The status in
Madagascar.

In the Island of Madagascar a decree of the Queen, in 1877, freed the African slaves in her dominion, and forbade their import or export; yet domestic native slaves and serfs exist in abundance, and, according to a special correspondent of The London Times, writing under date of April 11, 1895, slave-raids are still carried on in the interior of the island, and in another communication an account is given of the slave-market in the capital. The Ibara tribesmen and the Sakalava are represented as inveterate slave-dealers. The Hovas themselves stand in terror of these cruel forest tribes.2 The status, however, has been happily changed from what it was at the beginning of the present century, when Madagascar was an original source of supply for the slave-trade, and from three to four thousand Malagasy were, according to reliable data, exported annually to America or the West Indies. In 1817 this slave-trade was abolished by treaty between England and Madagascar.3

Our survey of the African Continent reveals encouraging progress in comparison with the state of things a generation ago, but it is plain that there is still much to be done before the barbarities of the slavetrade will cease. Were it not for the restraining influence of European governments, albeit as yet too imperfectly exercised, we should still have this cursed business in full blast. With the entrance of European control, the establishment of commerce, the opening of roads, and especially of railways, and the more vigorous intervention of the authorities, we may hope that the traffic in slaves will gradually disappear.

The Kanaka traffic in the Pacific Islands.

In the Pacific Islands the kidnapping of natives for purposes of the slave-trade has been known even under European traders, and Pacific Islanders have been transported to South America. Even as late as 1890, "the ship 'Alma' took four hundred natives of Micronesia to Guatemala, and two years afterwards only one hundred and eighty of them were living, the rest having died of fevers contracted in the malarious swamps of the plantations. In 1892 the brig 'Tahiti' took three hundred natives from the Gilbert Islands to labor on plantations in Central America, and was capsized near the coast of Mexico. Not one of its living freight was ever heard of." Even steamers have been

1 "Slavery [domestic] still exists, and, to the disgrace of the Malagasy, slaves are still bought and sold in the weekly market."-Rev. R. Baron (L. M. S.), Antananarivo. [The French Government happily abolished it September 29, 1896.] 2 The Indian Evangelical Review, October, 1895, p. 175.

3 Horne, "The Story of the London Missionary Society," p. 172.

employed in the same service. These unfortunate islanders on arrival in Guatemala are put to work upon the plantations under conditions which virtually amount to slavery. Rev. John G. Paton, of the New Hebrides Mission, has investigated the Kanaka labor-traffic, which he pronounces a species of colonial slavery. He has estimated that seventy thousand Pacific Islanders have been taken from their homes by slave-hunters.2 It was in revenge for the crime of kidnapping by traders that Bishop Patteson was slain upon one of the islands of the Santa Cruz group in September, 1871. An account of the Queensland Kanaka traffic and its horrors is given by the Rev. Oscar Michelsen.3

The trade in coolies from China and India, and to a very limited extent from Japan, for the South American and West Indian plantations has been in some respects not far removed from

The coolie-trade in
China and India.

a veritable slave-traffic. The slave-trade as it is known in Africa does not exist in China, but the coolie-traffic gained a bad prominence before it was brought within restrictions.4 The Japanese Government, to its honor, fought it fiercely and successfully.5 The coolie-traffic from India for the West Indian plantations has been, and is still, open to the same strictures. The position of the so-called coolie emigrant when he reaches his destination is little better than a slave. As late as 1893 there were one Dutch and seven English agencies engaged in the transportation of coolies. They are usually transported in sailing vessels, of which seventeen cleared from Calcutta alone in 1893, as well as three steamships. The exportation from Calcutta amounted to 10,674, making an average of 533 per vessel. "Recently about four hundred of these 'voluntary' emigrants begged the people of Calcutta to be liber

1 Alexander, "The Islands of the Pacific," p. 37.

2 Ibid., p. 40; John G. Paton, "Autobiography," part i., p. 213.

3 Michelsen, "Cannibals Won for Christ," chap. xxi.

་ ་་ Slavery and the slave-trade do not exist in China in the shape associated with our ideas of them. The coolie-traffic between the Southern Provinces and Peru, which caused so much feeling a few years back, approached them most nearly. That, however, was not an indigenous evil, and it has, I think, been since strictly regulated, if not largely stopped. The domestic slavery of the country is mostly confined to the use of purchased female children as servants, who often become concubines in the families of their masters, or are again sold for this purpose. The most abominable form of this curse is the purchase of women and girls for transport to distant cities for immoral uses. In the frequently recurring times of famine there are always wretches who succeed in obtaining many victims from the region affected." -Rev. Jonathan Lees (L. M. S.), Tientsin, North China. Cf. Graves, "Forty Years in China," pp. 149, 150.

5 Griffis, "The Mikado's Empire," pp. 566-568.

ated, as they had been made to leave their homes and relations by force. They attacked their escort, and about thirty escaped. The rest, however, were driven down to the landing by the police as if they were sheep." 1

In India there is no slave-trade so called, but children are often sold, especially in times of famine, and there is also a secret trade in female slaves in certain districts of the country. "Malwa has long been noted for its traffic in females." Many of the Rajput chiefs have their retinue of slaves. At the time of the distressing famine in Rajputana, in 1868– 70,"children were sold by their parents for sums varying from one to five rupees." These incidents are happily rare, however, in India at the present day, and the watchfulness of the Government is most effective. In Persia there is slavery to a considerable extent, the ranks being recruited from the African coast, by way of the Persian Gulf or across Arabia overland.2

The atrocious cruelties of the African slave-trade have been vividly described by Livingstone, Stanley, Baker, Cameron, and others, and there is no need of dwelling upon the subject here.3 "Fire and Sword in the Sudan," by Slatin Pasha, previously referred to, contains recent information.

2. SLAVERY.-Slavery is linked with the slave-trade, both as cause and effect. It is one of the ancient sorrows of the world, but we cannot deal with its history here. It is pleasant to The passing of slavery observe that there are some sections of the Oriental world where it has never existed. This is notably the case among the Japanese.5 There are other

in Christendom.

regions where happily it has been abolished. With the singular exception of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, this has been true of the British Em

1 Correspondence of Die Kölnische Zeitung, Cologne, quoted in The Literary Digest, September 8, 1894.

2 The Anti-Slavery Reporter, March-April, 1896, p. 72.

3 Blaikie, "The Personal Life of David Livingstone," pp. 390-424; Stanley, Slavery and the Slave-Trade in Africa"; Johnston, "Missionary Landscapes in the Dark Continent," pp. 253-259.

4 Cf. Ingram, "History of Slavery and Serfdom"; Brace, "Gesta Christi," chaps. v., vi., xxi., xxviii.; Schmidt, "The Social Results of Early Christianity," pp. 75-100.

5 "I am not able to learn that slavery proper ever existed in Japan at any time in her history. The social condition of a class may at one time have been as bad as slavery or worse, but it could not be called slavery."-Rev. David S. Spencer (M. E. M. S.), Nagoya, Japan.

Rescued Galla Slave Boys and Girls at Lovedale, South Africa. CHRISTIAN TRAINING TO THE RESCUE.