I Might Add, Though It Is Scarce Worthy
Observation, That In Bambarra And Kaarta The Natives Make Very
Beautiful Baskets,
Hats, and other articles, both for use and
ornament, from rushes, which they stain of different colours; and
they contrive
Also to cover their calabashes with interwoven cane,
dyed in the same manner.
CHAPTER XXII - WAR AND SLAVERY
A state of subordination and certain inequalities of rank and
condition are inevitable in every stage of civil society; but when
the subordination is carried to so great a length that the persons
and services of one part of the community are entirely at the
disposal of another part, it may then be denominated a state of
slavery, and in this condition of life a great body of the negro
inhabitants of Africa have continued from the most early period of
their history, with this aggravation, that their children are born
to no other inheritance.
The slaves in Africa, I suppose, are nearly in the proportion of
three to one to the freemen. They claim no reward for their
services except food and clothing, and are treated with kindness or
severity, according to the good or bad disposition of their masters.
Custom, however, has established certain rules with regard to the
treatment of slaves, which it is thought dishonourable to violate.
Thus the domestic slaves, or such as are born in a man's own house,
are treated with more lenity than those which are purchased with
money. The authority of the master over the domestic slave, as I
have elsewhere observed, extends only to reasonable correction; for
the master cannot sell his domestic, without having first brought
him to a public trial before the chief men of the place. But these
restrictions on the power of the master extend not to the care of
prisoners taken in war, nor to that of slaves purchased with money.
All these unfortunate beings are considered as strangers and
foreigners, who have no right to the protection of the law, and may
be treated with severity, or sold to a stranger, according to the
pleasure of their owners. There are, indeed, regular markets, where
slaves of this description are bought and sold, and the value of a
slave, in the eye of an African purchaser, increases in proportion
to his distance from his native kingdom: for when slaves are only a
few days' journey from the place of their nativity they frequently
effect their escape; but when one or more kingdoms intervene, escape
being more difficult, they are more readily reconciled to their
situation. On this account the unhappy slave is frequently
transferred from one dealer to another, until he has lost all hopes
of returning to his native kingdom. The slaves which are purchased
by the Europeans on the coast are chiefly of this description. A
few of them are collected in the petty wars, hereafter to be
described, which take place near the coast, but by far the greater
number are brought down in large caravans from the inland countries,
of which many are unknown, even by name, to the Europeans. The
slaves which are thus brought from the interior may be divided into
two distinct classes - first, such as were slaves from their birth,
having been born of enslaved mothers; secondly, such as were born
free, but who afterwards, by whatever means, became slaves. Those
of the first description are by far the most numerous, for prisoners
taken in war (at least such as are taken in open and declared war,
when one kingdom avows hostilities against another) are generally of
this description. The comparatively small proportion of free people
to the enslaved throughout Africa has already been noticed: and it
must be observed that men of free condition have many advantages
over the slaves, even in war time. They are in general better
armed, and well mounted, and can either fight or escape with some
hopes of success; but the slaves, who have only their spears and
bows, and of whom great numbers are loaded with baggage, become an
easy prey. Thus when Mansong, king of Bambarra, made war upon
Kaarta (as I have related in a former chapter), he took in one day
nine hundred prisoners, of which number not more than seventy were
freemen. This account I received from Daman Jumma, who had thirty
slaves at Kemmoo, all of whom were made prisoners by Mansong.
Again, when a freeman is taken prisoner his friends will sometimes
ransom him by giving two slaves in exchange; but when a slave is
taken, he has no hopes of such redemption. To these disadvantages,
it is to be added that the slatees, who purchase slaves in the
interior countries and carry them down to the coast for sale,
constantly prefer such as have been in that condition of life from
their infancy, well knowing that these have been accustomed to
hunger and fatigue, and are better able to sustain the hardships of
a long and painful journey than freemen; and on their reaching the
coast, if no opportunity offers of selling them to advantage, they
can easily be made to maintain themselves by their labour; neither
are they so apt to attempt making their escape as those who have
once tasted the blessings of freedom.
Slaves of the second description generally become such by one or
other of the following causes:- 1, captivity; 2, famine; 3,
insolvency; 4, crimes. A freeman may, by the established customs of
Africa, become a slave by being taken in war. War is of all others
the most productive source, and was probably the origin, of slavery;
for when one nation had taken from another a greater number of
captives than could be exchanged on equal terms, it is natural to
suppose that the conquerors, finding it inconvenient to maintain
their prisoners, would compel them to labour - at first, perhaps,
only for their own support, but afterwards to support their masters.
Be this as it may, it is a known fact that prisoners of war in
Africa are the slaves of the conquerors; and when the weak or
unsuccessful warrior begs for mercy beneath the uplifted spear of
his opponent, he gives up at the same time his claim to liberty, and
purchases his life at the expense of his freedom.
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