When our little steamer, the Ma Robert (which, if not the best constructed, was certainly the best abused little vessel afloat) was put together on the Zambesi, Mr. Rae, the engineer, took some trouble to train Tom Coffee (a Krooman) to act as stoker and general assistant. Tom had, however, a will of his own; and, proving refractory, was brought before Dr. Livingstone, who, from motives of humanity, instead of ordering him corporal punishment, put him off duty and stopped his pay. The Kroomen gathered in serious consultation over the sentence, and at length deputed Jumbo to appeal against it: “The Kroomen,” said he, “do not understand being put off duty; they come to work, and they must work. I will see to that, and they will expect their pay when this voyage is done. If they are insolent or lazy, or deserve punishment, tell me of it, and I will flog them; they ‘savey’ that, but they do not ‘savey’ stoppage of their pay.” Mr. Rae also felt the sentence press rather heavily upon him. None of the other men were fit, without fresh instruction, to take Tom’s place; and as the duties of chief engineer, with those of stoker and assistant, were rather too onerous for one individual, he was fain to join in the request that Coffee should be set to work again.
In some places it is almost impossible to avoid the employment of slave labour in some form or other; for even though the master do not, as of course no Englishman with proper feeling will, retain a man in compulsory bondage, or sell him for profit when his term of servitude is expired, it is in some countries impossible to hire a free labourer; and to give a man his liberty immediately after he has been purchased from his chief, or master, would only deprive the hirer or purchaser of all benefit during the expected period of service. This is particularly the case in some of the countries bordering upon the upper branches of the Nile. A well-known traveller in that region was once taxed with slave trading; he indignantly denied the charge. He had bought men of their chief, as everyone who required servants was obliged to do; but he challenged proof that he had ever detained one in bondage or sold him again when his service was completed.
An English military officer, in the same dilemma, bought men; he was a kind master, he found them good servants, and when he required them no longer he made them presents and set them free. A sudden cloud darkened every brow. Had they not served him well? What fault had they committed that he should now discard them, and turn them adrift, without providing them another master? We once met in Dielli, the capital of the Portuguese settlement in the island of Timor, an English captain who, moved by compassion at the miserable condition of some prisoners in the hands of Malay pirates, yielded to their entreaties, and purchased some of them; and on arrival at the first British port he went ashore to consult the magistrate as to the proper manner of giving them their liberty. “You cannot give them their liberty,” said he, “they are free already; and, though you have acted from motives of humanity, you had better let them go as quietly as possible, for not only is your purchase of no effect, but you have brought yourself into some danger by making it.”
In South Africa the English travellers, or traders, very properly refuse to have anything to do with the purchase of slaves, though men and boys will come to them desiring to be bought. A friend of ours had an offer of this kind made while we were together; but though it would have been very advantageous to have a couple of lads who, in a short time, would have been well qualified to act as interpreters, he declined the offer.
On a previous occasion, however, when a boy had begged hard that he would buy him he refused, but told the lad to go and make the best bargain he could for his own liberty; the price was handed over to him, he ransomed himself, and joyfully returned to enter the service of his new master.
Frequently a white man picks up some miserable, neglected child, lets it sit by his fire, and huddle among his servants, getting a share of their food; and if he be, as he ought, a kind-hearted fellow, an occasional pat upon the woolly head and a tit bit from himself. When its condition is improved, he perhaps sets it to some trifling work; but no sooner is it supposed to have become useful than down come the parents or brothers, or some impostors who represent themselves as such, and threaten to take the child away unless they are properly paid for allowing him to keep it.
In Damara land especially such cases were common; and we became quite accustomed to hear the native servant girls telling each other, as a matter of very little importance, that such a one had “thrown her child into the fire that morning.” Not that the statement was to be taken literally; but rather that the mother had just abandoned it, and the poor creature had crawled towards the fire for warmth, and so scorched itself.
There were also some natives who had a great facility for establishing a relationship with these unfortunates; and two or three had gained quite a reputation for their skill in discovering some genealogical affinity with anyone that had become the pet of a European supposed to be able to afford to pay for the luxury of keeping it.
In the Portuguese settlements on the Lower Zambesi a modified form of slavery exists, totally distinct from, and unconnected with, the slave trade, and rendered much more endurable by the fact that the slaves, or, more properly, serfs or bondsmen, are subjects of the Crown, and may not be removed from the colony, an ordinance, however, respecting which something may be said on both sides; for, if it prevents subjects being sold as slaves into foreign bondage, it is sometimes assigned as a reason for not legally marrying a native woman; that if a man were to do so, he could not take her from the country, and, not being allowed to leave her, would thus pass upon himself a sentence of confinement there for life.
With regard to the question of servitude under the Crown, the position of a slave seems to be that he cannot change his master, and his master cannot discharge or sell him, except under certain restrictions.