In the other case the slave is torn from his home, carried to people, countries, and climates with which he is unfamiliar, and to scenes and civilization which are uncongenial, where his master is of a different color and of another and higher civilization, where the master and slave have nothing in common. The Spaniards made slaves of the Indians of America, but they were incapable of work, unfitted for slavery, and rapidly faded away. In pity for the Indians, the Africans were brought to supply their places. Their ability to labor was proved, and they were soon in great demand.
It is impossible to ascertain the number of slaves imported into America. The estimates vary from 4,000,000 to 5,000,000. The larger number is probably an underestimate; but these figures do not represent the number shipped from Africa, for 12½ per cent. were lost on the passage, one-third more in the "process of seasoning;" so that, out of 100 shipped from Africa, not more than 50 lived to be effective laborers.
Livingstone, who studied the question of slavery most carefully, estimated, that, for every slave exported, not less than five were slain or perished, and that in some cases only one in ten lived to reach America. If the lowest estimate is taken, then not less than 20,000,000 Negroes were taken prisoners or slain to furnish slaves to America. No wonder that many parts of Africa were depopulated.
Though the slave-trade with America has been suppressed, thousands are annually stolen and sold as slaves in Persia, Arabia, Turkey, and central and northern Africa. Wherever Mohammedanism is the religion, there slavery exists; and to supply the demand the slave-trade is carried on more extensively and more cruelly to-day than at any previous time. The great harvest-field for slaves is in Central Africa, between 10° south and 10° north latitude. From this region caravans of slaves are sent to ports on the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, and thence shipped to Indo-China, the Persian Gulf, Arabia, Turkey in Asia, and even to Mesopotamia, wherever Mussulmans are found. The English at Suakin are a constant hindrance to this traffic; and therefore Osman Digna has so often within the past five years attacked Suakin, desiring to hold it as a port from which to ship slaves to Arabia. Other caravans are driven across the desert to Egypt, Morocco, and the Barbary States. Portuguese slave-traders are found in Central Africa, and, though contrary to law, deal in slaves, and own and work them in large numbers. Cameron says that Alrez, a Portuguese trader, owned 500 slaves, and that to obtain them, ten villages, having each from 100 to 200 souls, were destroyed; and of those not taken, some perished in the flames, others of want, or were killed by wild beasts. Cameron says, "I do not hesitate to affirm that the worst Arabs are angels of mercy in comparison to the Portuguese and their agents. If I had not seen it, I could not believe that there could exist men so brutal and cruel, and with such gayety of heart." Livingstone says, "I can consign most disagreeable recollections to oblivion, but the slavery scenes come back unbidden, and make me start up at night horrified by their vividness."
If the chief or pacha of a tribe is called upon for tribute by his superior, if he wishes to build a new palace, to furnish his harem, or fill an empty treasury, he sends his soldiers, armed with guns and ammunition, against a Negro tribe armed with bows and spears, and captures slaves enough to supply his wants.
The territory from which slaves are captured is continually extending; for, as soon as the European traveler has opened a new route into the interior, he is followed by the Arab trader, who settles down, cultivates the ground, buys ivory (each pair of tusks worth about $500 at Zanzibar or Cairo); invites others to come, and when they have become acquainted with the country, and gathered large quantities of ivory, and porters are wanted to carry the tusks to the coast, a quarrel is instigated with the Negroes, war declared, captives taken,—men for porters, women for the harem,—the villages are burned, and the caravan of slaves and ivory takes its route to the coast, where all are sold. We are told on good authority that during the past twenty years more slaves have been sent out than formerly were exported in a century. Wissmann tells us what he has seen:—
"In January, 1882, we started from our camp,—200 souls in all,—following the road, sixty feet wide, to a region inhabited by the Basonge, on the Sankuru and Lomami Rivers. The huts were about twenty feet square, divided into two compartments, the furniture consisting of cane and wooden stools; floor, ceiling, and walls covered with grass mats. Between the huts were gardens, where tobacco, tomatoes, pine-apples, and bananas were grown. The fields in the rear down to the river were cultivated with sweet-potatoes, ground-nuts, sugar-cane, manioc, and millet. Goats and sheep and fowls in abundance, homestead follows homestead in never-ending succession. From half-past six in the morning, we passed without a break through the street of the town until eleven. When we left it, it then still extended far away to the south-east. The finest specimens in my collection, such as open-work battle-axes inlaid with copper, spears, and neat utensils, I found in this village.
"Four years had gone by, when I once more found myself near this same village. With joy we beheld the broad savannas, where we expected to recruit our strength and provisions. We encamped near the town, and in the morning approached its palm-groves. The paths were no longer clean, no laughter was heard, no sign of welcome greeted us. The silence of death breathes from the palm-trees, tall grass covers every thing, and a few charred poles are the only evidence that man once dwelt there. Bleached skulls by the roadside, and the skeletons of human hands attached to the poles, tell the story. Many women had been carried off. All who resisted were killed. The whole tribe had ceased to exist. The slave-dealer was Sayol, lieutenant of Tippo-Tip."
Sir Samuel Baker was largely instrumental in the suppression of the slave-trade, and, while the rule of the English and French in Egypt was maintained, slavery was greatly diminished; but, since the defeat and death of Gen. Gordon, the slave-trade has rapidly increased, and is now carried on more actively than at any other time. The only obstacles to this traffic are the presence of Emin Pacha at Wadelai, the English and American missionaries, and English trading-stations on Lakes Victoria Nyanza and Tanganyika.
The slave-traders unite in efforts to destroy Emin Pacha, and to expel the missionaries and all European travelers and traders, except the Portuguese, and for this purpose excite the hostility of the Negro against the foreigner. In this they are aided by the Mahdi. The work of the Mahdi is largely a missionary enterprise. The dervishes who accompany his army are religious fanatics, and desire the overthrow of the Christians and Emin Pacha as earnestly as the slave-trader. Religious fanaticism is therefore united with the greed of the slave-trader to drive out the Christians from the lake region.