§ MR. WHITWELLasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether any information has reached the Foreign Office regarding a renewal of the Slave Trade from Central Africa through Zanzibar; and, whether any measures can be taken or are in contemplation to check this traffic at its source in the interior of Africa?
§ MR. BOURKE, in reply, said, a despatch had been received from Dr. Kirk in November last, stating that a caravan of 300 slaves was said to have reached the coast of Zanzibar. These slaves were conducted, not as usual by Arabs, but by Natives of the interior. One of the Governors of the Sultan behaved very well, and refused to allow the slaves or any part of the caravan to enter the villages on the coast. They were taken into the interior, and placed under the protection of the Abdallah. When the Sultan heard of the circumstances he sent for the Governor, and they have been detained by the Sultan ever since. The Government had no means of stopping the traffic at its source, which was a long way in the interior of Africa. All they could do was to do their best to make it unremunerative by stopping it at the coast.