Dhow Chasing in Zanzibar Waters - The Search For Mecca

APPENDIX. 445
IIG dhows, containing 2645 slaves; while,
according to the returns of slaves exported
from Zanzibar and Kilwa during those years,
dhows carrying 37,000 slaves must have evaded
capture, making the captures about 6' 6 per
cent. only.
" These figures are sufficient to show the
insufficiency of the present squadron to check,
much less to stop the trade ; and the reasons
assigned are that the existing treaties and the
instructions as to domestic slaves render it
impossible to seize a dhow south of Lamoo, and
during the south-west monsoon it is very
difficult to keep the cruisers sufficiently near
the coast to intercept the dhows as they run
northward before the Avind, while there appears
a general concurrence of testimony that the
present number of the squadron is insufficient
for the work to be performed, and that the
efficiency of the squadron would be materially
increased by an additional supply of steam
launches for the arduous boat service on that
coast. The traffic in slaves was, on the 31st of
May, 1871, as reported by the Admiral Commanding
in Chief on the station to be, 'without
doubt, as busy and profitable as ever.'
" In connexion with the failure of the measures
hitherto adopted, it was given in evidence that
much was owing to the want of recorded in-