A Wall About Ten Feet High
Is Intended To Inclose The Village, But Most Of The Native Inhabitants
Prefer To Live On Different Spots Outside.
There are about
twelve hundred huts in all, which with European households
would give a population of about four
Thousand five hundred souls.
Only a small proportion of these, however, live on the spot;
the majority are engaged in agricultural operations in the adjacent country.
Generally there are not more than two thousand people resident,
for, compared with what it was, Tete is now a ruin. The number of Portuguese
is very small; if we exclude the military, it is under twenty.
Lately, however, one hundred and five soldiers were sent from Portugal
to Senna, where in one year twenty-five were cut off by fever.
They were then removed to Tete, and here they enjoy much better health,
though, from the abundance of spirits distilled from various plants,
wild fruits, and grain, in which pernicious beverage they largely indulge,
besides partaking chiefly of unwholesome native food, better health
could scarcely have been expected. The natives here understand
the method of distillation by means of gun-barrels, and a succession
of earthen pots filled with water to keep them cool. The general report
of the fever here is that, while at Kilimane the fever is continuous,
at Tete a man recovers in about three days. The mildest remedies only
are used at first, and, if that period be passed, then the more severe.
The fort of Tete has been the salvation of the Portuguese power
in this quarter. It is a small square building, with a thatched apartment
for the residence of the troops; and, though there are but few guns, they are
in a much better state than those of any fort in the interior of Angola.
The cause of the decadence of the Portuguese power in this region
is simply this: In former times, considerable quantities of grain,
as wheat, millet, and maize, were exported; also coffee, sugar,
oil, and indigo, besides gold-dust and ivory. The cultivation of grain
was carried on by means of slaves, of whom the Portuguese possessed
a large number. The gold-dust was procured by washing at various points
on the north, south, and west of Tete. A merchant took all his slaves
with him to the washings, carrying as much calico and other goods
as he could muster. On arriving at the washing-place,
he made a present to the chief of the value of about a pound sterling.
The slaves were then divided into parties, each headed by
a confidential servant, who not only had the supervision of his squad
while the washing went on, but bought dust from the inhabitants,
and made a weekly return to his master. When several masters united
at one spot, it was called a "Bara", and they then erected a temporary church,
in which a priest from one of the missions performed mass.
Both chiefs and people were favorable to these visits,
because the traders purchased grain for the sustenance of the slaves
with the goods they had brought.
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