"Those, whose fate we have now hastily drawn, are not always stolen by foreign nations at distant places. No: about and near the houses of our own inhabitants, in our kampongs, within our own town, it very often happens. A numerous gang of villains, known by the name of bondsmen (verpandeling), with a number of whom every slave-trader is careful to provide himself according to his means, are most useful instruments in procuring slaves in the easiest and cheapest way; and being instructed in all the arts of villainy, and eager for prey, they rove about in gangs during the night and at unseasonable hours, and if successful in overpowering some one, they carry the victim to their employer, or to any purchaser, and it is very seldom that any thing more is heard of it, than that such a one has lost his slave, or that such a native is missing. The stolen man, woman, or child, is already chained and shut up within the prison of some slave-trader, which is never visited. The slaves for foreign markets are always carried on board at night; and if a stolen person were either free-born, or the slave of an inhabitant, he dares not make himself known as long as he is in his ravisher's hands, for, in that case, they would kill him immediately, even were it before the door of the person who wanted to buy him, whilst the robbers would have no difficulty in getting out of the way, and beyond the reach of justice.
"Those who are trained to this business, whether bondsmen or slaves (for even amongst this latter class of people thieves of men are often found), are very fertile in all kinds of intrigues to accomplish their ends; for except casual victims, who sometimes fall by accident into their clutches, a considerable time will often elapse before they succeed in securing the object they have marked out for their prey, because the devoted creature is frequently on his guard; and as it cannot be done openly without great precaution, for he would certainly sacrifice his own or their lives to preserve his liberty; they, therefore, lie in wait for him a long time, endeavouring by indirect means to make acquaintance with him, in order to gain his confidence, and then, we will not say always, to conduct or allure him into the house of the slave-trader, or otherwise, as is sometimes the case, to lead him to a remote spot, or at least to some distance from his house, when he immediately finds himself attacked by two or three of these ruffians, who have long previously agreed with his pretended friends, and before he has time to put himself into a posture of defence, or to take hold of his krís, it is already wrested from him, and his hands are tied behind his back. To cry for help would be immediately fatal to him, he is therefore compelled to be quiet, and to suffer himself to be sold as a slave by the ruffians who had previously arranged where to carry him.
"Why such violations are so seldom made public, and thieves of men are so rarely detected, many sufficient reasons may be assigned. For instance: the profound secrecy of the prisons; the clandestine manner in which slaves for traffic are carried on board in the dark of the night; the sinister manner in which the purchase is transacted and confirmed; the facility with which the villains are able to escape, when after some time the theft becomes notorious; the difficulty of making satisfactory inquiry about a crime, of which but a few of the perpetrators and their accomplices are generally within the reach of justice, whilst the stolen person is still more rarely present, so that it generally happens, in such a case, that the most guilty get off; the still greater uncommonness of offenders of this sort being caught in the very act, so as to fall at once into the hands of justice; and, finally, the secret protection which some native petty princes, living upon plunder, afford to their subjects. All these, and many other circumstances, combine to facilitate the practice of kidnapping, which thus goes on almost undisturbed, and generally unpunished!
"A rich citizen, who has a sufficient number of emissaries called bondsmen, carries on his trade much more easily than a poor one does. The latter is often obliged to go himself to the Kámpong Búgis or elsewhere, to take a view of the stolen victim and to carry him home; whilst the former quietly smokes his pipe, being sure that his thieves will, in every corner, find out for him sufficient game, without his exerting himself otherwise than indirectly. The thief, the seller, the interpreter, are all active in his service, because they are all paid by him. In some cases the purchaser unites himself with the seller, on purpose to deceive the interpreter; whilst, in other cases, the interpreter agrees with the thief and pretended seller, to put the stolen person into the hands of the purchaser! What precautions, what scrutiny, can then avail, when we reflect, that the profound secrecy of the prisons, and the strict precautions in carrying the slaves on board, are equalled only by the licentiousness with which the transports are fabricated?
"A distinction ought, however, to be made between such illegal and criminal practices, and a more moderate trade in slaves, many of whom, it is true, are stolen, but not in our vicinity, nor in the districts of the Company. The remainder are generally such as, according to the separate laws and customs of the native nations of Celebes, have in some way or other forfeited their liberty, either in war, or for some misdemeanour, or on account of debts. These are likewise higher in price, so that the trader cannot have so much gain upon them; they may also appear at broad daylight, an interpreter may with security answer for them. Such slaves can be brought on board very quietly in the day time; the frequency of murder, as in other cases, is not much to be dreaded, and our town has considerably less danger to apprehend from these than from the class before mentioned."
The report concludes by recommending specific measures, and expressing an opinion, that "it would not be inexpedient, if, but for one year, the exportation of slaves from hence were suspended."
In the following year, the residents received instructions from the high regency, in which several of their predecessors were accused of having "assumed a despotic sway over the natives, plundered those over whom they had been placed to protect them, and of having even dared, with the assistance of the native chiefs, whom they have found means to debauch, to put the natives in irons, and to sell them as slaves."
Mr. Chassé, when governor of Makásar, much to his honour, attempted to put a stop to manstealing in the neighbourhood of his residency. He did not, however, succeed to any extent. When the British arrived, it appeared that numbers of plunderers were roaming about for the supply of the slave market, which was still open; so that the inhabitants of the villages adjacent to Makásar, never dared to approach, except in parties of at least five or six armed men. An equal caution prevailed throughout the country.
To enforce the British abolition laws, there was formed at Batavia, in the beginning of the year 1816, a society called the Java Benevolent Institution, and in the course of the year this society published an account of its proceedings, containing, among other interesting matter, "Remarks upon Makásar, &c. compiled from the information of Lieutenant Owen Phillips, assistant resident there." This paper concludes as follows:
"The laws recognized between the Dutch Company and the states of Bóni and Gúa may be considered a fair criterion of their general spirit and tendency. They were agreed to in an early period of the Dutch establishment, when Admiral Speelman concluded a treaty with those states, and they have not since undergone any material alterations. The penalties therein prescribed were required to be paid in money or property of any description, at the arbitrary rates fixed by the same laws, and which appear on the whole to be extremely favourable to the individual; debtors or convicted felons, in default of payment, becoming bondsmen. But the temptation to corruption afforded by an open market and an increased demand for slaves for traffic, introduced a practice of condemning, first to bondage, and then fabricating for three dollars a certificate of slavery; a practice which, although not recognized in the laws subsisting between the European and native powers, was yet generally known to prevail, and if not formally sanctioned, was openly tolerated under the former system.