The Arab and the African

This little-know work, first published in 1891 and here reproduced in facsimile, provides a first-hand account of the slave trade in British and German East Africa during the latter years of the nineteenth century. The author, a Christian missionary, tempers his descriptions of this shocking trade with an unusually sympathetic view of both the African slave and the Arab trader. Alongside this account runs a fascinating study of the region south and east of the Lake then known as Victoria-Nyanza, in which details of flora and fauna and the daily life of the native population are included. The narrative is illustrated with drawings and maps, while an appendix lists the essential supplies necessary for one person spending a year travelling in East Africa; this includes one corkscrew, three dusters and a luncheon basket!