"The people (slaves) are for the most part originally prisoners of war. Since the Decree of Emancipation they have simply returned to their own distant homes, knowing their owners have no power to recapture them. This is one reason why some think the population is decreasing, and another is the vast exodus up and down river. So long as the Slave Trade flourished, the Bobangi nourished, but with its abolition they are tending to disappear, for then towns were replenished by slaves."