In Front A Sloping Lawn, With A Fine Mango Orchard At
Its Southern End, Leads Down To The Broad Zambesi, Whose Green
Islands Repose On The Sunny Bosom Of The Tranquil Waters.
Beyond,
northwards, lie vast fields and forests of palm and tropical trees,
with the massive mountain of Morambala towering amidst the white
clouds; and further away more distant hills appear in the blue
horizon.
This beautifully situated house possesses a melancholy
interest from having been associated in a most mournful manner with
the history of two English expeditions. Here, in 1826, poor
Kirkpatrick, of Captain Owen's Surveying Expedition, died of fever;
and here, in 1862, died, of the same fatal disease, the beloved wife
of Dr. Livingstone. A hundred yards east of the house, under a large
Baobab-tree, far from their native land, both are buried.
The Shupanga-house was the head-quarters of the Governor during the
Mariano war. He told us that the province of Mosambique costs the
Home Government between 5000l. and 6000l. annually, and East Africa
yields no reward in return to the mother country. We met there
several other influential Portuguese. All seemed friendly, and
expressed their willingness to assist the expedition in every way in
their power; and better still, Colonel Nunes and Major Sicard put
their good-will into action, by cutting wood for the steamer and
sending men to help in unloading. It was observable that not one of
them knew anything about the Kongone Mouth; all thought that we had
come in by the "Barra Catrina," or East Luabo. Dr. Kirk remained
here a few weeks; and, besides exploring a small lake twenty miles to
the south-west, had the sole medical care of the sick and wounded
soldiers, for which valuable services he received the thanks of the
Portuguese Government. We wooded up at this place with African ebony
or black wood, and lignum vitae; the latter tree attains an immense
size, sometimes as much as four feet in diameter; our engineer,
knowing what ebony and lignum vitae cost at home, said it made his
heart sore to burn wood so valuable. Though botanically different,
they are extremely alike; the black wood as grown in some districts
is superior, and the lignum vitae inferior in quality, to these
timbers brought from other countries. Caoutchouc, or India-rubber,
is found in abundance inland from Shupanga-house, and calumba-root is
plentiful in the district; indigo, in quantities, propagates itself
close to the banks of the Aver, and was probably at some time
cultivated, for manufactured indigo was once exported. The India-
rubber is made into balls for a game resembling "fives," and calumba-
root is said to be used as a mordant for certain colours, but not as
a dye itself.
We started for Tette on the 17th August, 1858; the navigation was
rather difficult, the Zambesi from Shupanga to Senna being wide and
full of islands; our black pilot, John Scisssors, a serf, sometimes
took the wrong channel and ran us aground. Nothing abashed, he would
exclaim in an aggrieved tone, "This is not the path, it is back
yonder." "Then why didn't you go yonder at first?" growled out our
Kroomen, who had the work of getting the vessel off. When they spoke
roughly to poor Scissors, the weak cringing slave-spirit came forth
in, "Those men scold me so, I am ready to run away." This mode of
finishing up an engagement is not at all uncommon on the Zambesi;
several cases occurred, when we were on the river, of hired crews
decamping with most of the goods in their charge. If the trader
cannot redress his own wrongs, he has to endure them. The Landeens
will not surrender a fugitive slave, even to his master. One
belonging to Mr. Azevedo fled, and was, as a great favour only,
returned after a present of much more than his value.
We landed to wood at Shamoara, just below the confluence of the
Shire. Its quartz hills are covered with trees and gigantic grasses;
the buaze, a small forest-tree, grows abundantly; it is a species of
polygala; its beautiful clusters of sweet-scented pinkish flowers
perfume the air with a rich fragrance; its seeds produce a fine
drying oil, and the bark of the smaller branches yields a fibre finer
and stronger than flax; with which the natives make their nets for
fishing. Bonga, the brother of the rebel Mariano, and now at the
head of the revolted natives, with some of his principal men came to
see us, and were perfectly friendly, though told of our having
carried the sick Governor across to Shupanga, and of our having cured
him of fever. On our acquainting Bonga with the object of the
expedition, he remarked that we should suffer no hindrance from his
people in our good work. He sent us a present of rice, two sheep,
and a quantity of firewood. He never tried to make any use of us in
the strife; the other side showed less confidence, by carefully
cross-questioning our pilot whether we had sold any powder to the
enemy. We managed, however, to keep on good terms with both rebels
and Portuguese.
Senna is built on a low plain, on the right bank of the Zambesi, with
some pretty detached hills in the background; it is surrounded by a
stockade of living trees to protect its inhabitants from their
troublesome and rebellious neighbours. It contains a few large
houses, some ruins of others, and a weather-beaten cross, where once
stood a church; a mound shows the site of an ancient monastery, and a
mud fort by the river is so dilapidated, that cows were grazing
peacefully over its prostrate walls.
The few Senna merchants, having little or no trade in the village,
send parties of trusted slaves into the interior to hunt for and
purchase ivory. It is a dull place, and very conducive to sleep.
One is sure to take fever in Senna on the second day, if by chance
one escapes it on the first day of a sojourn there; but no place is
entirely bad.
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