Dhow Chasing in Zanzibar Waters - The Search For Mecca

60 DHOW-CHASlNG.
whom the Arabs declared were " domestic
slaves," as they will
say and swear anything to
deceive the authorities and gain their point.
Knowing, as I do from experience, what a
few slaves on board a dhow really means,
knowing also what the term " domestic slaves "
signifies on the East Coast, I can only regret
that the question of the slave-trade on the East
Coast of Africa has not earlier fixed the attention
of the British public, that its true
character might be understood; and I cannot
suppress a feeling of pride that our determined
efibrts at its suppression, although they have
raised the ire of the petty chiefs on the coast (who,
being subjects
of our Indian Empire, managed
to
obtain the sympathy and interference of the
Indian authorities, by whom, through being
misinformed, the matter was misjudged), have
at last had the effect of bringing the whole
subject before the world.
By taking in at each port two or three slaves
in a tolerably healthy condition, they can pass
a considerable number ofi" as part of the crew
and, without an interpreter who can read the