ment, both in justice to the master for property legally acquired (at the time of acquisition) and because the slave will value the freedom which he has himself earned, and which confers on him in native public opinion a status of freedom which the arbitrary law of the white man is powerless to confer.
The subject is one of such interest that I wish space permitted of my adding a few words on the conditions of redemption; the obligations of Government towards the slaves it liberates, and their disposal, and the consequential institution of Freed Slaves' Homes, and their methods and limitations; on the question of employment of slave labour; of enlistment of slaves; of probate of native wills in which slaves are treated as symbols of currency; on slavery among pagan tribes, and on many other aspects of this problem. In Northern Nigeria slave-raiding is a thing of the past, and some progress has already been made in the education of the people in the directions I have indicated, while slave-trading and slave-dealing are, I think, becoming daily more rare.
(b) Liquor Traffic.—I have shown already how the importation of crude spirits took its origin in the days of the oversea slave trade, nearly three centuries ago, as the commodity with which slaves were chiefly purchased, and how it still remained the chief article of import in exchange for the legitimate exports of a later period. Much has been written as to its demoralizing effect upon the natives, while its supporters have made misleading statements as to the number of gallons consumed per head of the population in contrast to the consumption at home, including for their purposes the population beyond the spirit zone, and asserting that the liquor is not harmful, and that drunkenness is not prevalent. Leaving this controversy to the long list of eminent men who have testified to the demoralization and to their opponents, I have but one word to say on this subject from another standpoint. The gin and rum is manufactured almost entirely in Germany and
