Some ivory was offered for sale; but the chief traffic was in human chattels.  Would that we could give a comprehensive account of the horrors of the slave-trade, with an approximation to the number of lives it yearly destroys! for we feel sure that were even half the truth told and recognized, the feelings of men would be so thoroughly roused, that this devilish traffic in human flesh would be put down at all risks; but neither we, nor any one else, have the statistics necessary for a work of this kind.  Let us state what we do know of one portion of Africa, and then every reader who believes our tale can apply the ratio of the known misery to find out the unknown.  We were informed by Colonel Rigby, late H.M.  Political Agent, and Consul at Zanzibar, that 19,000 slaves from this Nyassa country alone pass annually through the Custom-house of that island.  This is exclusive of course of those sent to Portuguese slave-ports.  Let it not be supposed for an instant that this number, 19,000, represents all the victims.  Those taken out of the country are but a very small section of the sufferers.  We never realized the atrocious nature of the traffic, until we saw it at the fountain-head.  There truly “Satan has his seat.”  Besides those actually captured, thousands are killed and die of their wounds and famine, driven from their villages by the slave raid proper.  Thousands perish in internecine war waged for slaves with their own clansmen and neighbours, slain by the lust of gain, which is stimulated, be it remembered always, by the slave purchasers of Cuba and elsewhere.  The many skeletons we have seen, amongst rocks and woods, by the little pools, and along the paths of the wilderness, attest the awful sacrifice of human life, which must be attributed, directly or indirectly, to this trade of hell.  We would ask our countrymen to believe us when we say, as we conscientiously can, that it is our deliberate opinion, from what we know and have seen, that not one-fifth of the victims of the slave-trade ever become slaves.  Taking the Shire Valley as an average, we should say not even one-tenth arrive at their destination.  As the system, therefore, involves such an awful waste of human life,—­or shall we say of human labour?—­and moreover tends directly to perpetuate the barbarism of those who remain in the country, the argument for the continuance of this wasteful course because, forsooth, a fraction of the enslaved may find good masters, seems of no great value.  This reasoning, if not the result of ignorance, may be of maudlin philanthropy.  A small armed steamer on Lake Nyassa could easily, by exercising a control, and furnishing goods in exchange for ivory and other products, break the neck of this infamous traffic in that quarter; for nearly all must cross the Lake or the Upper Shire.

Our exploration of the Lake extended from the 2nd September to the 27th October, 1861; and, having expended or lost most of the goods we had brought, it was necessary to go back to the ship.  When near the southern end, on our return, we were told that a very large slave-party had just crossed to the eastern side.  We heard the fire of three guns in the evening, and judged by the report that they must be at least six-pounders.  They were said to belong to an Ajawa chief named Mukata.