The Mambari Visited In Ancient Times
The Chief Of The Barotse, Whom Sebituane Conquered, And He Refused
To Allow Any One To Sell A Child.
They never came back again till 1850;
and as they had a number of old Portuguese guns marked "Legitimo
De Braga",
which Sebituane thought would be excellent in any future invasion of Matebele,
he offered to purchase them with cattle or ivory, but the Mambari
refused every thing except boys about fourteen years of age.
The Makololo declare they never heard of people being bought and sold
till then, and disliked it, but the desire to possess the guns prevailed,
and eight old guns were exchanged for as many boys; these were not
their own children, but captives of the black races they had conquered.
I have never known in Africa an instance of a parent selling
his own offspring. The Makololo were afterward incited to make a foray
against some tribes to the eastward; the Mambari bargaining
to use their guns in the attack for the captives they might take,
and the Makololo were to have all the cattle. They went off
with at least two hundred slaves that year. During this foray the Makololo
met some Arabs from Zanzibar, who presented them with three English muskets,
and in return received about thirty of their captives.
In talking with my companions over these matters, the idea was suggested that,
if the slave-market were supplied with articles of European manufacture
by legitimate commerce, the trade in slaves would become impossible.
It seemed more feasible to give the goods, for which the people now part
with their servants, in exchange for ivory and other products of the country,
and thus prevent the trade at the beginning, than to try to put a stop to it
at any of the subsequent steps.
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