Christianity and civilization, in the Comoro Islands; and I should be glad to receive their Lordships' instructions as to whether the few Chiefs of these Islands are to be permitted to continue their unlawful practices with impunity. I have, &c. The Secretary to the Admiralty. B. W. WALKER. No. 133.-Rear-Admiral Sir B. Walker to the Sec". to the Admiralty. I REQUEST you will inform my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty that on my visit to Zanzibar I took occasion to make inquiries as to the nature and extent of the Northern Slave Trade, which has become so notorious in that neighbourhood, and to which my attention was called by Lieutenant-Colonel Rigby, in a letter I submitted to their Lordships on the 19th of August last year, and I now inclose another copy thereof. I am sorry to say that I find that the Treaty with the Sultan of Zanzibar for the abolition of the export of slaves from his dominions is a dead letter. I have learnt that several foreign ships have obtained cargoes of slaves thence; and there is, besides, an enormous traffic in human flesh openly and shamelessly carried on in Zanzibar. Arabs from Muscat and other parts of Arabia were purchasing slaves of both sexes in the great market of that town for exportation, even whilst I was there, and there appeared to be no check whatever to such proceedings, although positively prohibited by the Treaty. As an instance of the boldness with which this trade is conducted, I received information in Zanzibar, that 4 Muscat dhows, which had lately shipped full cargoes of slaves under the windows of the Sultan's palace in that port, were then lying at Melinda refitting, and waiting for moderate weather to prosecute their voyage to Arabia. I caused the Sultan to be informed of these circumstances, but His Highness expressed ignorance of them, and only promised investigation. I therefore determined to ascertain the truth, and ran down to Melinda in my flag-ship, accompanied by the tender; there we found one of the vessels, measuring 175 tons, undergoing repairs; the other 3 had sailed the day previously, taking the cargo of the fourth dhow with them. The chief man of the place readily admitted that these dhows had arrived from Zanzibar with their human freights, and stated that he could not prevent their remaining, as he had no means of driving them away. He pointed out the above-mentioned vessel as one of them, and as she had all her slave-fittings in, without papers or colours, the boats burnt her. The Penguin then proceeded in chase of the others. Under these glaring circumstances, I submit whether the time has not come for Her Majesty's Government to take some measures to enforce the Sultan to adhere to the Treaties made with his father, the late Imaum of Museat, for the entire prohibition of the export of slaves; and, furthermore, to abolish the Slave Trade in his territories, as I feel confident that, until this is done, no other means will stop it, and civilization and Christianity cannot progress in that quarter. The utmost exertions have been made with the united force at my command during the last 18 months to arrest this great northern illicit traffic; and a severe blow has been inflicted on it by the Lyra and Gorgon, and their boats, which have captured no less than 60 dhows employed therein. The Secretary to the Admiralty. I have, &c. B. W. WALKER. No. 134.-Rear-Admiral Sir B. Walker to the Sec". to the Admiralty. (Extract.) Narcissus, at Simon's Bay, September 15, 1862. I HASTEN to call the attention of my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to the 4th Rule of Article I prescribing the reciprocal right of search to be exercised within 200 miles from the coast of Africa. Advantageous as this privilege is to the cruizers on the West Coast of this Continent, it is of little avail on the East side, because the American slave-vessels are now in the practice of proceeding to some of the west ports of Madagascar for their cargoes, which places are beyond the limits laid down in the Treaty, and therefore it can be evaded by them with impunity. The ports alluded to are independent of the King of that island, and the slaves are conveyed thither in native vessels from the East Coast of Africa, to be shipped off as opportunities offer. The Secretary to the Admiralty. B. W. WALKER. No. 135.-Lieutenant-Commander McHardy to the Secretary to the SIR, Admiralty. Penguin, Alloola, North-East Coast of Africa, I HAVE the honour to forward to you a copy of a Report addresssed to my Commander-in-Chief, together with its inclosures, relating to the massacre of Sub-Lieutenant Fountaine and 14 men, who had been detached from Her Majesty's gun-vessel Penguin. The Secretary to the Admiralty. I have, &c. J. G. G. McHARDY. (Inclosure 1.)-Lieutenant-Commander McHardy to Rear-Admiral Sir B. Walker. SIR, Penguin, Alloola, North-East Coast of Africa, Ir is my painful duty to acquaint you that Sub-Lieutenant Fountaine and 14 men, who were detached by me in a cutter and whaler from Her Majesty's gun-vessel under my command, have been foully murdered by a party of Somalis at a place called Bareda, about 15 miles west of Cape Guardafui. The following are the circumstances connected with this sad event: On the afternoon of the 1st of September I dispatched two boats (an eight-oared cutter and four-oared whaler), under command of SubLieutenant Fountaine, with orders to cruize, for the suppression of the Slave Trade, between the Kwyhoo Island and Juba River, rendezvousing at Port Durnford every third day after the 14th September. The day after the two boats left the ship I sighted Juba River, and then proceeded to Zanzibar. At Zanzibar, things (as reported in my letter of proceedings dated the 15th September, addressed to Captain Gardner) occurred which caused me to think I should not be at Port Durnford as soon as I had intended; therefore, on the 13th September, I dispatched a native dhow to Port Durnford with provisions and further orders to Sub-Lieutenant Fountaine. On the 19th September I anchored Her Majesty's steam gun vessel Penguin outside Port Durnford; saw no boats or dhows until the morning of the 21st, when the dhow which left Zanzibar on the 13th September arrived. Directly she was observed I proceeded into Port Durnford and communicated with her. She had heard nothing of the two boats under the command of Sub-Lieutenant Fountaine; I therefore sent her up the river, with an officer and interpreter, to make inquiries concerning these two boats. The next day she returned, having heard nothing of them, and as this was 7 days after the time appointed for them to rendezvous at Port Durnford I felt very anxious about them; and, being unable to leave immediately in the Penguin on account of her engines being out of order, on the 23rd September I sent a native dhow, with an officer and interpreter, and provisious, with orders to proceed as far as Juba River in search of the boats, or information concerning them. On the 29th the dhow returned, having heard nothing of the boats. On the 1st October I sent the same dhow to Brava, with orders to coast the whole distance, and make inquiries at every place and of all dhows or fishing-boats that they might meet, and to await the arrival of the Penguin at Brava. On the 3rd October, the defects in the machinery having been made good, I proceeded to Brava, where I arrived on the evening of the 5th, having boarded several dhows, and one American whaler without hearing anything of the boats. The dhow sent from Port Durnford arrived at nearly the same time, having been unable to gain any intelligence concerning the boats. The following day, the 6th October, I landed, and learnt from the Chief of Brava that the two boats had been seen to pass Marka on the 4th September, and off Magadoxa on the 5th September (4 days after leaving the ship). I saw at Brava a man who was at Magadoxa on the 5th September, and he stated that the smaller of the two boats made an attempt to cross the reef, but, not knowing the passage, was unable to do so on account of the surf. The two boats were then seen to run northward. At the time, a fresh breeze was blowing from the southward. In consequence of this information, I made arrangements with the Chief of Brava that one of his dhows, which was to leave the next morning for Maculla, should coast the whole way to Cape Guardafui, and make inquiries for our boats, and, in the event of meeting them, provision and water them, and render them every assistance in their power. I put on board of this dhow orders for Sub-Lieutenant Fountaine which directed him to proceed to Maculla, and there remain until the arrival of the Penguin, sending with these orders a tracing of the chart from Brava to Maculla, as he left the ship with a chart extending only as far north as Juba River. I decided on Maculla for two reasons: first, that it was the nearest friendly port for our boats to have made for, provided Sub-Lieutenant Fountaine knew of it; and secondly, because I knew that a very large number of dhows, just at this season, arrived there from the territory of the Sultan of Zanzibar, so I was likely to gain information from all parts of the coast, as many of them call at different places on their way for water. On the morning of the 7th October I left Brava and proceeded northward, keeping during the day sufficiently close to the shore to enable any boat in-shore of us to be seen. On the evening of the 13th, anchored in North Haffoon Bay, and remained there until the morning of the 18th, for the purpose of communicating with the dhow from Brava, which I concluded had not yet passed this place. On the 13th October, I communicated with the people at the village Hundah, and they denied having heard or seen anything of our boats. The same day I boarded two dhows, which stated they came from a place a little west of Ras Guardafui, and that they had seen or heard nothing of our boats. I did not land at Hundah, not thinking it safe, as I had only a [1862-63. LUI.] 4 K dingy, and was out of reach of the ship's guns, but talked to them, keeping the boat a few yards from the shore. The people stated they were friendly, and several times asked me to land, but I refused. On the 18th October I left Haffoon and proceeded to Maculla, where we arrived on the 23rd, having on the way boarded several dhows, without being able to gain any intelligence of the two boats under the command of Sub-Lieutenant Fountaine, but I have information of the two other boats which are detached from this ship, and I have not picked them up in consequence of being in search of the other two. They were safe at Zanzibar on the 3rd October, and as that was the place appointed for the ship to meet them, I feel no anxiety concerning them. At Maculla we found Her Majesty's ship Semiramis, I.N.; she had arrived a few hours before, having on board Captain Playfair, Assistant Political Resident at Aden, who had been sent to inquire into a report that had reached Aden that two European boats' crews had been massacred on the African coast. The rumour was, that they were an English man-of-war's boats, and had been led north in chase of two slave dhows, which had escaped them, and afterwards conveyed the news of the massacre to Maculla (where they had landed their slaves), from whence it had reached Aden. There could be little or no doubt that the boats referred to in this rumour were the same as I was in search of. As the massacre was reported to have taken place in the territory of the Somalis, Captain Playfair decided to proceed to Bunder Muriyah (the nearest place on the coast to the residence of the Somali Sultan), and Captain Adams, of Her Majesty's ship Semiramis, I.N., having offered to take the Penguin in tow, so as to economize coal, that evening we left in tow of Semiramis, and anchored at Bunder Muriyah, on the morning of the 25th of October. A letter was immediately dispatched to the Sultan, requesting his attendance as early as possible. It was found that it would take at least 4 days for the letter to reach the Sultan, and the same number for him afterwards to comply with the request, so Captain Playfair decided to visit the scene of the massacre in the Semiramis; it was not intended to take any measures to seek retri bution until after the interview with the Sultan, so it was unneces sary that the Penguin should accompany; therefore, having securely moored her, I availed myself of an invitation from Captain Adams to take passage in the Semiramis. We anchored off Bareda on the afternoon of the 26th, and remained until noon of the 27th, when we proceeded to Alloola for the purpose of communicating with Salek Mahommed (the man referred to in Inclosure 4); he was not at Alloola on our arrival, |