Natives Alone Can Collect Produce
From The More Distant Hamlets, And Bring It To The Stations Contemplated.
This Is The
System pursued so successfully in Angola.
If England had possessed that strip of land, by civilly declining
to enrich her
"Frontier colonists" by "Caffre wars",
the inborn energy of English colonists would have developed its resources,
and the exports would not have been 100,000 Pounds as now,
but one million at least. The establishment of the necessary agency
must be a work of time, and greater difficulty will be experienced
on the eastern than on the western side of the continent,
because in the one region we have a people who know none but slave-traders,
while in the other we have tribes who have felt the influence
of the coast missionaries and of the great Niger expedition;
one invaluable benefit it conferred was the dissemination of the knowledge
of English love of commerce and English hatred of slavery, and it therefore
was no failure. But on the east there is a river which may become
a good pathway to a central population who are friendly to the English;
and if we can conciliate the less amicable people on the river,
and introduce commerce, an effectual blow will be struck at the slave-trade
in that quarter. By linking the Africans there to ourselves
in the manner proposed, it is hoped that their elevation
will eventually be the result. In this hope and proposed effort
I am joined by my brother Charles, who has come from America,
after seventeen years' separation, for the purpose. We expect success
through the influence of that Spirit who already aided the efforts
to open the country, and who has since turned the public mind toward it.
A failure may be experienced by sudden rash speculation
overstocking the markets there, and raising the prices against ourselves.
But I propose to spend some more years of labor, and shall be thankful
if I see the system fairly begun in an open pathway which will eventually
benefit both Africa and England.
The village of Kilimane stands on a great mud bank, and is surrounded
by extensive swamps and rice-grounds. The banks of the river
are lined with mangrove bushes, the roots of which, and the slimy banks
on which they grow, are alternately exposed to the tide and sun.
The houses are well built of brick and lime, the latter from Mozambique.
If one digs down two or three feet in any part of the site of the village,
he comes to water; hence the walls built on this mud bank gradually subside;
pieces are sometimes sawn off the doors below, because the walls in which
they are fixed have descended into the ground, so as to leave the floors
higher than the bottom of the doors. It is almost needless to say
that Kilimane is very unhealthy. A man of plethoric temperament
is sure to get fever, and concerning a stout person one may hear the remark,
"Ah! he will not live long; he is sure to die."
A Hamburgh vessel was lost near the bar before we came down.
The men were much more regular in their habits than English sailors,
so I had an opportunity of observing the fever acting as a slow poison.
They felt "out of sorts" only, but gradually became pale,
bloodless, and emaciated, then weaker and weaker, till at last
they sank more like oxen bitten by tsetse than any disease I ever saw.
The captain, a strong, robust young man, remained in perfect health
for about three months, but was at last knocked down suddenly
and made as helpless as a child by this terrible disease. He had imbibed
a foolish prejudice against quinine, our sheet-anchor in the complaint.
This is rather a professional subject, but I introduce it here
in order to protest against the prejudice as almost entirely unfounded.
Quinine is invaluable in fever, and never produces any unpleasant effects
in any stage of the disease, IF EXHIBITED IN COMBINATION WITH AN APERIENT.
The captain was saved by it, without his knowledge, and I was thankful
that the mode of treatment, so efficacious among natives,
promised so fair among Europeans.
After waiting about six weeks at this unhealthy spot, in which, however,
by the kind attentions of Colonel Nunes and his nephew, I partially recovered
from my tertian, H. M. brig "Frolic" arrived off Kilimane.
As the village is twelve miles from the bar, and the weather was rough,
she was at anchor ten days before we knew of her presence about seven miles
from the entrance to the port. She brought abundant supplies for all my need,
and 150 Pounds to pay my passage home, from my kind friend Mr. Thompson,
the Society's agent at the Cape. The admiral at the Cape kindly sent
an offer of a passage to the Mauritius, which I thankfully accepted.
Sekwebu and one attendant alone remained with me now.
He was very intelligent, and had been of the greatest service to me; indeed,
but for his good sense, tact, and command of the language of the tribes
through which we passed, I believe we should scarcely have succeeded
in reaching the coast. I naturally felt grateful to him;
and as his chief wished ALL my companions to go to England with me,
and would probably be disappointed if none went, I thought
it would be beneficial for him to see the effects of civilization,
and report them to his countrymen; I wished also to make some return
for his very important services. Others had petitioned to come,
but I explained the danger of a change of climate and food,
and with difficulty restrained them. The only one who now remained
begged so hard to come on board ship that I greatly regretted
that the expense prevented my acceding to his wish to visit England.
I said to him, "You will die if you go to such a cold country as mine."
"That is nothing," he reiterated; "let me die at your feet."
When we parted from our friends at Kilimane, the sea on the bar was frightful
even to the seamen.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 282 of 295
Words from 291328 to 292361
of 306638
