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Books and Arts; Book Review;Slavery in Africa；Gathered in the marketplace；
The Last Slave Market: Dr John Kirk and the Struggle to End the African Slave Trade. By Alastair Hazell.
The standard line on Victorians is that they were bad for Africa. In a multitude of ways that was true. Yet the irony is that English-speaking Africa today (in its respect for elders, thirst for education, attitude to criminals, its piety and primness) is probably more Victorian than anywhere else in the world. The journey that African boys now make from village to heaving cities has a Dickensian feel; not David Copperfield but David Odhiambo. And why are Anglican and Presbyterian churches still the pillar of so many African communities? Weren’t these de facto assemblies of colonialism? Up to a point. As Alastair Hazell reminds the reader in this compelling new history, the Victorians were also responsible for ending the slave trade in Africa. For that, and for the evangelism that followed, their influence has outlasted that of the Marxists and pan-Africanists.
人们普遍的看法是，维多利亚时期的英国人对非洲起了消极的作用。从很多方面来看确实如此。而讽刺的是，今天，非洲英语使用地区的维多利亚时代特色也许比世界上其他任何地方都更为明显。这里的人们尊敬长者，渴求教育，严惩罪犯，虔诚拘谨。如今，非洲男孩从乡村到大都市的经历很有些狄更斯笔下人物的味道，相对于大卫·科波菲尔，他们的经历更似David Odhiambo（David Odhiambo: 肯尼亚裔作家，后移居加拿大）。为何英国国教和基督教长老会依然在众多非洲社区扮演着支柱的角色？它们实际上难道不是殖民主义的集会吗？也不完全如此。Alastair Hazell的这部吸引读者眼球的历史新作引起人们重新的思考，维多利亚时代也曾对终结非洲奴隶贸易做出贡献。由于这一点，加上紧随其后的福音传道，维多利亚时代英国人的影响比马克思主义者和泛非洲主义者更为深远。
Mr Hazell has a cracking character in John Kirk. A Scottish botanist blessed with a strong and supportive wife, Kirk was the British representative on the Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar from 1866 to 1886. He arguably did more than anyone else to abolish slavery in the sultanate. The author shows just how extensive that trade was. Zanzibari agents trekked deep into the interior buying up human beings. The limits of their range, in Congo, are the limits of where the native coast language, Kiswahili, is spoken today. Slaves were manacled and marched to the ocean. Many perished on the way. Those too emaciated to make the crossing to Zanzibar were left to die on the shore. Richard Burton, a British explorer, described slave corpses floating in the island’s sewage.
在Hazell看来，John Kirk的品行十分出众。Kirk是一名苏格兰植物学家，上天赐予了他一位坚强的妻子，对他的工作支持有加。1866至1886年间，Kirk在英国驻印度洋桑给巴尔岛代表。可以说，Kirk在废除苏丹奴隶制方面做出的努力比任何人都要多。本书作者正是向人们展示了奴隶贸易的广泛性。桑给巴尔代理机构经过艰苦跋涉，深入国境内部，尽可能多的收购奴隶。这些代理机构在刚果绵延至如今使用当地斯瓦西里语的沿海地区。奴隶戴着手铐，被迫向海洋方向前行。途中丧生者无数。过于瘦弱憔悴，无法远渡大洋前往桑给巴尔的奴隶则被遗弃在岸边，任其死亡。据英国探险家Richard Burton描述，桑给巴尔岛的下水道中都漂浮着奴隶的尸体。
Burton was one of several men who crossed paths with Kirk. Earlier in his career Kirk accompanied David Livingstone up the Zambezi. And Henry Morton Stanley, an American journalist-adventurer, visited Kirk in Zanzibar for advice before setting out to find Livingstone. Mr Hazell describes Livingstone as uncommunicative, morose and “often ill at ease with himself.” Kirk was steadier. He worked patiently to gain the trust of traders and made meticulous records of the slave markets.
Burton是与Kirk共事的几人之一。Kirk早年与David Livingstone一起在赞比西河上游工作。美国记者兼冒险家Henry Morton Stanley在出发寻找Livingstone前，在桑给巴尔与Kirk见过面并向他征求建议。据Hazell描述，Livingstone是一个沉默寡言，阴郁孤僻的人，“他常常觉得不安。”Kirk则更为稳重。他用耐心的工作换来了商人的信任，并且对奴隶市场情况做了详细的记录。
Zanzibar was the main conduit of slaves from Africa to Arabia, as a sculpture in the town commemorates (pictured below). Abolitionists railed against the trade. But the island’s Omani rulers were implacable, arguing that the Koran gave the right to enslave infidels. Britain itself sent out mixed messages. Zanzibar was nominally under the control of the India Office and officials there valued stability. Besides, the slaves came along with flawless and easily worked ivory from jungle elephants that was in demand in England for billiard balls, piano keys, trinkets, knives and forks. “The cutlers of Sheffield alone took 170 tons [a year],” the author notes.
非洲奴隶主要通过桑给巴尔岛流向阿拉伯半岛，镇上还有纪念雕塑（下图所示）。废奴主义者强烈抗议奴隶贸易。而岛上的阿曼统治者态度却极为坚决，他们坚持认为，古兰经赋予了人们以异教徒为奴的权利。英国本身的态度也含糊不清。名义上，桑给巴尔受印度办事处管辖，官员很重视这里的稳定程度。另外，人们很容易从生活在丛林中得大象身上取得光洁无暇的象牙，在引进奴隶的同时，象牙也一同流入英国，制成畅销的台球、钢琴键、装饰品和刀叉。Hazell指出:“仅在谢菲尔德，（每年）就有170吨象牙来到刀叉制造商手中。”
桑给巴尔人发现，最好的方法是表面服从英国，暗中继续奴隶贸易。1873年，举国哀悼Livingstone的逝世，借此机会，Kirk将桑给巴尔首领Barghash bin-Said带到了伦敦，于是人们宣告了英国文明的凯旋。Barghash也附和着向英国教会传信会表示，“在愚昧无知的非洲传播神圣的知识之光目标可嘉，此举定会得到上帝的奖赏。”而鲜为人知的是，在回国的路上，Barghash不由自主地在埃及为他的三妻四妾购买了一些精选女奴。
There is much to enjoy and reflect upon in this carefully researched and briskly told account. Some quibbles remain. The author has a bias towards the stories of resolute Britons like Captain Atkins Hamerton over Arab adventurers. And while he clearly feels for the enslaved Africans, he shows little curiosity to explore further. Which peoples were the slaves from? What became of them? The documentation may be insufficient, but whether through genetics, linguistics or archaeology it is important to know more.
书中研究细致，叙述令人耳目一新，提供了大量供读者欣赏和思考的素材。但是也存在一些有待斟酌之处。本书作者略有偏袒如Atkins Hamerton船长一类的英国人，对阿拉伯探险者态度过于决绝，而对非洲奴隶表现出了明显的同情，对更远的探索也没什么兴趣可言。奴隶们为何种民族？他们有着怎样的遭遇？史实文件也许不够详实，但是从遗传学、语言学和考古学的角度，更进一步的了解也许意义重大。
