They Had No Fear Of
Losing Them, Or Of Being Punished For Aiding Us.
The system, in
which they had been trained, had eradicated the idea of personal
responsibility from their minds.
The Portuguese slaveholders would
blame the English alone, they said; they were our servants at the
time. No white man on board could purchase so cheaply as these men
could. Many a time had their eloquence persuaded a native trader to
sell for a bit of dirty worn cloth things for which he had, but a
little before, refused twice the amount of clean new calico.
"Scissors" being troubled with a cough at night, received a present
of a quilted coverlet, which had seen a good deal of service. A few
days afterwards, a good chance of investing in hoes offering itself,
he ripped off both sides, tore them into a dozen pieces, and
purchased about a dozen hoes with them.
We entered the Zambesi on the 11th of January, and steamed down
towards the coast, taking the side on which we had come up; but the
channel had changed to the other side during the summer, as it
sometimes does, and we soon grounded. A Portuguese gentleman,
formerly a lieutenant in the army, and now living on Sangwisa, one of
the islands of the Zambesi, came over with his slaves, to aid us in
getting the ship off. He said frankly, that his people were all
great thieves, and we must be on our guard not to leave anything
about. He next made a short speech to his men, told them he knew
what thieves they were, but implored them not to steal from us, as we
would give them a present of cloth when the work was done. "The
natives of this country," he remarked to us, "think only of three
things, what they shall eat and drink, how many wives they can have,
and what they may steal from their master, if not how they may murder
him." He always slept with a loaded musket by his side. This
opinion may apply to slaves, but decidedly does not in our experience
apply to freemen. We paid his men for helping us, and believe that
even they, being paid, stole nothing from us. Our friend farms
pretty extensively the large island called Sangwisa, - lent him for
nothing by Senhor Ferrao, - and raises large quantities of mapira and
beans, and also beautiful white rice, grown from seed brought a few
years ago from South Carolina. He furnished us with some, which was
very acceptable; for though not in absolute want, we were living on
beans, salt pork, and fowls, all the biscuit and flour on board
having been expended.
We fully expected that the owners of the captives we had liberated
would show their displeasure, at least by their tongues; but they
seemed ashamed; only one ventured a remark, and he, in the course of
common conversation, said, with a smile, "You took the Governor's
slaves, didn't you?" "Yes, we did free several gangs that we met in
the Manganja country." The Portuguese of Tette, from the Governor
downwards, were extensively engaged in slaving. The trade is partly
internal and partly external: they send some of the captives, and
those bought, into the interior, up the Zambesi: some of these we
actually met on their way up the river. The young women were sold
there for ivory: an ordinary-looking one brought two arrobas, sixty-
four pounds weight, and an extra beauty brought twice that amount.
The men and boys were kept as carriers, to take the ivory down from
the interior to Tette, or were retained on farms on the Zambesi,
ready for export if a slaver should call: of this last mode of
slaving we were witnesses also. The slaves were sent down the river
chained, and in large canoes. This went on openly at Tette, and more
especially so while the French "Free Emigration" system was in full
operation. This double mode of disposing of the captives pays better
than the single system of sending them down to the coast for
exportation. One merchant at Tette, with whom we were well
acquainted, sent into the interior three hundred Manganja women to be
sold for ivory, and another sent a hundred and fifty.
CHAPTER XI.
Arrival of H.M.S. "Gorgon" - Dr. Livingstone's new steamer and Mrs.
Livingstone - Death of Mrs. Livingstone - Voyage to Johanna and the
Rovuma - An attack upon the "Pioneer's" boats.
We anchored on the Great Luabo mouth of the Zambesi, because wood was
much more easily obtained there than at the Kongone.
On the 30th, H.M.S. "Gorgon" arrived, towing the brig which brought
Mrs. Livingstone, some ladies about to join their relatives in the
Universities' Mission, and the twenty-four sections of a new iron
steamer intended for the navigation of Lake Nyassa. The "Pioneer"
steamed out, and towed the brig into the Kongone harbour. The new
steamer was called the "Lady of the Lake," or the "Lady Nyassa," and
as much as could be carried of her in one trip was placed, by the
help of the officers and men of the "Gorgon," on board the "Pioneer,"
and the two large paddle-box boats of H.M.'s ship. We steamed off
for Ruo on the 10th of February, having on board Captain Wilson, with
a number of his officers and men to help us to discharge the cargo.
Our progress up was distressingly slow. The river was in flood, and
we had a three-knot current against us in many places. These delays
kept us six months in the delta, instead of, as we anticipated, only
six days; for, finding it impossible to carry the sections up to the
Ruo without great loss of time, it was thought best to land them at
Shupanga, and, putting the hull of the "Lady Nyassa" together there,
to tow her up to the foot of the Murchison Cataracts.
A few days before the "Pioneer" reached Shupanga, Captain Wilson,
seeing the hopeless state of affairs, generously resolved to hasten
with the Mission ladies up to those who, we thought, were anxiously
awaiting their arrival, and therefore started in his gig for the Ruo,
taking Miss Mackenzie, Mrs. Burrup, and his surgeon, Dr. Ramsay.
They were accompanied by Dr. Kirk and Mr. Sewell, paymaster of the
"Gorgon," in the whale-boat of the "Lady Nyassa." As our slow-paced-
launch, "Ma Robert," had formerly gone up to the foot of the
cataracts in nine days' steaming, it was supposed that the boats
might easily reach the expected meeting-place at the Ruo in a week;
but the Shire was now in flood, and in its most rapid state; and they
were longer in getting up about half the distance, than it was hoped
they would be in the whole navigable part of the river.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 92 of 134
Words from 93003 to 94154
of 136856
