The Oromo Slaves

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In September 1888 the British warship H.M.S. Osprey was cruising in the Red Sea. Private information came to the captain that Arab dhows laden with slaves were expected to leave the African coast bound for Mocha, of coffee celebrity, where there was an immediate market for slaves. One evening the dhows set out for Tajurrah and made good progress in the night, but in morning were becalmed. They were spotted by the man-o’-war, and after an attempt to escape were captured though not without the loss of some lives, both of slavers and their poor victims. 

 

Thirty-three Arab slavers were found on the dhows with 213 victims from Oromoland, near Abyssinia. With the exception of four men, all the slaves were women and children, and all in pitiable condition, particularly the young boys. Nearly all had to be lifted on board the Osprey, their limbs having been so cramped by confinement that they could not function. In addition, the children were terror-stricken, as their Arab masters had said that if they fell into the hands of white men they would be eaten. 

 

The dhows were towed into Aden harbour and children landed and housed by the Government authorities there. The Keith-Falconer Mission of the Free Church of Scotland, situated at Sheikh Othman, an oasis near Aden, was communicated with and asked to take part or all of them. Thirty nine boys and twenty-three girls, were subsequently brought to the mission. 

 

Soon after their arrival, sickness broke out among them and one-fifth of the number died. In the summer of 1889 the roll was augmented by others who were rescued in small parties. By this time it had become necessary to seek a new and more healthy home for them, and some time later Lovedale in South Africa was decided upon. When the party sailed out of Aden for South Africa to the south, it numbered sixty-four, twenty-two girls