He answered, that with the doings of Muinyi Dugumbi and others like him he had nothing to do; that he often used his influence to prevent them from attacking the natives without provocation, and to induce them to treat their captives kindly. As for himself and all true Arabs, he said the slaves of their household were treated as members of the family, and had nothing to complain of; indeed, they were better off than they would be as freemen, and could always, if they desired it, become free. The captives he had made, he confessed, were not so well treated; “but,” he said, “what can I do? I have here ivory which I have collected at great cost and risk, and here it is valueless to me. I must send it to the sea to sell it; and how am I to carry it? If I send my own men, my people from ‘the island,’ and my Wanyamwesi with it, I shall be left here without defence. The people of the country will not travel far for hire. Slaves cost more than freemen. From Unyanyembe to Kilwa and Bagamoyo the Wanyamwesi go as porters, and we pay and feed them; that is better than employing slaves. Ten slaves are chained together,—one man stops, all stop. Ten slaves cannot carry as much as five men who are free. If I could carry my ivory without slaves I would, as it would be better and cheaper for me. A freeman wants to end his journey and get his payment; a slave does not care—one day is the same as another to him: so that the freeman travels faster and further. No; if I could get pagazi (porters) to carry my ivory, I would never use slaves. But if we did not have slaves, what would become of the people the heathen make prisoners in war? They would be killed and eaten. Surely it is better for them to be slaves.”
I was unable to reply; but he did not convince me at all that slavery was right, or even excusable. I daily became more and more a hater of slavery, from what I saw of the way the captives he had taken in the late fights were treated, though their lot was far better than that of those who had fallen into the hands of other traders. I had, however, not much time to argue with Tipolo on the subject, for his brother arrived; and he was busy all day long with him arranging about pushing their trading-parties further afield, and about the despatch of ivory to the coast.
I was delighted to find that Hatibu, my first acquaintance among the Arabs and their retainers, was selected for the charge of the down-caravan, and that Bilal was to accompany him, as with them I felt myself safe. If any of the many people who did not care about my freely expressed opinions about slavery had been put in charge, they would not have treated me so kindly as did Hatibu, with whom I had struck up a
WIVES OF HATIBU AND BILAL.
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very warm friendship, increased by the memory of the perils we had gone through together. I had the feeling that, under Providence, it was to him I was indebted for my life and the prospect of returning to my own people and my own country.