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The
caravan
,
camped
under
the
gigantic
sycamore
,
did
not
count
less
than
eight
hundred
persons
,
say
five
hundred
slaves
of
both
sexes
,
two
hundred
soldiers
,
porters
,
marauders
,
guards
,
drivers
,
agents
,
or
chiefs
.
These
chiefs
were
of
Arab
and
Portugese
origin
.
It
would
be
difficult
to
imagine
the
cruelties
that
these
inhuman
beings
inflicted
on
their
captives
.
They
struck
them
without
relaxation
,
and
those
who
fell
exhausted
,
not
fit
to
be
sold
,
were
finished
with
gunshots
or
the
knife
.
Thus
they
hold
them
by
terror
.
But
the
result
of
this
system
is
,
that
on
the
arrival
of
the
caravan
,
fifty
out
of
a
hundred
slaves
are
missing
from
the
trader
's
list
.
A
few
may
have
escaped
,
but
the
bones
of
those
who
died
from
torture
mark
out
the
long
routes
from
the
interior
to
the
coast
.
It
is
supposed
that
the
agents
of
European
origin
,
Portuguese
for
the
most
part
,
are
only
rascals
whom
their
country
has
rejected
,
convicts
,
escaped
prisoners
,
old
slave-drivers
whom
the
authorities
have
been
unable
to
hang
--
in
a
word
,
the
refuse
of
humanity
.
Such
was
Negoro
,
such
was
Harris
,
now
in
the
service
of
one
of
the
greatest
contractors
of
Central
Africa
,
Jose-Antonio
Alvez
,
well
known
by
the
traders
of
the
province
,
about
whom
Lieutenant
Cameron
has
given
some
curious
information
.
The
soldiers
who
escort
the
captives
are
generally
natives
in
the
pay
of
the
traders
.
But
the
latter
have
not
the
monopoly
of
those
raids
which
procure
the
slaves
for
them
.
The
negro
kings
also
make
atrocious
wars
with
each
other
,
and
with
the
same
object
.
Then
the
vanquished
adults
,
the
women
and
children
,
reduced
to
slavery
,
are
sold
by
the
vanquishers
for
a
few
yards
of
calico
,
some
powder
,
a
few
firearms
,
pink
or
red
pearls
,
and
often
even
,
as
Livingstone
says
,
in
periods
of
famine
,
for
a
few
grains
of
maize
.
The
soldiers
who
escorted
old
Alvez
's
caravan
might
give
a
true
idea
of
what
African
armies
are
.
It
was
an
assemblage
of
negro
bandits
,
hardly
clothed
,
who
brandished
long
flint-lock
guns
,
the
gun-barrels
garnished
with
a
great
number
of
copper
rings
.
With
such
an
escort
,
to
which
are
joined
marauders
who
are
no
better
,
the
agents
often
have
all
they
can
do
.
They
dispute
orders
,
they
insist
on
their
own
halting
places
and
hours
,
they
threaten
to
desert
,
and
it
is
not
rare
for
the
agents
to
be
forced
to
yield
to
the
exactions
of
this
soldiery
.
Though
the
slaves
,
men
or
women
,
are
generally
subjected
to
carry
burdens
while
the
caravan
is
on
the
march
,
yet
a
certain
number
of
porters
accompany
it
.
They
are
called
more
particularly
"
Pagazis
,
"
and
they
carry
bundles
of
precious
objects
,
principally
ivory
.
Such
is
the
size
of
these
elephants
'
teeth
sometimes
,
of
which
some
weigh
as
much
as
one
hundred
and
sixty
pounds
,
that
it
takes
two
of
these
"
Pagazis
"
to
carry
them
to
the
factories
.
Thence
this
precious
merchandise
is
exported
to
the
markets
of
Khartoum
,
of
Zanzibar
and
Natal
.
On
arriving
,
these
"
Pagazis
"
are
paid
the
price
agreed
upon
.
It
consists
in
twenty
yards
of
cotton
cloth
,
or
of
that
stuff
which
bears
the
name
of
"
Merikani
,
"
a
little
powder
,
a
handful
of
cowry
(
shells
very
common
in
that
country
,
which
serve
as
money
)
,
a
few
pearls
,
or
even
those
of
the
slaves
who
would
be
difficult
to
sell
.
The
slaves
are
paid
,
when
the
trader
has
no
other
money
.
