STANLEY ON IVORY-RAIDING.

Timaru Herald, Volume L, Issue 4823, 21 April 1890, Page 4

STANLEY ON IVORY-RAIDING.

Mr Stanley, m his long letter to Colonel Euan Smith, which has just been published at a Parliamentary paper, giveß a harrowing account of the doinga of the ivory raiders m Africa. He cays : — Twenty-eight days' march from Fort Bodo brought us once more to Ugarrowwu's station. But it was now abandoned, the sliVe trader and his hundreds of desperadoes had commenced the return home with 600 tuska of iyory, which had been collected after immen«e waste of life and native property. slatk tßadimo is inhocencb compabed w:th ivory baidiko. People m England have not the slightest idea what the present fashion of ivorycollecting, as adopted by the Arabs and Zanzibari half-castes west of the lake regions, means. Bkre trading becomes innocence when compared with ivory-rniding. The Utter has become literally a most Moody business. Ban^s consisting of from 800 to 600 Manyoffi*, armed with Hnßeld carbines, and officered by Zanzibari Arabs and Hwohili range over that immense forest land cant of the Upper Congo, destroying every district they discover, and driving such Natives a« escape the sudden fusillades into the deepest recesses of the forest. In the midst of a vast circle described by several days march m every direction, the ivory-raiders select a locality wherein plantains are abundant, prepare a few acres for rice, and, while the crop is growing, sally out by twenties or forties to destroy every village within the circle, and to hunt up the miserable Natives who have escaped their first secret and sudden onslaughts. THB CAPTUEE O? HOSTAGES. They are aware that the forest, though it furnishes recesses of bush impervious to discovery, is a hungry wilderness outiido the plantain grove of the clearing, and that to sustain life tho women must forago far and re x for borries, wild fruit, and fungi. Theeo i scattered bands of ivory hunters fiod these I women and children an easy prey. The startling explosion of heavily loaded guns m the deep woods paralyses tho timid creatures, and befora thoy rocovor from their deadly fright they are rushed upon and sccurud. By the poisemon of these captives they impose upon the tribal communities the necessity of surrendering ever? artiste of value, ivory or

goals, to gain tho liberty of their relatives. ! hus the land becomes thoroughly denuded o£, I ivory, but, unfortunately, also it becomes a wild waste. UGABBO'ywVS ITOBT HOAED. The 600 ivory tusks that Ugarrowwa was bearing now to the coast had been acquired by iust such bloody work, relentless destruction of human life, and condemnation of the unhappy survivors of the tribal communities to inde/cribable miseries. What Ugarrowwa had done within hi B elected circle KifongaLongo has performed with no loss .kill bub certainly «ith a far greater disregard to the interests of humanity, within his reserves ; and the same cruel, ?»»rieroue policy was being pursued within dozens of other circles into which the region as far south as TJregga. north to the Welle, east to longitude 29deg 30min,and West to the Congo, was parcelled out. In the early parts of the month of August the oolunm overtook the immense caravan of Ugarrowwa, his flotilla of 57 canoes laden with helpless ohildren, girls, and young women, and bis hoard of ivory, equal to about 15 tons, was at the landing place of a village near Wa B p Bapids, on tha Ituri Biver. _^_____—