The sale of their subjects constituted one chief source of the revenue of the Rajahs; and the factors at the different Dutch residencies traded in slaves. It is reported of one factor that he exported nine hundred in a year. The payment or contribution to be made to the Dutch, was either measured in gold, silver, or slaves. In a treaty made between the people of Gúa and Admiral Speelman, we find that they promised to pay so much of the precious metals, or one thousand slaves. Those slaves that were obtained by law or descent, were called Díngen; those kidnapped, Páras.
The respective prices for slaves at Makásar were as follow:—
| For a grown lad, legitimately obtained | 20 | dollars. |
| For a young woman, ditto | 40 | |
| For a grown lad, kidnapped | 10 | |
| For a young woman, ditto | 20 |
It appears from the report of a commission appointed to inquire into the abuses of the slave trade in Celebes, addressed to the council of policy, and dated Makásar, the 21st September, 1799, that the Dutch government of Batavia, from the year 1699 (the period of the first Dutch settlement at Makásar), had sent repeated orders for the prevention of abuses in the slave trade in Celebes; with what effect, the following extract from the same report will shew.
"The abuses which have successively crept in, and the intrigues which are now practiced to obtain slaves, are so manifold and perplexing, that it would be very difficult for us to enumerate or to trace them. In attempting such a detail with all the precision and attention possible, we should still ignorantly omit some things, and depict others in too faint and indulgent a light, the grounds of our information being often superficial and precarious; for, it is to be remembered, that the enormities which are committed in this trade conceal themselves in the dark, and it is only by accident that some traces of them can occasionally be discerned. For these reasons, the undersigned request that they may be excused for confining themselves to the most common and notorious abuses, which, being faithfully recorded, may still afford sufficient evidence of the dreadful and detestable crimes which spring from avarice, and of the frightful shapes in which she perpetually displays herself, instigating and exciting the vengeful and blood-thirsty passions of the natives, and creating a fertile source of trouble and mischief.
"The making of a slave transport, if properly viewed, consists in nothing more than this:—A person, calling himself an interpreter, repairs, at the desire of one who says that he has bought a slave, to the Secretary's office, and accompanied by any native, who, provided with a note from the purchaser, gives himself out as seller. For three rupees a certificate of sale, in the usual form, is immediately made out; three rupees are also paid to the notary, two rupees put into the hands of the interpreter, the whole transaction is concluded, and the purchaser has thus become the lawful owner of a free-born man, who very often is stolen with his (the purchaser's) concurrence and co-operation. He does not, however, trouble himself about that, because the stolen victim is already concealed where nobody can find him. The transaction also very seldom becomes public, because never were found more faithful receivers than the slave-traders. It is a maxim with them, never, as they call it, to betray their prison; a phrase which we shall presently have the honour more fully to explain. But what will be thought of the value of those public instruments, to which the name of Slave Transports is attached, when at times it is found that both purchaser and seller are fictitious, and that they are united in one league with the interpreter. By such means it is obvious, that the right of property upon a stolen man may be acquired with as much ease as if he were pinioned before the door or within the yard of the pretended purchaser, and with no greater cost than the small sum of one rupee, or something more, according to circumstances, which must be put into the hands of him who gave himself out for the seller. To find a person for this purpose does not require a long search, for it is a very easy trade to pursue, and there are numbers of the most profligate of the natives continually roving about who do nothing else, and maintain themselves exclusively upon such small profits; even the slaves of the inhabitants being bribed, suffer themselves, for a small fee, to be thus employed. The victim himself, who is stolen and sold, is never examined, nor do the Dutch or native interpreters at all concern themselves about the matter; they are not much afraid of the risk of their responsibility; so that, at any time, it were possible to prepare beforehand as many transports as might be required.
"Let us further represent to ourselves this, our town of Makásar, filled with prisons, the one more dismal than the other, which are stuffed up with hundreds of wretches, the victims of avarice and tyranny, who, chained in fetters, look forward with despair towards their future destiny, and taken away from their wives, their children, their parents, their friends and comforts, languish in slavery, helpless and miserable! We may picture to ourselves the condition of one (and how often do such instances occur) who perhaps saw his aged father lose his life by his side, in attempting to rescue the pride and comfort of his declining years, whilst the survivor, incapable of further resistance, is torn from him, robbed irrecoverably of what is most precious to every human being, and carried away, in a condition more dreadful than death itself, a condition of despair and uncertainty, in which that moment only shall produce a change, when he is resigned for a trifle to the arbitrary will of a master, who has paid the stipulated price, and acquired the right of placing him amongst the number of his domestic animals, treating him at times no better than he would do those creatures.
"If we would lift up another corner of the curtain, a scene no less afflicting presents itself. Here we discover wives lamenting the loss of their husbands, children missing their parents, parents missing their children, who, with hearts filled with rage and revenge, run frantic through the streets and before our doors, to do all that the filial love of children for their parents, the tenderness of parents for their offspring can inspire, in order, if possible, to discover where their dearest pledges are concealed. Often, very often, is all their labour and trouble in vain, being obliged to return back hopeless and comfortless to their afflicted friends and relations. Sometimes, indeed, the profoundest secrecy is not proof against their indefatigable scrutiny, and if they do by any chance learn where a father, mother, a son or daughter, a husband or a wife, is kept in concealment, hope revives within their bosoms, and absorbed in the prospect of becoming their deliverers and saviours, every sacrifice is considered trifling, by means of which they can regain possession of the objects of their anxious care. But, alas! these unhappy people have not as yet reached the end of their sufferings; an obdurate purchaser, deaf to all the pleadings of distress, will be prepared coolly to make his advantage of it, and proportionally to enhance the ransom of his victim, till, by extorting an exorbitant price, he may plunge the unhappy relative from a moderate property into indigence, or, which is still worse, burden him with debts, which, sooner or later, will reduce himself, and perhaps his whole family, to slavery!
"It must not be thought, that when these wretched people have thus carried their point, and when, to furnish the sum demanded, they have sold their houses and goods, or even pawned themselves[301], that, after the payment of the ransom agreed on, the matter is finished. No! the trader will not deliver up the pretended slave until he departs for Batavia: and if we ask, why? it is, that his prison may not be betrayed; that is to say, that it may not become generally known throughout the country, what numbers of stolen people he keeps shut up within his prison, and that the cry of vengeance against many execrable acts that are concealed in the dark, may not everywhere be heard, by which many villains would become notorious. A son is therefore only exhibited to the afflicted father: he sees him in a pitiful condition linked with fetters, and it is frequently at such a moment that the ransom is agreed on. The grief wherewith a father's heart is pierced at such a sight, the rapid succession of his emotions from grief and despair to hope and longing, when contrasted with the deliberate calmness with which a covetous purchaser knows how to take advantage of the poor man's distress; the indifference, the obstinacy, with which he persists in his bloody demand of each rix-dollar, each stiver, nay almost of each penny; in a word, every thing that can have any relation to such a striking spectacle, can be more easily conceived than described, and we have said enough to exhibit the abomination of proceedings, which cannot fail to have a most pernicious influence upon society.
"But it may be said, the laws and regulations speak in favour of the oppressed. We have shown above, in what manner government have endeavoured, from time to time, to provide against such abuses, and to this we beg leave to refer; but where avarice is predominant, laws, reason, rights, humanity, all that is sacred, are too often compelled to yield. Besides, various obstacles conspire, which time and local circumstances have engendered, so that in spite of the most salutary statutes (which are indeed so far nominally in force) the evil cannot be effectually checked; and experience has taught us, that the most rigorous orders which government could devise, would be insufficient to make a due provision against the increase of these abuses.