Chapter IX: On the Resources of Eastern Africa

“Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.”

_Psalm LXVIII., v. 31._

In the foregoing pages of this work, attention has been drawn to the capabilities which East Africa offers, on its coast line, for the production of the finest cotton, by the fact of its whole sea-board being washed by that great ocean-current which subsequently, in its course on the east coast of America, obtains the name of the Gulf Stream. The wonderful effect which the heat contained in this great body of water has on the climate of England, and other more torridly-situated countries, is a fact too well attested to be disputed. For my present purpose it will be simply necessary for me to state that the long and beautiful staple of the sea-island cotton is produced by the warm yet humid atmosphere arising from the Gulf Stream, accompanied by the saline breezes on the islands and coast of America; and similarly that cotton of the sea-island quality may be likewise produced on the east coast of Africa, and the islands of the Ethiopian archipelago, bathed by this great oceanic current. In proof of which, I would point to the cotton now grown on the Seychelles, and also to that produced on the coast line of the British colony of Natal.

Labour along the whole of the east sea-board of Africa has, for more than three hundred years, been found in such abundance that it has been forcibly transported to the great continent of America and the neighbouring Antilles.

So permanent and profitable has this supply of labour been to the western inter-tropical portion of the earth, that the Europeans, Arabs, and Asiatics, located on the east sea-board of Africa, have neglected to develop the resources of the country where nature is so prolific, and have confined their attention to speedily enriching themselves, and retiring to more healthy parts of the globe, to enjoy those riches which they have rapidly amassed by supplying labour for less densely populated portions of the world.

Since 1834, when England so resolutely took her stand at the head of the nations progressing in humanity and civilization, by paying twenty millions sterling for the liberation of her slaves, a gradual but visible change for the better has taken place in the state of the natives of Eastern Africa and the neighbouring archipelago.

In Mauritius slavery has entirely ceased, so also in its dependency of the Seychelles.

Madagascar has had the gospel of Jesus Christ preached on its soil; the germ of civilization has been planted in that extensive island; and the slave-trade is no longer tolerated among the Malagasy people.

In the African dominions of the Imâm of Muskat the slave-trade is forbidden; spice-gardens have arisen, the cocoa-nut is cultivated, and large exports of simsim seed annually take place.

In the south-eastern portion of the continent the small but rapidly-developing British colony of Natal has been established, forming a nucleus of civilization, which is already beginning to have a visible effect on the amelioration of the state of the natives of that portion of Africa.

The discoveries of Dr. Livingstone have drawn attention to the vast interior of that continent, to which access may be obtained by the Zambesi and other rivers, which are soon destined to become highways of commerce and civilization; while recent events on the east coast of Africa have arrested the attention of civilized communities, and commerce seeks for instruction as to the productions of this portion of the world, in order that with her enterprise and fostering care the nations of that continent may be brought into close connection with the other portions of our globe.

I have already, in the course of these pages, touched upon the productions of Eastern Africa, following the coast as high as the city of Mozambique, and I propose now briefly continuing that account as far as Cape Guardafui, and thence up the Red Sea to Suez.

The natives from the far interior bring down to Messuril, on the mainland, opposite the city of Mozambique, every year, gold, silver, ivory, wax, skins, and malachite, the latter in considerable quantities—showing that there are mines of copper in the Monomoises’ country.

In 1856 many of these natives who came down to trade were seized by the Portuguese to supply the (so-called) French Free-Labour Emigration, since which occurrence they have not made their appearance at Messuril.

When Mozambique was in the hands of the Arabs, an important trade was carried on between it, Arabia, and India; but for the last two hundred years, under its present rulers, the trade, principally carried on by Banyans to Cutch and Goâ, has been gradually decreasing.

At present it exports ivory, annually two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, bees-wax, sesame seed, orchella, rhinoceros horns, cocoa-nut oil, castor oil, ground-nut oil, coir, arrowroot, sago, coffee, tortoise-shell, indigo of inferior quality (from ignorance in manufacturing it), and a spirit made from the cachu.

There are large plantations of cocoa-nut trees, which for the last three years have been much neglected; coffee plantations, likewise in the same position; and a coir manufactory has for the same period of time ceased to work: all caused by the new impetus given to the slave-trade, under the denomination of French Free-Labour Emigration, which was established in 1854.

Some few of the residents at Mozambique I induced to clear away and cultivate the cotton shrubs; and, with the intention of encouraging legitimate commerce, I wrote to H.M. Ambassador in the United States, and also to the Chamber of Commerce of Manchester, asking for the three descriptions of cotton seeds—viz., the _Nankin_, _green seed_, and _sea island_—intending to send the two former into the interior, and to plant the “sea-island” on the coast, where the saline breezes from the ocean would favour its growth.

Having discovered the mulberry tree growing close to my house on the mainland, and that it was indigenous to the soil, I wrote to England for eggs of the silkworm, and addressed a letter to His Excellency the Governor of Bombay, praying his lordship to send me some eggs of the Tussah and other moths indicated in my letter.

Similarly I drew the attention of His Excellency the Governor-general of Mozambique to a very important discovery which I had made, and of which the Portuguese were entirely ignorant, viz., that both the gutta-percha tree, and also a tree yielding india-rubber, were to be found in large numbers on the banks of the Zambesi; and after having pointed out to him the commercial value of these trees, I begged him to issue an order forbidding any gutta-percha trees to be cut down—but, instead, pointing out that they should be tapped longitudinally, by which the supply would indeed be less, but permanent; whereas, if cut down for the purpose of extracting the juice, these trees, as at Singapore, would, in the course of a few years, disappear.

The present enlightened Governor-general of Mozambique, Colonel Almeida, responded to my endeavours by drawing attention to my communication in the official bulletin, calling upon all proprietors to preserve and increase the mulberry trees, and by inserting an article on the gutta-percha and india-rubber trees in the Bulletin.

Ibo, in latitude 12° 20′ S. and longitude 40° 38′ E., is admirably situated for trade. At present it is the great warehouse for slaves.

Zanzibar, the capital of the African dominions of the Imâm of Muskat, in latitude 6° 28′ S. and longitude 39° 33′ E., exports gold, ivory, drugs, coir, cocoa-nuts, gums, bees-wax, tortoise-shell, spice, rice from Pemba, sesame-seed from Angoxa, and a great quantity of timber annually to the Red Sea and Persian Gulf.

In 1818 cloves were introduced into Zanzibar from Mauritius; they thrive so well that the cultivation of them has in a great measure superseded that of the sugar-cane, and even the cocoa-nut.

The imports are—Surat and Dunjaree cloths from Cutch; iron, sugar, and rice from Bombay; salt fish and ghee from Socotra; cloths, cotton, china-ware, earthen jars, toys, and ornaments from Surat; dates from the Gulf of Persia; ivory, drugs, bees-wax, tortoise-shell, gums, and sesame-seed, from Angoxa and other parts of the coast. These imports may be valued at 500,000_l._ per annum.

Mombas and Melinda are both well adapted for trade, which at one time was of considerable importance between these places and India and Arabia; but Melinda, in less than a century after it had been conquered by the Portuguese, ceased to be a place of any importance.

Lamu, in latitude 2° 15′ 45″ S., and longitude 41° 1′ 5″ E., is a place of considerable trade, more especially in hides and the general exports from Zanzibar. Brava, in latitude 1° 6′ 40″ N. and longitude 44° 3′ E., carries on a considerable trade with India and Arabia, and a rapidly-increasing one with America.

The exports are—hides, bullocks, horses, and camels, oil from the joints of camels, salt beef, great varieties of the skins of wild animals, taken by Gallas who go from Zanzibar to Cape Guardafui. Small horses, purchased here from five to six dollars each, will realize from sixty to seventy dollars at the Mauritius.

The Sumalis inhabit the sea coast north from the equator, round Cape Guardafui to Zeyla; the whole of this vast extent of country is but little known to us.

The kingdom of Kimweri, or Usambara, more generally known as the Pangany district, is rich in produce, which may be increased to supply any demand. The sugar-cane is very luxuriant in its growth, and forests of magnificent timber await the woodman’s axe, with the Pangany and its tributaries to carry it to the ocean.

Dr. Krapf, in describing one of these forests, writes, “This forest is worth millions of money for its fine, long, and straight timber, being as useful for ship-building as for carpentering;” and again, “We descended into a large forest of timber, sufficient for centuries to come. The trees are big and straight, from 70 to 100 feet in height.”

The recent discoveries of Captains Burton and Speke, in the country immediately to the south of this, throw a new light on a region hitherto wrapped in the deepest mystery, and give access into the far interior, even to the Victoria Tanganyka lake, and perhaps to the sources of the Nile.

To the northward of Malinda the river Dana, under the name of Osi, reaches the Indian Ocean. It is stated to flow from the eastern side of Mount Kenia; that it is navigable for boats, from the India Ocean to the Ukambani country; that there are no rocks in the way of navigation, and that even during the dry season the water reaches as high as a man’s neck, while during the rains it cannot be forded. Its ordinary breadth is two hundred yards, and it is the privilege of the people of Mbé to carry strangers proceeding to Kikuyu, or other countries, from one bank to another.

A small steamer placed on this river would soon open the country to European commerce; and from the source of the Dana to that of the White Nile can be no great distance.

By the Dana, or Kilimansi, is assuredly the most direct route for settling the great geographical question of the sources of the Nile.

About 200 miles from Cape Guardafui lies the island of Socotra, the principal commercial products of which are derived from the wild plants, and are aloes and dragon’s-blood. The aloe plant (_Aloe spicata_ or _Socotrina_) in the western districts covers the hills for many miles, at an elevation of from 500 to 2000 feet above the plains. This aloe is also to be found along the whole east coast of Africa, even as far south as the Cape of Good Hope. The dragon’s-blood tree also grows on the western portion of Socotra, at an elevation of from 800 to 2000 feet; and, as well as the aloe, is in such abundance that at least ten times the quantity of these drugs which at present is exported from the island might be easily procured.

Berbera has been for centuries the outlet for north-eastern Africa, and especially Harrar. In former times it was one of the numerous emporia of the Arabs at the entrance of the Red Sea, and its harbour is by no means ill-adapted for steam communication.

Zeyla, or Zeïla, if properly encouraged by the British Government, would be a very good outport, as the descent to that place from the interior is easier than to Massoa, and it is the best outlet of ancient Ethiopia. It is situated opposite Aden, where steam communication would place its productions at once in European markets.

A great trade may be carried on at Zeyla in all the produce of Abyssinia; viz., gold, ivory, coffee, gums, musk, ostrich-feathers, neats’-foot oil from the wild animals (quantities of it are sent to America), tallow, hides, horns, hoofs, &c. Fairs are held at Zeyla in April and October, at which mules are sold very cheap, and, if purchased here for Réunion and Mauritius, they would have the advantage of avoiding the Red Sea passage.

Mocha and Jedda, in Arabia, are already too well known to require any notice but that of their names.

Massoa, the national outport of Abyssinia, in consequence of the descent from the interior being so easy, exports ivory, musk, wax, coffee, senna, linseed, ostrich-feathers, &c., and carries on a large trade with Jedda. The imports are of the value of about four hundred thousand dollars per annum.

Suez has already become a place of vast importance, foreshadowing the future greatness which awaits it, when the Egyptian transit shall be completed, and leviathan ships like the “Great Eastern,” on a trunk line to India and China, will make that port their western terminus, and Suez and Alexandria become the emporia of the East and West.

Having thus briefly stated what articles of commerce Eastern Africa can produce, I feel that it would be a very imperfect notice of this portion of the earth’s productions, were I to omit the valuable islands on the coast.

In the Mozambique Channel, Europa Island stands conspicuous, from its central position in the southern end of this channel. At present it is used as a place of resort for dhows from the whole of the eastern coast of Africa, to land their cargoes of slaves, here awaiting some large European vessel to carry them to their future place of bondage.

This island is well situated for a lighthouse and a depôt, which would command the trade of the Mozambique Channel both on the African and the Madagascar coasts.

On the north side there is a good anchorage, plenty of water and fuel, fish in abundance, turtle, and also land-turtle; and the island has also orchella weed on it. From its insular position there is an entire absence of _miasmata_.

Reference has already been made to the Comoro Islands, Seychelles, and Madagascar, called the Great Britain of Africa.

Having thus briefly pointed out the resources of Eastern Africa, let us consider the best means for the development of them.

At present the mail, by way of the Atlantic Ocean, reaches the Cape of Good Hope in thirty-five days, and Natal in forty days.

When at Mozambique in 1857, I wrote to Sir Roderick Murchison, the President of the Royal Geographical Society, proposing that the mail should be carried to those two British colonies by way of Aden, touching, on the way down the east coast of Africa, at Zanzibar and Mozambique. By this route a letter would reach Natal in twenty-five days, and the Cape of Good Hope in thirty days. A line of light would be thrown along the whole east coast of Africa, now darkened by the mist of ages, and polluted by the traffic in human beings; an inter-colonial trade would be established between the British colonies in South Africa, the Portuguese settlements, and the rich Sumali possessions of the Imâm of Muskat, and the slave-trade would be entirely superseded by legitimate commerce. In the presidential address of Sir Roderick Murchison, delivered before the Royal Geographical Society this year, mention is made of this route, and I am in hopes that it may soon be adopted for the carriage of the mail; more especially as the electric telegraph is now working at Aden, from which place a steamer might convey a message to Cape Town in fourteen days.[8]

This route once established, the merchants of the Cape and Natal could visit Mozambique and Zanzibar, and establish houses at those places, where they would have a good climate during seven months of the year, which is the healthy as well as the trading season, viz., from the end of April to the month of November. By the establishment of this route there is nothing in the climate to prevent merchants from Europe annually visiting their establishments, and personally supervising the prosperity of their factories for trade.

In the accompanying chart of Eastern Africa I have laid down a series of electric cables, as proposed by me for connecting Great Britain with the South and East African British colonies by way of Aden. This is by no means in advance of the requirements of the times; for, at this moment, we are completing the telegraphic communication with London and Bombay; and the enterprising colonists of Natal have, for more than two years, resolved upon connecting themselves, by means of a cable, with the neighbouring wealthy colony of Mauritius. Telegraphic communication is fully contemplated between Graham’s Town and Petermaritzburg, the capital of Natal, and there is nothing in the intervening space between Mauritius and Aden, by way of the Seychelles and Abd-el-Kuri, or Cape Guardafui, either as to distance or depth of water, to render this proposed electric route to the Cape Colony either impracticable, _doubtful_, or _hazardous_.

The advantages, both politically and commercially, which such a communication will afford to the mother country, by uniting it with its rich African colonies, through our own possessions of Aden, Seychelles, and Mauritius, are too apparent to be dwelt upon, and of too vital importance to British interests in the Indian Ocean to be neglected.

Along the whole of the east coast of Africa, and the island of Madagascar, we are outstripped by the Americans, Germans, and French.

Almost the whole of the ivory-trade is now in the hands of the Americans.

Large quantities of beef are salted down on the west coast of Madagascar, and taken to America; hides, horns, hoofs, and tallow find a ready market there, while the French take the oils and oil-seeds. One Hamburg house sends annually fourteen vessels to Zanzibar, ordered to call at Mozambique since a British consul is established there, for cargoes of cowries, with which they proceed to the rivers on the west coast of Africa, and purchase cargoes of palm-oil.

Few British vessels are seen in these parts—as, in the first place, the trade is unknown in England, and, secondly, British merchants consider that, at present, there is a degree of risk and uncertainty attending any ventures in a portion of the world where our commerce is wholly unprotected, and where, hitherto, vessels have been seized, and redress has been sought but not obtained.

In the proper quarter I have already suggested that, for the development of the resources of Eastern Africa, and the opening up of a highly remunerative trade for Great Britain, a consular officer should be appointed from Natal to Suez, including Madagascar and the other islands on that coast; that he should be furnished with a small steamer, which would be entirely for the consular service—by which means the whole coast could be constantly visited, our trade encouraged, new markets for our manufactures made known, and our acquaintance with Eastern Africa become more intimate in a few years than it would be in a century by any other mode of procedure.

At first sight the expense attending a vessel for that service may apparently cause an objection; but when we reflect upon the great results to which such an appointment must lead, and its obviating the necessity of a cordon of consular agents on such a coast, with the accompanying expenses and sacrifice of valuable lives, I feel assured that the country will cheerfully respond to the call which it is hoped the merchants of Great Britain will make upon the legislature.

The young Prince Madji, who has inherited the rich Sumali possessions of the late Imâm of Muskat, has declared his intentions resolutely to follow in the steps of his great father, by discouraging and eventually abolishing the traffic in our fellow-beings.

The facts stated in the foregoing pages of this work having been brought under the notice of Napoleon III., by the circumstances attending the seizure of the celebrated “CHARLES ET GEORGES,” the Emperor addressed the following loyal letter to his cousin:—

“To PRINCE NAPOLEON, “Minister of Algeria and the Colonies.

“St. Cloud, Oct. 30, 1858.

“MY DEAR COUSIN,

“I have the liveliest desire that, at the moment when the
differences with Portugal relative to the ‘Charles et Georges’
have terminated, the question of the engagement of free
labourers on the African coast should be definitely examined,
and finally settled on the truest principles of humanity and
justice. I energetically claimed from Portugal the restitution
of the ‘Charles et Georges’ because I will always maintain
intact the independence of the national flag; but, in this case
even, it was only with the profound conviction of my right that
I risked with the King of Portugal a rupture of those friendly
relations which I am glad to maintain with him. But as to the
principle of the engagement of the negroes, my ideas are far
from being settled. If, in truth, labourers recruited on the
African coast are not allowed the exercise of their free will,
and if this enrolment is only the slave-trade in disguise, I
will allow it on no terms; for it is not I who will anywhere
protect enterprises contrary to progress, to humanity, and to
civilization. I beg you, then, to seek out the truth with the
zeal and intelligence which you bring to bear on all affairs
about which you employ yourself. And as the best method of
putting a stop to what is a continual cause of dispute would
be to substitute the free labour of Indian coolies for that
of the negroes, I beg you to come to an understanding with
the Minister for Foreign Affairs to resume with the English
Government the negotiations which were entered upon a few
months ago. On this, my dear cousin, I pray God to have you in
his holy keeping.

“NAPOLEON.”

In the above letter the Emperor Napoleon emphatically states, “If, in truth, labourers recruited on the African coast are not allowed the use of their free will, and if this enrolment is only the slave-trade in disguise, I will have it on no terms; for it is not I who will anywhere protect enterprises contrary to progress, to humanity, and to civilization.” Admitting, on the one hand, that he may have been deceived by those who had induced him to believe that free labour might be obtained on the east coast of Africa without re-establishing the slave-trade, on the other hand, he approved of that policy adopted by Great Britain in Eastern Africa, which had for its result the thus forcibly bringing before the world the horrors which were being renewed by this so-called Free Labour Emigration.

No higher approval of the conduct of the British functionary who had pursued the path of duty, undaunted by continued persecution, could have been afforded to the world; while the subsequent decree, ordering this traffic to cease on the east coast of Africa, proved the loyalty of Napoleon, and prepared Europe to hail in him the liberator of Central Italy.

The two greatest powers of Europe have resolved that Africa shall have the opportunity of developing her own material resources; and it now only remains for Portugal to prove that her professions for the abolition of the slave-trade are as sincere and as loyal as the great head of the French nation has shown his to be.

Our beloved Queen succeeded to the throne on the 20th of June, 1837, and was crowned sovereign of these realms at Westminster, June 28, 1838. Great Britain had previously to that, in 1834, voted twenty millions sterling for the liberation of the slaves throughout our colonies; but still a large number of our fellow-beings groaned in slavery under the apprenticeship system. On the 1st of August, 1838, the first returning anniversary, after the Queen’s coronation, of that auspicious day when the house of Brunswick ascended the throne of these realms, the world beheld the sublime spectacle of the Virgin Queen of Great Britain pronouncing on earth the will of heaven, that—Slavery in every form should cease where Britain ruled; and Queen Victoria, on that day, made eight hundred thousand _slaves_ eight hundred thousand loyal subjects—thus inseparably uniting the HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK with the imperishable monument of ENGLAND’S GREATEST DEED.

In distant ages, when the glories of the “Isles of the West” are told, the memory of BOADICEA, the Queen of the British Iceni, who boldly met the invading Roman legions, may be forgotten; so, likewise, that of QUEEN ELIZABETH and the Spanish Armada may fade from the memory of man; but while the world lasts, and humanity has a heart for other’s woes, the tale of VICTORIA AND THE SLAVE shall not pass away, while generations yet unborn will exclaim: “Blessed art thou among women.”

With such an inspiring example before him, is it possible that the young King of Portugal can pause in the course which duty, interest, and humanity alike dictate? No! Dom Pedro the Fifth will now see slavery as it exists in his African dominions; his decree will go forth that slavery shall cease wherever the Portuguese flag flies; he will thus ally the House of BRAGANZA with that of BRUNSWICK by ties more indissoluble than those of blood—namely, the memory of good deeds. The curse of slavery shall pass away from his land; Portugal will again resume her position among the first powers of civilization, and admiring posterity will point to Dom Pedro the Fifth as the regenerator of Portugal and the saviour of Africa.