p. 84). The period of conveyance of freed African children to Bombay Presidency therefore ended in around 1870.  
In 1867, Sir Bartle Frere, 1st Baronet, was appointed governor of Bombay Presidency. He proposed to use the Bombay Africans in the European exploration of Africa as well as in the Christian evangelization of eastern Africa. The free Africans who eventually returned to Africa from their period of refuge in India can be divided into three overlapping groups, the first of which is a group composed African crewmen involved in the British anti-slavery campaign. The second is that of the Bombay Africans of Rabai and Freretown who form the basis of the African Christian evangelical and emancipation movement. The third is a group composed of Bombay African men and their women followers who were involved in the European expeditions in Africa.