Dhow Chasing in Zanzibar Waters - The Search For Mecca

200 DHOW-CHASING.
all these stations there
are uninhabited islands,
and other convenient places where these boats
could be beached for repairs. In a very few
years, no doubt, it would be possible to greatly
reduce this squadron, as the slave-dealers would
soon be convinced that England was in earnest,
and that the slave-trade would become unprofitable
and hazardous.
I would here remark that there were many
circumstances tending to bring about in
the year 1868 the capture of so many slave
dhows. First, there was an increase in the
number of slaves accumulated at the various
markets, owing to the squadron being withdrawn
for the Abyssinian expedition, and consequently
absent from the coast at the commencement
of the year, which the
slave-dealers
w^ere anxious to take advantage of. Secondly,
as we mentioned before, there was a war
between two tribes on opposite sides of the
Juba river, which cut off the land route along
the coast from Lamoo to Brava and Magadoxa,
by which .the slaves are often conveyed,
especially if there are any cruisers
known to be