'Selections from the Records of the Bombay Government' [‎646] (690/733)

646
SLAVE TRADE.
the nature of that suggested to be employed in the case of those Shaikhs
who have treaties on the subject with us ; so that while the Muskat,
Turkish, and Persian Ports remain open markets for slaves, the diminu
tion which we may perhaps succeed in effecting on the Arabian side of
the Gulf will be most likely met by a nearly corresponding addition to
the traffic of the places above alluded to.
Were it, however, possible to obtain from the Turkish and Persian
Governments a prohibition to the sale of slaves in the several ports
belonging to them in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and river Euphrates, and at the
same time to receive authority for our vessels of war to enforce such an
interdict, I should entertain every hope, with the aid of an efficient
squadron, of seeing the Slave Trade in this quarter completely sup
pressed in the course of a very few years.
EXTRACTS FROM THE RECORDS OF THE RESIDENCY An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India.
AT BUSHIRE.
Slaves imported into Persia, through the southern ports, are of two
kinds,—the Somalee, or African from the Coast of Zanzibar, the territory
principally of the Imaum of Muskat; and Hubshee, or Abyssinian, from
the shores of the Red Sea. Judda, Hodeida, Mocha, &c.
Slaves are but rarely kidnapped by the crews of the boats in which
they are shipped for exportation, or indeed by the merchants themselves
immediately on the coast, but by people employed for that purpose
in the interior. A proportion are prisoners made in the petty wars
between hostile tribes, and sold by them into slavery.
Muskat and Soor are the principal primary ports to which slaves, from
whencesoever shipped, whether Zanzibar or the Red Sea, are brought,
and whence they are eventually carried into Turkey, Persia, Sind, the
Arab States, and even our own territories on the Western Coast of India.
The boats conveying them make coasting voyages, selling individuals
of their live cargo at the several ports at which they may touch. Of the
above countries, Turkey consumes by far the greater proportion, Bussora
and Bagdad being the largest marts.
No vessels proceed direct to Zanzibar from any of the Persian ports,
with the exception of Lingah, whence three or four boats are annually
despatched, each returning with about seventy slaves.
The season for the Gulf traffic in slaves is included between the 1st
July and the 1st November.
At Bushire and the other Persian ports there are no particular spots
allotted for slave markets, nor day fixed for the sale. On the arrival of
a boat, the owner takes the slaves, or a number of them, forming his