Miranda Resigned His Commission In Consequence.
The Common Soldiers Sent Out From Portugal Received Some Pay In Calico.
They All Marry Native Women, And, The Soil Being Very Fertile, The Wives Find
But Little Difficulty In Supporting Their Husbands.
There is no direct trade
with Portugal.
A considerable number of Banians, or natives of India,
come annually in small vessels with cargoes of English and Indian goods
from Bombay. It is not to be wondered at, then, that there have been
attempts made of late years by speculative Portuguese in Lisbon to revive
the trade of Eastern Africa by means of mercantile companies. One was
formally proposed, which was modeled on the plan of our East India Company;
and it was actually imagined that all the forts, harbors, lands, etc.,
might be delivered over to a company, which would bind itself
to develop the resources of the country, build schools, make roads,
improve harbors, etc., and, after all, leave the Portuguese
the option of resuming possession.
Another effort has been made to attract commercial enterprise
to this region by offering any mining company permission to search
for the ores and work them. Such a company, however, would gain but little
in the way of protection or aid from the government of Mozambique,
as that can but barely maintain a hold on its own small possessions;
the condition affixed of importing at the company's own cost
a certain number of Portuguese from the island of Madeira or the Azores,
in order to increase the Portuguese population in Africa, is impolitic.
Taxes would also be levied on the minerals exported.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 987 of 1070
Words from 282672 to 282939
of 306638
