumptuous entertainment was provided on the road.

The railroad not being finished to Suez, we had to perform some portion of the journey in two-wheeled machines, very similar to those used in England for sea-bathing. Each of these machines contained six persons, and they were drawn by two horses in the shafts and two mules for leaders. There were about thirty of these machines to start together, and having formed our party of six, we took possession of one of these vehicles.

All being ready we started off together, amidst a shouting, yelling, cheering, and general vociferation. The vehicles had each a guard and driver, the duty of the guard being to keep company with the mules, and urge them to the utmost speed.

The animals were allowed to breathe about every half hour, after which a general race took place until the next resting-place. At last, some time after dark, when we all began to think that we were going on to Cairo in these vehicles without any rest, we suddenly came to a stand-still in the midst of the desert.

The horses were taken out, and as these carriages would not remain upright on the two wheels, we were obliged to turn out. It was very cold, and all that could be seen of a railroad was one single line of rails in the sand.

There were a number of small low canvas tents pitched closely adjoining, but these were for some troops which were expected by the approaching train. We had only to walk about and keep ourselves warm the best way we could; it was very trying for the ladies, and, indeed, for all who were more or less invalids. Some foolish people asked for dinner, and all for the train. After exercising two hours’ patience, a long train made its appearance; but instead of proceeding as soon as we were seated, the officials told us that they dare not start without 2,500 packages of raw silk which the camels were bringing up from Suez. About ten o’clock a long string of these patient, wearied beasts made their appearance, and a little after midnight the train was loaded. At one in the morning we started; and while the train was progressing it was amusing to hear these hungry people in their dreams apparently enjoying the most sumptuous banquets. After a journey of one hour the train stopped, and we found large tents containing refreshment, which consisted of one dish, being a description of hash made of camel and vegetables of every variety. Those who could eat this did so, and those who could not, and there were very many, went without.

One hour was allowed for refreshment and then we renewed our journey. In another hour we stopped, the reason for which only a few of the initiated learned. The engineer wanted his supper, and pulled up at his “cabin in the desert.” Here we remained two good hours, while the guard and driver were refreshing themselves on good Irish stew. Some of the passengers induced them to supply their wants, and were very liberal in rewarding them in consequence.

The next morning early we arrived at Cairo, and fortunately we obtained rooms at Shepherd’s Hotel, so justly celebrated for its comfort and economy. Many of the passengers suffered severely from the previous twenty-four hours, myself among the number. However, although threatened with an attack of fever, I managed to get into the train again at 2 P.M., when it started for the Nile; here we crossed in a steamer, where we came in contact with the “Australians,” whom we had overtaken. The mixing of the two descriptions of people was quite amusing. The haughty soldier, the wealthy planter, and the skilful diplomatists, side by side with the successful miner, the wealthy publican, and the colonial adept. The former marked by the lightness and simplicity of their garments, while the latter were bedecked with massive and ostentatious jewellery sufficient to pay their ransom if seized by the sons of the desert. The Australians all had private feuds, and it was with difficulty that at times they could be prevented from renewing them as the accidents of the journey brought them into collision with each other.

At last we arrived at Alexandria, and finding that H.M. Consul-General had received no telegram forbidding my pushing on to England, I felt bound to continue by the most direct route,—and proceeded by way of Malta, Marseilles, and Paris, arriving in London on 17th day of October, when, twenty minutes after I got out of the train, I reported myself at the Foreign Office.

The subsequent history of the “Charles et Georges” is a matter of public notoriety, and so here I end my narrative.

CHAPTER IX.
ON THE RESOURCES OF EASTERN AFRICA.

“Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.”

Psalm LXVIII., v. 31.

In the foregoing pages of this work, attention has been drawn to the capabilities which East Africa offers, on its coast line, for the production of the finest cotton, by the fact of its whole sea-board being washed by that great ocean-current which subsequently, in its course on the east coast of America, obtains the name of the Gulf Stream. The wonderful effect which the heat contained in this great body of water has on the climate of England, and other more torridly-situated countries, is a fact too well attested to be disputed. For my present purpose it will be simply necessary for me to state that the long and beautiful staple of the sea-island cotton is produced by the warm yet humid atmosphere arising from the Gulf Stream, accompanied by the saline breezes on the islands and coast of America; and similarly that cotton of the sea-island quality may be likewise produced on the east coast of Africa, and the islands of the Ethiopian archipelago, bathed by this great oceanic current. In proof of which, I would point to the cotton now grown on the Seychelles, and also to that produced on the coast line of the British colony of Natal.

Labour along the whole of the east sea-board of Africa has, for more than three hundred years, been found in such abundance that it has been forcibly transported to the great continent of America and the neighbouring Antilles.

So permanent and profitable has this supply of labour been to the western inter-tropical portion of the earth, that the Europeans, Arabs, and Asiatics, located on the east sea-board of Africa, have neglected to develop the resources of the country where nature is so prolific, and have confined their attention to speedily enriching themselves, and retiring to more healthy parts of the globe, to enjoy those riches which they have rapidly amassed by supplying labour for less densely populated portions of the world.

Since 1834, when England so resolutely took her stand at the head of the nations progressing in humanity and civilization, by paying twenty millions sterling for the liberation of her slaves, a gradual but visible change for the better has taken place in the state of the natives of Eastern Africa and the neighbouring archipelago.

In Mauritius slavery has entirely ceased, so also in its dependency of the Seychelles.

Madagascar has had the gospel of Jesus Christ preached on its soil; the germ of civilization has been planted in that extensive island; and the slave-trade is no longer tolerated among the Malagasy people.

In the African dominions of the Imâm of Muskat the slave-trade is forbidden; spice-gardens have arisen, the cocoa-nut is cultivated, and large exports of simsim seed annually take place.

In the south-eastern portion of the continent the small but rapidly-developing British colony of Natal has been established, forming a nucleus of civilization, which is already beginning to have a visible effect on the amelioration of the state of the natives of that portion of Africa.

The discoveries of Dr. Livingstone have drawn attention to the vast interior of that continent, to which access may be obtained by the Zambesi and other rivers, which are soon destined to become highways of commerce and civilization; while recent events on the east coast of Africa have arrested the attention of civilized communities, and commerce seeks for instruction as to the productions of this portion of the world, in order that with her enterprise and fostering care the nations of that continent may be brought into close connection with the other portions of our globe.

I have already, in the course of these pages, touched upon the productions of Eastern Africa, following the coast as high as the city of Mozambique, and I propose now briefly continuing that account as far as Cape Guardafui, and thence up the Red Sea to Suez.

The natives from the far interior bring down to Messuril, on the mainland, opposite the city of Mozambique, every year, gold, silver, ivory, wax, skins, and malachite, the latter in considerable quantities—showing that there are mines of copper in the Monomoises’ country.

In 1856 many of these natives who came down to trade were seized by the Portuguese to supply the (so-called) French Free-Labour Emigration, since which occurrence they have not made their appearance at Messuril.

When Mozambique was in the hands of the Arabs, an important trade was carried on between it, Arabia, and India; but for the last two hundred years, under its present rulers, the trade, principally carried on by Banyans to Cutch and Goâ, has been gradually decreasing.

At present it exports ivory, annually two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, bees-wax, sesame seed, orchella, rhinoceros horns, cocoa-nut oil, castor oil, ground-nut oil, coir, arrowroot, sago, coffee, tortoise-shell, indigo of inferior quality (from ignorance in manufacturing it), and a spirit made from the cachu.

There are large plantations of cocoa-nut trees, which for the last three years have been much neglected; coffee plantations, likewise in the same position; and a coir manufactory has for the same period of time ceased to work: all caused by the new impetus given to the slave-trade, under the denomination of French Free-Labour Emigration, which was established in 1854.

Some few of the residents at Mozambique I induced to clear away and cultivate the cotton shrubs; and, with the intention of encouraging legitimate commerce, I wrote to H.M. Ambassador in the United States, and also to the Chamber of Commerce of Manchester, asking for the three descriptions of cotton seeds—viz., the Nankin, green seed, and sea island—intending to send the two former into the interior, and to plant the “sea-island” on the coast, where the saline breezes from the ocean would favour its growth.

Having discovered the mulberry tree growing close to my house on the mainland, and that it was indigenous to the soil, I wrote to England for eggs of the silkworm, and addressed a letter to His Excellency the Governor of Bombay, praying his lordship to send me some eggs of the Tussah and other moths indicated in my letter.

Similarly I drew the attention of His Excellency the Governor-general of Mozambique to a very important discovery which I had made, and of which the Portuguese were entirely ignorant, viz., that both the gutta-percha tree, and also a tree yielding india-rubber, were to be found in large numbers on the banks of the Zambesi; and after having pointed out to him the commercial value of these trees, I begged him to issue an order forbidding any gutta-percha trees to be cut down—but, instead, pointing out that they should be tapped longitudinally, by which the supply would indeed be less, but permanent; whereas, if cut down for the purpose of extracting the juice, these trees, as at Singapore, would, in the course of a few years, disappear.

The present enlightened Governor-general of Mozambique, Colonel Almeida, responded to my endeavours by drawing attention to my communication in the official bulletin, calling upon all proprietors to preserve and increase the mulberry trees, and by inserting an article on the gutta-percha and india-rubber trees in the Bulletin.

Ibo, in latitude 12° 20′ S. and longitude 40° 38′ E., is admirably situated for trade. At present it is the great warehouse for slaves.

Zanzibar, the capital of the African dominions of the Imâm of Muskat, in latitude 6° 28′ S. and longitude 39° 33′ E., exports gold, ivory, drugs, coir, cocoa-nuts, gums, bees-wax, tortoise-shell, spice, rice from Pemba, sesame-seed from Angoxa, and a great quantity of timber annually to the Red Sea and Persian Gulf.

In 1818 cloves were introduced into Zanzibar from Mauritius; they thrive so well that the cultivation of them has in a great measure superseded that of the sugar-cane, and even the cocoa-nut.

The imports are—Surat and Dunjaree cloths from Cutch; iron, sugar, and rice from Bombay; salt fish and ghee from Socotra; cloths, cotton, china-ware, earthen jars, toys, and ornaments from Surat; dates from the Gulf of Persia; ivory, drugs, bees-wax, tortoise-shell, gums, and sesame-seed, from Angoxa and other parts of the coast. These imports may be valued at 500,000l. per annum.

Mombas and Melinda are both well adapted for trade, which at one time was of considerable importance between these places and India and Arabia; but Melinda, in less than a century after it had been conquered by the Portuguese, ceased to be a place of any importance.

Lamu, in latitude 2° 15′ 45″ S., and longitude 41° 1′ 5″ E., is a place of considerable trade, more especially in hides and the general exports from Zanzibar. Brava, in latitude 1° 6′ 40″ N. and longitude 44° 3′ E., carries on a considerable trade with India and Arabia, and a rapidly-increasing one with America.

The exports are—hides, bullocks, horses, and camels, oil from the joints of camels, salt beef, great varieties of the skins of wild animals, taken by Gallas who go from Zanzibar to Cape Guardafui. Small horses, purchased here from five to six dollars each, will realize from sixty to seventy dollars at the Mauritius.

The Sumalis inhabit the sea coast north from the equator, round Cape Guardafui to Zeyla; the whole of this vast extent of country is but little known to us.

The kingdom of Kimweri, or Usambara, more generally known as the Pangany district, is rich in produce, which may be increased to supply any demand. The sugar-cane is very luxuriant in its growth, and forests of magnificent timber await the woodman’s axe, with the Pangany and its tributaries to carry it to the ocean.

Dr. Krapf, in describing one of these forests, writes, “This forest is worth millions of money for its fine, long, and straight timber, being as useful for ship-building as for carpentering;” and again, “We descended into a large forest of timber, sufficient for centuries to come. The trees are big and straight, from 70 to 100 feet in height.”

The recent discoveries of Captains Burton and Speke, in the country immediately to the south of this, throw a new light on a region hitherto wrapped in the deepest mystery, and give access into the far interior, even to the Victoria Tanganyka lake, and perhaps to the sources of the Nile.

To the northward of Malinda the river Dana, under the name of Osi, reaches the Indian Ocean. It is stated to flow from the eastern side of Mount Kenia; that it is navigable for boats, from the India Ocean to the Ukambani country; that there are no rocks in the way of navigation, and that even during the dry season the water reaches as high as a man’s neck, while during the rains it cannot be forded. Its ordinary breadth is two hundred yards, and it is the privilege of the people of Mbé to carry strangers proceeding to Kikuyu, or other countries, from one bank to another.

A small steamer placed on this river would soon open the country to European commerce; and from the source of the Dana to that of the White Nile can be no great distance.

By the Dana, or Kilimansi, is assuredly the most direct route for settling the great geographical question of the sources of the Nile.

About 200 miles from Cape Guardafui lies the island of Socotra, the principal commercial products of which are derived from the wild plants, and are aloes and dragon’s-blood. The aloe plant (Aloe spicata or Socotrina) in the western districts covers the hills for many miles, at an elevation of from 500 to 2000 feet above the plains. This aloe is also to be found along the whole east coast of Africa, even as far south as the Cape of Good Hope. The dragon’s-blood tree also grows on the western portion of Socotra, at an elevation of from 800 to 2000 feet; and, as well as the aloe, is in such abundance that at least ten times the quantity of these drugs which at present is exported from the island might be easily procured.

Berbera has been for centuries the outlet for north-eastern Africa, and especially Harrar. In former times it was one of the numerous emporia of the Arabs at the entrance of the Red Sea, and its harbour is by no means ill-adapted for steam communication.

Zeyla, or Zeïla, if properly encouraged by the British Government, would be a very good outport, as the descent to that place from the interior is easier than to Massoa, and it is the best outlet of ancient Ethiopia. It is situated opposite Aden, where steam communication would place its productions at once in European markets.

A great trade may be carried on at Zeyla in all the produce of Abyssinia; viz., gold, ivory, coffee, gums, musk, ostrich-feathers, neats’-foot oil from the wild animals (quantities of it are sent to America), tallow, hides, horns, hoofs, &c. Fairs are held at Zeyla in April and October, at which mules are sold very cheap, and, if purchased here for Réunion and Mauritius, they would have the advantage of avoiding the Red Sea passage.

Mocha and Jedda, in Arabia, are already too well known to require any notice but that of their names.

Massoa, the national outport of Abyssinia, in consequence of the descent from the interior being so easy, exports ivory, musk, wax, coffee, senna, linseed, ostrich-feathers, &c., and carries on a large trade with Jedda. The imports are of the value of about four hundred thousand dollars per annum.

Suez has already become a place of vast importance, foreshadowing the future greatness which awaits it, when the Egyptian transit shall be completed, and leviathan ships like the “Great Eastern,” on a trunk line to India and China, will make that port their western terminus, and Suez and Alexandria become the emporia of the East and West.

Having thus briefly stated what articles of commerce Eastern Africa can produce, I feel that it would be a very imperfect notice of this portion of the earth’s productions, were I to omit the valuable islands on the coast.

In the Mozambique Channel, Europa Island stands conspicuous, from its central position in the southern end of this channel. At present it is used as a place of resort for dhows from the whole of the eastern coast of Africa, to land their cargoes of slaves, here awaiting some large European vessel to carry them to their future place of bondage.

This island is well situated for a lighthouse and a depôt, which would command the trade of the Mozambique Channel both on the African and the Madagascar coasts.

On the north side there is a good anchorage, plenty of water and fuel, fish in abundance, turtle, and also land-turtle; and the island has also orchella weed on it. From its insular position there is an entire absence of miasmata.

Reference has already been made to the Comoro Islands, Seychelles, and Madagascar, called the Great Britain of Africa.

Having thus briefly pointed out the resources of Eastern Africa, let us consider the best means for the development of them.

At present the mail, by way of the Atlantic Ocean, reaches the Cape of Good Hope in thirty-five days, and Natal in forty days.

When at Mozambique in 1857, I wrote to Sir Roderick Murchison, the President of the Royal Geographical Society, proposing that the mail should be carried to those two British colonies by way of Aden, touching, on the way down the east coast of Africa, at Zanzibar and Mozambique. By this route a letter would reach Natal in twenty-five days, and the Cape of Good Hope in thirty days. A line of light would be thrown along the whole east coast of Africa, now darkened by the mist of ages, and polluted by the traffic in human beings; an inter-colonial trade would be established between the British colonies in South Africa, the Portuguese settlements, and the rich Sumali possessions of the Imâm of Muskat, and the slave-trade would be entirely superseded by legitimate commerce. In the presidential address of Sir Roderick Murchison, delivered before the Royal Geographical Society this year, mention is made of this route, and I am in hopes that it may soon be adopted for the carriage of the mail; more especially as the electric telegraph is now working at Aden, from which place a steamer might convey a message to Cape Town in fourteen days.[8]

This route once established, the merchants of the Cape and Natal could visit Mozambique and Zanzibar, and establish houses at those places, where they would have a good climate during seven months of the year, which is the healthy as well as the trading season, viz., from the end of April to the month of November. By the establishment of this route there is nothing in the climate to prevent merchants from Europe annually visiting their establishments, and personally supervising the prosperity of their factories for trade.

In the accompanying chart of Eastern Africa I have laid down a series of electric cables, as proposed by me for connecting Great Britain with the South and East African British colonies by way of Aden. This is by no means in advance of the requirements of the times; for, at this moment, we are completing the telegraphic communication with London and Bombay; and the enterprising colonists of Natal have, for more than two years, resolved upon connecting themselves, by means of a cable, with the neighbouring wealthy colony of Mauritius. Telegraphic communication is fully contemplated between Graham’s Town and Petermaritzburg, the capital of Natal, and there is nothing in the intervening space between Mauritius and Aden, by way of the Seychelles and Abd-el-Kuri, or Cape Guardafui, either as to distance or depth of water, to render this proposed electric route to the Cape Colony either impracticable, doubtful, or hazardous.

The advantages, both politically and commercially, which such a communication will afford to the mother country, by uniting it with its rich African colonies, through our own possessions of Aden, Seychelles, and Mauritius, are too apparent to be dwelt upon, and of too vital importance to British interests in the Indian Ocean to be neglected.

Along the whole of the east coast of Africa, and the island of Madagascar, we are outstripped by the Americans, Germans, and French.

Almost the whole of the ivory-trade is now in the hands of the Americans.

Large quantities of beef are salted down on the west coast of Madagascar, and taken to America; hides, horns, hoofs, and tallow find a ready market there, while the French take the oils and oil-seeds. One Hamburg house sends annually fourteen vessels to Zanzibar, ordered to call at Mozambique since a British consul is established there, for cargoes of cowries, with which they proceed to the rivers on the west coast of Africa, and purchase cargoes of palm-oil.

Few British vessels are seen in these parts—as, in the first place, the trade is unknown in England, and, secondly, British merchants consider that, at present, there is a degree of risk and uncertainty attending any ventures in a portion of the world where our commerce is wholly unprotected, and where, hitherto, vessels have been seized, and redress has been sought but not obtained.

In the proper quarter I have already suggested that, for the development of the resources of Eastern Africa, and the opening up of a highly remunerative trade for Great Britain, a consular officer should be appointed from Natal to Suez, including Madagascar and the other islands on that coast; that he should be furnished with a small steamer, which would be entirely for the consular service—by which means the whole coast could be constantly visited, our trade encouraged, new markets for our manufactures made known, and our acquaintance with Eastern Africa become more intimate in a few years than it would be in a century by any other mode of procedure.

At first sight the expense attending a vessel for that service may apparently cause an objection; but when we reflect upon the great results to which such an appointment must lead, and its obviating the necessity of a cordon of consular agents on such a coast, with the accompanying expenses and sacrifice of valuable lives, I feel assured that the country will cheerfully respond to the call which it is hoped the merchants of Great Britain will make upon the legislature.

The young Prince Madji, who has inherited the rich Sumali possessions of the late Imâm of Muskat, has declared his intentions resolutely to follow in the steps of his great father, by discouraging and eventually abolishing the traffic in our fellow-beings.

The facts stated in the foregoing pages of this work having been brought under the notice of Napoleon III., by the circumstances attending the seizure of the celebrated “Charles et Georges,” the Emperor addressed the following loyal letter to his cousin:—

“To Prince Napoleon,
“Minister of Algeria and the Colonies.

“St. Cloud, Oct. 30, 1858.

“My dear Cousin,

“I have the liveliest desire that, at the moment when the differences with Portugal relative to the ‘Charles et Georges’ have terminated, the question of the engagement of free labourers on the African coast should be definitely examined, and finally settled on the truest principles of humanity and justice. I energetically claimed from Portugal the restitution of the ‘Charles et Georges’ because I will always maintain intact the independence of the national flag; but, in this case even, it was only with the profound conviction of my right that I risked with the King of Portugal a rupture of those friendly relations which I am glad to maintain with him. But as to the principle of the engagement of the negroes, my ideas are far from being settled. If, in truth, labourers recruited on the African coast are not allowed the exercise of their free will, and if this enrolment is only the slave-trade in disguise, I will allow it on no terms; for it is not I who will anywhere protect enterprises contrary to progress, to humanity, and to civilization. I beg you, then, to seek out the truth with the zeal and intelligence which you bring to bear on all affairs about which you employ yourself. And as the best method of putting a stop to what is a continual cause of dispute would be to substitute the free labour of Indian coolies for that of the negroes, I beg you to come to an understanding with the Minister for Foreign Affairs to resume with the English Government the negotiations which were entered upon a few months ago. On this, my dear cousin, I pray God to have you in his holy keeping.

“Napoleon.”

In the above letter the Emperor Napoleon emphatically states, “If, in truth, labourers recruited on the African coast are not allowed the use of their free will, and if this enrolment is only the slave-trade in disguise, I will have it on no terms; for it is not I who will anywhere protect enterprises contrary to progress, to humanity, and to civilization.” Admitting, on the one hand, that he may have been deceived by those who had induced him to believe that free labour might be obtained on the east coast of Africa without re-establishing the slave-trade, on the other hand, he approved of that policy adopted by Great Britain in Eastern Africa, which had for its result the thus forcibly bringing before the world the horrors which were being renewed by this so-called Free Labour Emigration.

No higher approval of the conduct of the British functionary who had pursued the path of duty, undaunted by continued persecution, could have been afforded to the world; while the subsequent decree, ordering this traffic to cease on the east coast of Africa, proved the loyalty of Napoleon, and prepared Europe to hail in him the liberator of Central Italy.

The two greatest powers of Europe have resolved that Africa shall have the opportunity of developing her own material resources; and it now only remains for Portugal to prove that her professions for the abolition of the slave-trade are as sincere and as loyal as the great head of the French nation has shown his to be.

Our beloved Queen succeeded to the throne on the 20th of June, 1837, and was crowned sovereign of these realms at Westminster, June 28, 1838. Great Britain had previously to that, in 1834, voted twenty millions sterling for the liberation of the slaves throughout our colonies; but still a large number of our fellow-beings groaned in slavery under the apprenticeship system. On the 1st of August, 1838, the first returning anniversary, after the Queen’s coronation, of that auspicious day when the house of Brunswick ascended the throne of these realms, the world beheld the sublime spectacle of the Virgin Queen of Great Britain pronouncing on earth the will of heaven, that—Slavery in every form should cease where Britain ruled; and Queen Victoria, on that day, made eight hundred thousand slaves eight hundred thousand loyal subjects—thus inseparably uniting the House of Brunswick with the imperishable monument of England’s greatest deed.

In distant ages, when the glories of the “Isles of the West” are told, the memory of Boadicea, the Queen of the British Iceni, who boldly met the invading Roman legions, may be forgotten; so, likewise, that of Queen Elizabeth and the Spanish Armada may fade from the memory of man; but while the world lasts, and humanity has a heart for other’s woes, the tale of Victoria and the slave shall not pass away, while generations yet unborn will exclaim: “Blessed art thou among women.”

With such an inspiring example before him, is it possible that the young King of Portugal can pause in the course which duty, interest, and humanity alike dictate? No! Dom Pedro the Fifth will now see slavery as it exists in his African dominions; his decree will go forth that slavery shall cease wherever the Portuguese flag flies; he will thus ally the House of Braganza with that of Brunswick by ties more indissoluble than those of blood—namely, the memory of good deeds. The curse of slavery shall pass away from his land; Portugal will again resume her position among the first powers of civilization, and admiring posterity will point to Dom Pedro the Fifth as the regenerator of Portugal and the saviour of Africa.