Slavery in Portuguese West Africa.

MR. BOWSKILL has now returned to this country, and has issued an interesting statement to the Press, which pointed to an unsatisfactory condition of things in San Salvador and district, owing to the sullen hostility of the native tribes to the authorities. The further threat of re-arrest of the missionary, in spite of the Governor's assurance and the official inquiries which have been carried out, constituted an unpleasant feature.

Later news, however, received by the Baptist Missionary Society. from Mr. Graham, the missionary now at San Salvador, shows improvement. The local officials have asked his help as intermediary between them and the natives, and have promised a general amnesty to the people on their submission to the Government on the terms of a proclamation made by the Governor of Congo. This clearly promises that there shall be no recruitment of forced labour for the plantations, and guarantees reforms in the matter of tax-collecting. A good response had been received from the natives, and Mr. Graham himself had escorted the chiefs under the white flag to San Salvador to introduce them to the Capitão Mor.

STATEMENT BY THE REV. J. S. BOWSKILL.

The Portuguese Authorities have been and perhaps still are very highly displeased with me, because I was forced into taking a part in the San Salvador troubles. That could not have been helped, and it is idle to express regret for it now. I am, however, very greatly concerned about the present condition of the country I have just left. I am exceedingly sorry for the Portuguese officials, some of whom have shown themselves quite friendly to our Mission and to the people. I am still more sorry for the native chiefs and their followers, both Christian and non-Christian. My wife and I left San Salvador town on November 23. There were only a few hundred people left there, mostly women and children, and old men. We travelled by road for several days to get to the coast, and saw the sad condition to which the native revolt has brought the villages. The chiefs are very bitter against the Portuguese Government, and up to the time I left they were refusing to come to any terms of submission.

"I would very gladly have done anything that I could have done to re-establish peace, but I realized that the work of reconciliation and reconstruction must be left to others.

"Up to the very week in which I left Africa I still had the threat of re-arrest hanging over me. This seemed to me very strange and very hard to bear.

"The Governor personally told me after my release from prison that I was free to go anywhere I liked, to England or to China. The British Vice-Consul Bell afterwards came to investigate and report on the whole of the happenings that led to my being imprisoned, and went away, as I was led to believe, quite satisfied with the course I had taken. Later on, the Portuguese Special Com

missioner from Lisbon, Lieutenant Crato, conducted an exhaustive inquiry in San Salvador, examining many witnesses and coming freely in and out among us at the Mission with full facilities for getting at the truth. My two faithful Congo friends and helpers, Nekaka and Mantu, were both released from their long and weary imprisonment without any evil thing having been proved against either of them. Our Mission was no longer beset by military guards, and the system of messengers to our out-stations and the Coast, which had been stopped by the arrest of the messengers, had been restored by official orders. After months of anxious waiting I was expecting to leave with my wife to visit our home and little children in England. I had heard from the Secretary of the Mission in London that assurances had been given from Lisbon that no obstacle would be put in the way of my leaving. Mr. and Mrs. Graham had arrived, and had taken over charge. One of the first communications made to him, however, by the San Salvador official was that a warrant had been issued for my arrest, and he (the official) would be held responsible if I left the country. No cause was given and to this day I have not heard the explanation. I owe it to the friendliness of that official that he accepted my word of honour that if he allowed me to travel freely to the coast, I would not sail without the Government's consent. But it was a disappointing and humiliating shadow over my

leaving.

"On my arrival at Matadi, our Congo Secretary communicated with the British Consul at Loanda, and he obtained and telegraphed the formal consent of the Portuguese Governor to my setting sail for England.

Naturally, I am most desirous that my character and conduct shall be cleared of blame in the official reports, both British and Portuguese. I have no ground for fearing either, and I hope the European War will not be responsible for delay in publishing them. But very much more important than my personal vindication is the complete abolition of forced labour for plantations, the end of oppressive conditions in the rule of African peoples, the restoration of peace and the spread of Christian civilization among the African tribes— the cause to which I have consecrated my life. I want to raise no unnecessary obstacle to the fulfilment of these great aims, nor can I be content till these are realized. Time will show, and no distant time, whether the Portuguese Authorities are seriously and honestly setting themselves to reform the abuses that have been revealed, and that happily some of their own people have come to see."

REPORTS FROM MISSIONARIES.

In pleasing contrast with the above, we have had the advantage of seeing a number of letters from British and American missionaries in other parts of Angola reporting on the position of the Slavery question in their districts of the interior at the end of last year. The writers are many of them the same as those whose evidence was quoted by Mr. Charles A. Swan in his book, The Slavery of To-day, published in 1909, and they show that on the whole there is a marked improvement, and that the pressure of public opinion in this country has had its effect. Several of the missionaries write of the active endeavours of the Portuguese officials to put down slave trading, and of the sincerity of the Government in their declared

policy of stamping it out. Such trading as may go on is carried on secretly in remote parts, and is punished when discovered. Other missionaries state that freedom is granted to slaves who claim it.

Two of the reports are in contrast with the rest, and give a distinctly unfavourable account, charging the Government with apathy, and neglect to take proper measures.

Here are extracts from three letters relating to Kavungu, which is far inland, near the frontiers of Northern Rhodesia and the Belgian Congo :

"I am very glad to say that I do not know of a single case of white men dealing in or possessing slaves at the present day. Domestic slavery among the natives themselves does undoubtedly still exist." . . .

'I can also add my testimony to the untiring efforts of the present official at Kavungu in putting down any suggestion of slavery and his desire to stamp it out once and for all."

'During my stay here of some three years and three months, I have seen nothing which would lead me to suppose that the officials in the service of the Portuguese Government connive at the traffic in slaves. I know that the present Capitão has publicly told the people that any slave presenting himself at the Fort will be immediately freed, and I believe several have availed themselves of their freedom in this manner.

One is thankful to be able to say that the dark days of slavery seem to be over in this part. The stories of slave gangs passing our station belong to a day that is past. Domestic slavery exists, of course, and, beyond the reach of the Forts, will exist for a long time to come."

The next statement comes from a missionary at Nana Candundo, who has previously given valuable assistance to our Society in its campaign against Portuguese slavery :

In reply to your letter of inquiry of September 8, as to the present condition of things in this district as regards slavery and the slave trade, I have much pleasure in informing you that from personal observation I know that the Portuguese authorities are actively engaged in stamping out the slave trade. If there still should be some occasional dealing in slaves, I feel convinced that it is unknown to the Portuguese officials and can only be on an infinitesimally small scale; otherwise, they or the missionaries would know of it. Not quite a year ago some Bihean traders, professedly engaged in the rubber trade, bought a woman and a child from a local native. As their camp was close to the Fort and the Mission Station it was arranged between buyer and seller that they should travel separately for a couple of days' marches, and that the woman and child should be handed over to the Biheans in some camp about 30 miles west. I got to know of it and informed the Captain Mor. He was naturally vexed that such proceedings should be carried on right close to the Fort. Soldiers were sent after the caravan and the whole crowd were turned back and both seller and buyer were punished.

And not only do the authorities take active measures to stamp out the trade in slaves, but many slaves kept either by Europeans or by fellow Africans who have claimed their freedom have received letters of freedom from the Portuguese Captain. You will bear in mind that these remarks refer only to the district administered by the Capitão Mor of Nana Candundo.

Reports reached me frequently about a year ago, and even less, that owing to famine in the Cokweland many children were sold in the Moxico districts for small quantities of food. Some natives here who are known to me went with meal, etc., to buy children, and probably some were also taken to the trading stations in that district to be sold to the European traders, but of that I cannot speak positively.

"Here in the Nana Candundo district the Captain not only does his best to abolish slavery, but also seeks to check the cruelty with which his soldiers not infrequently treat the natives, especially when on errands some distances from some Fort. Quite recently I came unexpectedly on a couple of soldiers in a village near the Zambezi, where they had been sent to collect carriers. Their treatment of the helpless natives was almost as bad as an incident from the 'Congo atrocities' of olden days. On my return to my station I informed the Captain of what I had seen and the two culprits were immediately punished. Hearing of this the oppressed natives took heart and from several districts they brought complaints against the soldiers to the Captain. In each case the offenders were punished. Only this week I saw seven soldiers tied to the veranda posts of the prison as part punishment. This public exhibition gives good proof to the natives that whatever cruelties native soldiers commit is not by order of their officers and will not be permitted by him."

Another missionary writes from Bihé :

"My conviction is that the Government officials have sought to put a stop to slave traffic. Since my return to Africa nearly eighteen months ago, I have made frequent and close inquiries of the natives as to whether they know of any case of buying or selling of slaves by the Portuguese traders; the reply has been invariably in the negative. Biheans are still bringing out slaves from the interior, but these they seem to be retaining for their own services. I have been told that some have been sold for oxen. The Chefe of Gamba (this district) told me he would immediately take steps to bring to justice any one I might report to him as having had dealings in slaves, and I think he meant it."

Another missionary, an American, writing from Bailundo, reminds us that while the Government can make and has made laws prohibiting slavery in any form, the execution of the laws lies with the officials, who are not always of the same mind.

'Much, however, has been done. Looking back ten years, one can see a decided improvement. The catching and selling of natives, if it goes on at all, is done in secret instead of open day, as it was years ago. I, personally, see nothing of it, though I hear reports. I also hear of many instances in which the authorities have liberated slaves. To put the matter briefly, from all I can learn, I should say that, although the old trade is

carried on in places remote from observation, the Government and the better class of public opinion is opposed to it, and, given a fair chance and proper encouragement, will, in time, correct the evil."

In the same scnse another of the writers declares that the only way to stamp out the traffic is by" continued rigid investigation by disinterested. men who can give their time to this work," and he reminds us that “the cases of slave trading reported by missionaries must of course be a very small percentage of the whole."

This means that continuous pressure must be exercised upon the officials from outside if the improvement which has been attained is to be kept up. The case is tersely put in another instructive letter, from Chisamba.

one.

"The Government desires to do well by the natives and to abolish slavery. Many traders, however, desire slaves and of course circumvent the law. The hands of the Government should therefore be strengthened and officials exhorted to maintain a careful vigilance on the matter."

It is clear that the scarcity of labour makes their task a very difficult

In contrast with the above are two letters written by members of the English Mission in Bihé, who say that the traffic in slaves is worse than in previous years. They refer no doubt largely to dealings amongst natives themselves (as to which all the writers agree), but the missionaries charge the Portuguese, both officials and traders, with cognizance of, and connivance in them. It might be wrong, one writes, to charge the Government with connivance, but he feels that they have not done what they might to stamp out slave trading east of the Quanza river, at all events :—

"For instance, I broke up a large camp of Biheans1 early this year who were trading food stuffs in this district only about 11⁄2 hours from the station, receiving practically nothing but slaves. I caught three of the ellows (one of them being the headman travelling under a guia from the Bulundo fort) and went to the trouble of myself taking them down to Mories and giving them in charge at the Fort, receiving a written acknowledgment from the Capitão Mor for their delivery.

"These men were all released shortly afterwards in Bie, without any punishment apparently, and I understand that the headman returned straight away into the interior on the same errand. Surely it was the duty of the Government to have taken some action, if they really are trying to stamp out the traffic."

THE POSITION IN SAN THOMÉ.

The Lisbon newspaper, O Seculo, recently published an interview with Colonel Gomes da Costa, an officer who had just arrived from San Thomé, which contains some interesting remarks on the present position in the island.

1 i.e. Bihean native traders.