dly equipped and overcrowded, and many
coolies died before the end of the voyage. On arrival in Cuba or Peru
the survivors were sold by auction in the open market to the highest
bidders, who held them virtually as slaves for seven years instead of
for life. Particularly terrible was the lot of those who, contrary to
their agreements, had been sent to labour in the foul guano pits of the
Chincha islands, where they were forced to toil in gangs, each under the
charge of an overseer armed with a cowhide lash. In 1860 it was
calculated that of the four thousand coolies who had been fraudulently
consigned to the guano pits of Peru not one had survived. The greater
number of them had committed suicide. In 1854 the British governor of
Hong-Kong issued a proclamation forbidding British subjects or vessels
to engage in the transport of coolies to the Chinchas. Technically this
was _ultra vires_ on his part, but his policy was confirmed by the
Chinese Passengers' Act 1855, which put an end to the more abominable
phase of the traffic. After that no British ship was allowed to sail on
more than a week's voyage with more than twenty coolies on board, unless
her master had complied with certain very stringent regulations.

The consequence of this was that the business of shipping coolies for
Peru was transferred to the Portuguese settlement of Macao. There the
Peruvian and Cuban "labour-agents" established depots, which they
unblushingly called "barracoons," the very term used in the West African
slave trade. In these places coolies were "received," or in plain words,
imprisoned and kept under close guard until a sufficient number were
collected for export. Some of these were decoyed by fraudulent promises
of profitable employment. Others were kidnapped by piratical junks hired
to scour the neighbouring coasts. Many were bought from leaders of
turbulent native factions, only too glad to sell the prisoners they
captured whilst waging their internecine wars. The procurador or
registrar-general of Macao went through the form of certifying the
contracts; but his inspection was practically useless. After the war of
1856-1857 this masked slave trade pushed its agencies into Whampoa and
Canton. In April 1859, however, the whole mercantile community of the
latter port rose up in indignation against it, and transmitted such
strong representations to the British embassy in China, that steps were
taken to mitigate the evil. New regulations were