Based on observations from July 1875, this image shows a coffle of men, women, and children with the adults linked by ropes or chains and carrying loads on their heads. Cameron described how he "had camped in a village when a slave caravan approached; the village inhabitants immediately bolted into the village and closed the entrances. The place I had chosen from my camp was near the path, and the whole of the caravan passed on in front, the mournful procession lasting for more than two hours. Women and children, foot-sore and overburdened, were urged on unremittingly by their barbarous masters; and even when they reached their camp, it was no haven of rest for the poor creatures. They were compelled to fetch water, cook, build huts, and collect firewood for those who owned them" (p. 357). Verney Lovett Cameron (1844–1894) was the first European to cross equatorial Africa from sea to sea in 1875. His travel memoirs contain valuable suggestions for the opening up of the continent from north to south, including using the Great Lakes region to connect Cape Coast to Cairo.
Verney Lovett Cameron, Across Africa (New York, 1877), p. 357.
Image is in the public domain. Metadata is available under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International.
"Slave-Gang", Slavery Images: A Visual Record of the African Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Early African Diaspora, accessed October 15, 2021, http://slaveryimages.org/s/slaveryimages/item/387