this river. At the time that application was made to Commander Bedingfeld the affairs in this river we considered in a very alarming state, and this Court has every reason to believe, from all that has occurred since the date of that request, that nothing could have prevented a civil war in the Bonny betwixt the two parties but an extensive fire that broke out in the town of Bonny on the Sunday night, September 1st, which destroyed one part of the town, and, it is our opinion, prevented any fighting.

Since then the King Pepple has been on shore in Bonny three times, and given this Court formal notice twice of his having taken possession of the town, and demanded twice from the merchants here payment of the comeys due from 5 ships that have arrived in this river since Pepple's arrival. This second demand Commander Wildman will convey to you a copy of, and this Court's answer to it.

This Court feels exceedingly grateful that you have made such arrangements as will for the future enable Captain Burton, Her Britannic Majesty's Consul, to visit this river more frequently, a circumstance most desirable, that the Consul and also the men-ofwar should more frequently visit this important river, that has frequently 17 and sometimes 20 sail of merchant-vessels trading here, varying from 400 to 1,250 tons. This Court wishes to impress upon you the great benefit the very appearance one of Her Majesty's vessels of war visiting this river has upon the natives, and this Court trusts that nothing will occur to interfere with your being able to carry out this request.

The arrival of the Philomel in this river was most fortunate, for her appearance here, and the dignified and gentlemanly manner of Commander Wildman's proceedings, have tended to settle the affairs in this river that would have remained unsettled, and most likely terminated in a civil war and a complete stoppage of commerce had not one of Her Majesty's vessels been here.

In conclusion, we beg to refer you to the Commander of the Philomel for full particulars of all proceedings here during his stay. I have, &c.

Commodore Edmonstone.

REUBEN HEMINGWAY.

EAST COAST OF AFRICA STATION.

No. 98.-Commander Oldfield to the Secretary to the Admiralty. (Extract.) Lyra, Simon's Bay, December 31, 1860.

DURING the 6 months 4 vessels for certain have been on the coast between Quiloa and Lamoo, and latitude 9° 0' south, longitude

2° 0' east, and 3, no doubt, got cargoes, as upwards of 3,000 slaves were collected during the months of June, July, and August, by Messrs. B. V. Mas and Bernado, the former a merchant of some years' residence in Zanzibar, and the latter a slave-dealer, who came there for the purpose of supervising the shipping of the cargoes of the said 4 vessels, one of which was captured by the Lyra.

Slaves to a large amount may be bought, and without the coast be very strictly watched, shipped, from the dominions of His Majesty the Sultan of Zanzibar: 19,000 slaves were exported from Quiloa and the ports between it and Cape Delgado in the years 1859 and 1860.

Slaves are exported, as heretofore reported by me, from Ibo and Quillimane to an extent of some 2,000 to 3,000 annually from the former, and 1,000 to 1,500 from the latter place.

The import of slaves into the Comoro Islands and Madagascar is, I think, not in excess of the call of domestic and agricultural labour.

The Secretary to the Admiralty.

R. B. OLDFIELD.

No. 99.-Commander Buckley to Rear-Admiral Sir H. Keppel. SIR, Persian, Zanzibar, December 31, 1860. I HAVE the honour to report to you that, from the information I have been able to collect as yet, the Slave Trade seems dull at present about this part of the coast; Lieutenant Colonel Rigby, Her Britannic Majesty's Consul here having caused the noted slavedealer, Mass, to be banished from the territories of His Highness the Sultan of Zanzibar, and that person has been obliged to retire to Aden.

In consequence of his departure, a Spanish barque, called the Formosa Estrella, intending to ship at Lamoo, has been unable to do so, and is at present lying in this port, having fallen into the hands of His Highness the Sultan, and been by him detained.

During the north-east monsoon a number of dhows and bungalows from the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, and other parts to the northward, come down to Zanzibar and adjacent ports; and when the south-west monsoon sets in, generally during the month of March, they steal slaves in the most barefaced manner, and depart to the northward with them.

These are neither more nor less than pirates, and LieutenantColonel Rigby has written to the Government, and suggested that a screw gun-vessel should be stationed about Zanzibar during the months of March and April, which by cruizing actively could intercept numbers of them, a suggestion in which I fully coincide. Instances have been known of these dhows throwing the slaves overboard when they imagined they were pursued by a man-of-war.

The above is all the information I have been able to collect at present. I have, &c. Rear-Admiral Sir H. Keppel.

CECIL W. BUCKLEY.

No. 100.-Captain De Horsey to the Secretary to the Admiralty. SIR, Brisk, December 31, 1860. DURING the past half-year the Brisk has captured and condemned one slaver, the Manuela, of 702 tons, with 846 slaves on board, the finest slaver, I believe, that was ever captured on the East Coast.

I should strongly recommend that an attempt be made to induce the Sultan of Zanzibar to enter into a Treaty with Great Britain, putting a stop to all slave traffic between the different ports of his dominions. Such a Treaty would be a great assistance to the English cruizers in stopping the Slave Trade, as slaves must now frequently be shipped on board foreign vessels under cover of being taken by licence of the Sultan of Zanzibar from one port to another.

There appears to be no specific instructions as to the disposal of the crews of captured slavers, such captures having been made with respect to vessels not entitled to the protection of any flag. I consequently discharged the Manuela's crew, 45 in number, to the shore.

It is to be regretted that these men should have escaped unpunished. If the severest penalty of the law was inflicted on all crews of slavers, it would prove a considerable check to men engaged in that nefarious traffic. I have, &c.

The Secretary to the Admiralty.

A. J. R. DE HORSEY.

No. 106.-Rear-Admiral Sir B. Walker to the Secretary to the

SIR,

Admiralty.

Narcissus, in Simon's Bay, September 19, 1861.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 19th July, 1861, with inclosure from the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, signifying to me the directions of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, to ascertain all the facts regarding a report that French vessels were again engaged in exporting negroes as free labourers from the east coast of Africa to the French colonies.

In reply, I beg you will lay before their Lordships the inclosed 4 reports, from different sources named in the margin, which reached me prior to the receipt of your letter above mentioned.

From these documents it is too painfully evident that a brisk and increasing Slave Trade, with all its attendant horrors, has been

for some time past carried on under the protection of the French Imperial flag, and to which, I regret to say, the small legitimate commerce of the east coast of Africa is again rapidly yielding.

The manner in which the traffic is conducted by French subjects is so clearly shown in the inclosures that further comment is unnecessary.

I feel confident that if foreign Governments did not allow their flags to be tarnished by this disgraceful traffic in human flesh, a stop would soon be put to the Slave Trade by Her Majesty's cruizers employed upon that service. The Secretary to the Admiralty.

SIR,

I have, &c.

B. W. WALKER.

(Inclosure 1.-Captain De Horsey to Rear-Admiral Sir B. Walker. Brisk, Pomony Harbour, July 26, 1861. I HAVE the honour to report for your information that on the 22nd instant I gave chase to a dhow, which presently hoisted French colours.

Having come up with her I dropped a boat alongside, and the officer, having obtained permission, went on board the dhow to make inquiries about a French dhow said to have been wrecked on the coast of Mohilla.

The report of the boarding officer (Lieutenant Adeane) was as follows: Name of vessel, Dzonmoque; owner, A. N. Bowicier, of Mayotte; colours, French; tonnage, about 30 tons; from Mohilla, bound to Mayotte; cargoes, 93 negroes; with 3 white men on board, one of whom was M. Colow, lately Chief of the Police at Mayotte, and correct papers duly signed by the CommandantSupérieur (Governor of Mayotte).

Of the identity of the French Chief of Police, and that the cargo consisted of pure African negroes, not Comoro Islanders, there can be no doubt whatever, as Her Majesty's Consul, who happened to be on board the Brisk, went on board, in addition to the boarding officer, and recognized and spoke to the person referred to, M. Colow.

One of the principal men of Johanna, by name Lidi Drayman, also went on board as interpreter, and certifies, as well as Her Majesty's Consul, to the fact of their being simply African negroes.

The boarding officer, by my orders, clearly explained the reason which induced me to visit the dhow, and that it was in nowise to be interpreted as an exercise of authority.

It was at first my intention to accompany the slave-dhow to Mayotte, and there to lay the facts before the Commandant-Supérieur, so that he could not pretend ignorance of the Slave Trade being carried on under his authority; but, on mature consideration, I desisted from doing so, in order to prevent him from construing

my proceeding into an act of interference with a vessel sailing under the French flag.

I have the honour to lay the facts thus fully before your notice, because I can hardly think that the Imperial Government of France would, if officially informed, suffer this unnatural traffic to be persisted in, and not only connived at, but under the very authority of the Governor of Mayotte and its dependencies.

These negroes that are constantly being imported to Mayotte are, every one is well aware, not called slaves, but engagés; but I need not point out that this Slave Trade in dhows is of the worst kind, for the sufferings that the poor creatures undergo from scarcity of water and provisions in dhows during calm weather are very great.

Of the way in which this traffic is carried on there is little or no doubt. The French have agents at Comoro and Mohilla who induce Arabs and Johanna men to bring slaves across from the coast at their own risk; they are then transshipped into vessels or dhows under French authority, and openly carried to Mayotte as engagés from the Comoro Islands.

One would think that these facts require only to be made known to the French Imperial Government for the traffic to be stopped, and yet it has continued with impunity for two years and more.

Rear-Admiral Sir B. Walker.

SIR,

I have, &c.

A. J. R. DE HORSEY.

(Inclosure 2.)-Lieutenant McHardy to Captain De Horsey. Penguin, Johanna Roads, June 13, 1861. I HAVE the honour to inform you that, in consequence of information received from Mr. Sunley, Her Majesty's Consul, having obtained permission from the King of the Island, I sent Lieutenant Buckle to inspect the papers of a dhow at anchor in the roads, with French colours, but suspected of having no French papers. I inclose a copy of Lieutenant Buckle's report.

Captain De Horsey.

SIR,

I have, &c.

J. G. G. McHARDY.

(Inclosure 3.-Lieutenant Buckle to Lieutenant McHardy. Penguin, Johanna Roads, June 12, 1861. ACCORDING to your instructions, I communicated to the King of Johanna your suspicions respecting the dhow at anchor in these roads. The King immediately sent for her master (an Arab), and on his arrival requested me to visit the dhow in his company and satisfy myself that he was entitled to the protection of the French flag, which I did. The master willingly produced his papers, an inspection