THE ZANZIBAR SLAVE TRADE.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XVI, Issue 2391, 18 February 1889, Page 4

THE ZANZIBAR SLAVE TRADE.

. A letter, which has been addressed ny a seaman aboard H.M.S. Griffon to a brother in Birmingham, shows the daring and activity of tbe Arabs engaged in' the iniquitous traffic of slaves off the r«ast of Zanzibsr, and draws a [graphic picture Tof service aboard our vessels an that station. writes the London Daily New^) It appears that there is a considerably demand for slaves to be employed in the unhealthy work of clove-picking on the Island of Pembla, and that incessant vigilance is required to prevent the import of these unhappy people from the mainland, about 25 miles distant. Ifc was on Wednesday, 17th Octobor last, that a steam-cutter, with a crew manned by Mr Cooper, the .navigating lieutenant of the Griffon, left the side of that vessel, where she Jay concealed at anchor in a bay, to partrol the Straits. Being a moonlight night, no one expected that the Arab Blave dhows would venture across ; font about midnight the ere vr of the Griffon were aroused by the return of the cutter, blowing her whistle, and presenting, we are told, "a sad sight." "The lieutenant and my two messmates, the carpenter, and another petty officer," says the writer, " were lying in the bottom of the boat wounded. Mr Cooper was got up first, when the poor fellow was found to be dead, but still warm. He had a terrible wound, a bullet having entered his chest and passed out at his back. The carpenter also wa& found to be severely wounded. A bullet bad entered his right hip, and taking an upward direction, passed out an inch below his left breast: The other petty officer was slightly wounded in th% leg, and the doctor had to cut away a Jot of the flesh to extract the bullet which had embedded itself there." From the narrative of the survivors it appears that at about llalf-past 10 at riighi the cutter sighted a dhow under sail, making for the beach, and immediately gave chase. On coming within hail the English officer summoned the Arab to lower his sail, but no notice was taken, and as the cutter ranged alongside the dhow opened fire. A sharp engagement then commenced, with the result that the fire of the English crew either killed or drove the Arabs overboard, only at the heavy cost above described. On boarding the dhow not an Arab was to be seen. After hastily throwing their dead and wounded into the sea, they had dived and swam for shore. The craft, how* ever, was crammed with slaves, and leaving these in charge of a wellarmed detachment of her crew, the cutter steamed back with her dead and wounded. " We went out, " aclls the writer, " at daylight, and*took the dhow in tow, finding 74 sl&ves aboard, mostly women and children." To add to the jiorrors of tbe scene, three of these poor wretches by mischance bad been killed and four woipded by tbe fire from the cutter. Subsequently the Griffon towed the dhow back to Zanzibar, and Mr Cooper was buried by his sorrowing comrades at a spot bearing the ominously .significant name of " Grave Island. " Two bpats from the Stork and the Gannet, and two from the French and German warbhips, were aent in token of respect, while the German Admiral on the station also despatched his band to play funeral marches as the boats were slowly towed by steam launches from the fleet. There is some consolation in the news that the island is to be scoured for the fugitive Arabs, with the aid of troops lent by the Sultan of Zanzibar. \