256 DICK SANDS, THE BOY CAPTATN. but the difficulty is how to get them embarked. The l'ortugfuese authorities on the one hand^ and the English cruisers on the other, almost put a stop to exportation altogether; down to the south, near Mossamedes, is the only part where ît can be attempted wîth any chance of success. To pass a caravan through Benguela or Loande îs an utter împossibility; neither the govemors nor the chefés* will liston to a word of reason. Old Alvez îs there- fore thinkîng of goîng in the other direction towards Nyangwe and Lake Tanganyika; he can there exchange his goods for slaves and ivory, and is sure to do a good business with Upper Egypt and the coast of Mozambiquep which supplies Madagascar. But I tell you, Negoro,** he added gravely, " I believe the time is coming when the slave-trade will corne to an end altogether. The English mîssionarîcs are advancing into the interior. That fellow Livingstone, confound him! has finîshed his tour of the lakes, and is now working his way towards Angola; then there is another man named Cameron who is talking about Crossing the continent from cast to wcst, and it is feared that Stanley the American will do the same. AU thîs ex- ploration, you know, is ruinous to our business, and ît îs to our intercst that not onc of thèse travellers should be allowed to rcturn to tell talcs of us in Europe." Harris spoke like a merchant embarrassed by a temporary commercial crisis. The atrocious scènes to which the slave-dealers arc accustomed seems to render them îm- pcrvious to ail scnsc of justice or humanity, and they leam to regard their living merchandize with as small concem as though thcy wcre dealing with chcsts of tca or hogs- hcads of sugar. But Harris was rîght when he asserted that civilizatîon must follow the wakc of the intrcpid pioneers of Afrîcan discovery. Livingstone first, and after him, Grant, Speke, Burton, Cameron, Stanley, are the herocs whose names will ever be linkcd with the first dawnings of a brighter âge upon the dark wilds of Equatorial Africa. Having ascertained that his accomplice had returned > Subordinate Portuguese govemors at secondary stations.
