They Gave An Evasive Reply; And, As They Employ
This Means Of Collecting Their Neighbors When They Intend To Rob Canoes,
Our Watchfulness May Have Prevented Their Proceeding Farther.
We spent the night of the 26th on the island called Nkuesi,
opposite a remarkable saddle-shaped mountain, and found that we were
just on the 17th parallel of latitude.
The sail down the river was very fine;
the temperature becoming low, it was pleasant to the feelings;
but the shores being flat and far from us, the scenery
was uninteresting. We breakfasted on the 27th at Pita, and found
some half-caste Portuguese had established themselves there, after fleeing
from the opposite bank to escape Kisaka's people, who were now ravaging
all the Maganja country. On the afternoon of the 27th we arrived at Senna.
(Commandant Isidore's house, 300 yards S.W. of the mud fort
on the banks of the river: lat. 17d 27' 1" S., long. 35d 10' E.)
We found Senna to be twenty-three and a half hours' sail from Tete.
We had the current entirely in our favor, but met various parties
in large canoes toiling laboriously against it. They use long ropes,
and pull the boats from the shore. They usually take about twenty days
to ascend the distance we had descended in about four.
The wages paid to boatmen are considered high. 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.
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