Page 687 - Arabian Gulf Intellegence

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SLAVE TRADE. 643

i ing the faith of Islam, being, according to Mahomcdan law, considered
Hoor, or free, in contradistinction to Negroes or Abyssinians, who came
under the denomination of Abud, or bondsmen. The proportion of the
former to the two latter is perhaps as one to one hundred, and these are
probably kidnapped or purchased as prisoners of war. There is, how­
ever, much doubt whether in actual fact any great degree of moral guilt
is considered to attach to Musulmans engaging in this traffic. The
discovery of an individual of the Somalee Tribe, even when in possession
of one of the chiefs subscribing to this agreement, or his subjects, and
his consequent restoration to liberty, must be necessarily very rare, and
to be accomplished only in spots within the sphere of immediate sur­
veillance and supervision of our Native Agents. With a view to give a
more full effect, however, to these restrictions, such as they are, valuable
suggestions, as hereafter extracted’* from the Records of the Residency,
have from lime to time been made, having for their object also the
eventual and total suppression of the nefarious traffic.
In all the negotiations which have hitherto been entered into with
His Highness the Imaurri and the independent Maritime Chieftains of
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the Arabian Coast, the main object in view has been in the first place
wholly to exclude this hateful traffic from all places subject to, or de­
pendent upon, the British Government; and in the next to narrow as
much as possible the facilities of carrying it on within those limits
which have hitherto been recognised by us as legitimate in all our
intercourse with them. The free and unmolested traffic in slaves
between the Imaum’s possessions on the African Coast and the ports in I
the Persian Gulf, within the restrictive line, has always been contended
for their act; and, in the event of his persisting in a refusal to produce them, liable to the
infliction of a fine of twice the market value of the unhappy individual who has been dragged
away into slavery, in direct violation of a solemn agreement. To such a plan, however, there
exists the difficulty regarding the disposal of the fine when paid’-:; and it was at the same
time suggested “ that it might, provided no legal objection interposed, be applied to the
purchase and liberation from slavery of such Somalees as their present owners in different
parts of the Gulf might be disposed to part with.” But it may be questioned whether such
an arrangement, while it served to check the traffic in Soraalees, among those subscribing to
the agreement, would not tend to encourage it among those not parties to the same. A better
plan, therefore, would appear to offer itself for the disposal of the fine alluded to, when re­
covered, in the payment of the amount into the hands of the individual liberated, on his
return to his native country, as a compensation for the temporary loss of his liberty, and the
hardships and inconvenience he has suffered. “ The only other alternative, excepting a pro­
hibition against all or any of the vessels of the offending chief or his subjects proceeding to
the Coast of Africa on any pretext whatsoever, would be to seize the Buggalows belonging to
individuals once proved guilty of bringing up Somalee slaves to the Gulf, wherever they
might thereafter be found. His Highness the Imaura would probably gladly interdict their
visiting Zanzibar and other places belonging to himself in the vicinity, and would give our
ships authority to seize such vessels as might infringe this prohibition.”
* Vide page 646 etseq.