Dhow Chasing in Zanzibar Waters - The Search For Mecca

CRUISE OF THE " CASTOE's BOATS." 59
each port as he proceeds north, until, as the
dhow nears the destination it is finally bound
for, where the inconvenience will
a short time longer and the risk
be felt but for
of capture is
almost " nil,"
she has become filled with slaves
stowed in all manner of ways, and unless the
cargo is such as they can be fed from, they are
in a starving condition.
A common practice exists amongst Arab
passengers in these dhows to pay the negoda
for their voyage by bringing a slave with them
from the shore, the
proceeds of whose sale at a
northern market yields the passage-money; it
is just such cases as this that have been made
use of by some persons to prove that dhows
have been captured with only domestic slaves
on board, and such cases are the most difiicult
of proof, because the Arabs, who know full well
the English view and meaning of " domestic
slaves," will swear that they are such.
Such a
case was that, no doubt, brought before the
Select Committee,—I allude to the case of the
" Petrel," which captured a dhow with Arab
passengers on board, and six wretched creatures.