THE SLAVE TRAFFIC.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2366, 7 June 1892, Page 3

THE SLAVE TRAFFIC.

There has been some desperate fights in Nyassa land, Central Africa, recently, between British troops and African slave raiding tribes. Unfortunately the British forces, under Mr Johnston, H.M. Commissioner, are far to small, and one or two disasters have occurred. In the fight with Makanjila, which occurred on the south-west shore of Lake Nyassa, Captain Maguire and two other Englishmen lost their lives. The circumstances are narrated in the following letter sent by Mr Johnston to Captain Maguire’s mother, and published in The Times. Mr Johnston says: —“I know that nothing I can say or do can in way diminish the terrible, heart-breaking grief you must feel for the loss of your dear sou, Cecil Maguire ; but I thought a few words from me might show you that if over a man nobly lost his life to rid the world of a great evil, it was your son. From the moment he arrived at the south end of Lake Nyassa, in the beginning of of last October, and first became accpiamted with the horrors of the slave trade, he set himself resolutely to war against it. He became filled with the same enthusiasm which fired Livingstone and Gordon to oppose the slave trade. I even had at times to clu ck his enthusiasm, because 1 sot such store by him that sooner than lose him I would almost have let slavery continue. At the end of last November he told me he must go back to the south end of Lake Nyassa to reinforce the Indian garrison there, I was loth to let him go, because he was only just recovered from a slight wound he had received in action ; but he promised me he would only be away a couple of weeks, and would be very careful and undertake no further fighting. We were to spend Christinas together at Zoinba, and he was to spend two or three mouths hero in absolute rest. Nevertheless, when he gut to the lake lie heard of a grand opportunity of stopping a large slave caravan and destroying the last two dhows (sailing vessels) of a chief called Makanjira, whom we fought against iu October last. Accordingly, after hurriedly sending word of this to me, and without awaiting my. answer, he rushed off pp the lake in \\ steampr yvitli tlprfy sepoys, stopped the caravan and gave chase to the dhows, which he finally came up with in a dangerous place full of rocks and sandbanks, He destroyed the dhows, but found he had I" meet mi attack from oyer 2000 of the onemy. He kept them at bay in the most skilful manner until the work of destroying the dhows was completed, when ho beat a retreat. Even then lie would have got oil all right but that a violent storm had sprung up, which drove ihe barge iu which he hud landpd on to sqp|p rocks apd sm shed if up : then he tried wading and swimming out to the steamer. During this terrible period of the retreat three of his men were killed. However, lie saw all the others safe on board, and then struck out fur the steamer himself. Just as he was within ton yards of it and was stretching out his hand to seize a rope thrown to him, a bullet struck him and he sank. In trying to get his body, the engineer of the steamer and eight sepoys were so severely wonndftd that they had to desist,”