Part Of The Men
Who Had Accompanied Me Gladly Accepted Employment From Lieutenant Miranda
To Take A Load Of Goods In A Canoe From Senna To Tete.
I thought the state of Tete quite lamentable, but that of Senna
was ten times worse.
At Tete there is some life; here every thing
is in a state of stagnation and ruin. The fort, built of sun-dried bricks,
has the grass growing over the walls, which have been patched in some places
by paling. The Landeens visit the village periodically, and levy fines
upon the inhabitants, as they consider the Portuguese a conquered tribe,
and very rarely does a native come to trade. Senhor Isidore, the commandant,
a man of considerable energy, had proposed to surround the whole village
with palisades as a protection against the Landeens, and the villagers
were to begin this work the day after I left. It was sad to look at the ruin
manifest in every building, but the half-castes appear to be in league
with the rebels and Landeens; for when any attempt is made by the Portuguese
to coerce the enemy or defend themselves, information is conveyed at once
to the Landeen camp, and, though the commandant prohibits
the payment of tribute to the Landeens, on their approach
the half-castes eagerly ransom themselves. When I was there,
a party of Kisaka's people were ravaging the fine country
on the opposite shore. They came down with the prisoners they had captured,
and forthwith the half-castes of Senna went over to buy slaves.
Encouraged by this, Kisaka's people came over into Senna
fully armed and beating their drums, and were received into
the house of a native Portuguese. They had the village at their mercy,
yet could have been driven off by half a dozen policemen. The commandant
could only look on with bitter sorrow. He had soldiers, it is true,
but it is notorious that the native militia of both Senna and Kilimane
never think of standing to fight, but invariably run away,
and leave their officers to be killed. They are brave only among
the peaceable inhabitants. One of them, sent from Kilimane
with a packet of letters or expresses, arrived while I was at Senna.
He had been charged to deliver them with all speed, but Senhor Isidore
had in the mean time gone to Kilimane, remained there a fortnight,
and reached Senna again before the courier came. He could not punish him.
We gave him a passage in our boat, but he left us in the way
to visit his wife, and, "on urgent private business," probably gave up
the service altogether, as he did not come to Kilimane all the time
I was there. It is impossible to describe the miserable state of decay
into which the Portuguese possessions here have sunk.
The revenues are not equal to the expenses, and every officer I met
told the same tale, that he had not received one farthing of pay
for the last four years.
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