Ivory in abundance, ebony, orchella weed, gum copal, cocoa-nut oil, coir and ground nuts form the principal portions of cargoes of fleets of dhows trading, in the season, between this country and the dominions of the Imâm of Muskat.
The Sultan of Angoxa, who is an independent prince, asks for a British consular agent, and is anxious to place himself under the protection of Great Britain; meanwhile the Mozambique government threatens the seizure of English vessels trading with Angoxa.
The kingdom of Angoxa extends at present from Sliangazi, at the mouth of Captain Owen’s river Antonio, about twenty miles to the northward of Angoxa river, whilst the southern limit is Quizano or Moma, about sixty or seventy miles from the mouth of the same river. By this it will be seen that it has a seaboard of ninety miles; while I was informed that the Angoxa river is navigated about sixty leagues, or 180 miles, from its mouth. Over the whole of the country through which that portion of the Angoxa river runs, which is navigated at present, the Sultan of Angoxa is acknowledged as the supreme head, having under his rule from thirty to forty chiefs, more or less powerful.
The Angoxa river is said to take its rise in a large lake. This may be the lake Maravi, which, from what I learned from the Moors at Mozambique, has an outlet by a river discharging itself either at Angoxa or Mozambique.
The history of Angoxa is contained in the following statement, derived from reliable sources:—
At one time the government of that Arabic kingdom was located at Killimane, a place much desired by the Portuguese, as it commands one of the mouths of the Zambesi. About fourteen Sultans’ reigns since, negotiations were entered into by the authorities at the island of Mozambique, with the then reigning Sultan of the kingdom of Angoxa, at the capital, Killimane, for the purchase of that town. Terms were agreed upon; and, in order that there should be no misunderstanding, the Sultan removed to the river Angoxa. A yearly tribute, or rent, was to be paid by the Portuguese to the Sultan for the use of Killimane. Eight Sultans received this tribute money. The ninth Sultan went for a number of years to the city of Mozambique and received this rent, but after some time the Portuguese pleaded inability to pay, and asked for time, which was granted by the Sultan. After a number of years, having always received the same messages from Mozambique, he determined to go in person and demand the rent which was in arrear. Arrived at Mozambique, he found a new Governor-general, who ignored the Killimane arrangement, and on the other hand demanded from the Sultan of Angoxa tribute-money, due by him as a vassal to the King of Portugal, and which he claimed as being in arrear the same number of years that the Mozambique government had omitted paying the rent for Killimane.
The Sultan of Angoxa, taken by surprise, was imprisoned at Mozambique; a member of his family was found willing to reign over Angoxa as Sultan, acknowledging himself as the vassal of the King of Portugal, and from that time Angoxa was claimed as a Portuguese possession. The Portuguese Sultan, in consequence of murdering a member of his own family, was driven out of Angoxa by his subjects. A new Sultan was set up by one party, while the cause of another claimant to the throne was advocated by a second party at Angoxa. The latter repaired to Mozambique, and with the assistance of the government of that place, and his own adherents at Angoxa, was created Sultan of Angoxa, subject again to the authorities at Mozambique. Soon after being placed in the government, he was dethroned, and was succeeded by others who did not acknowledge the sovereignty of Portugal; and this state of affairs continued until the attention of the British government having been called by the Portuguese to the slave-trade at Angoxa, Commodore Wyvill was instructed to put a stop to it; and having, I am informed, called upon the Portuguese authorities at Mozambique to assist him in coercing their so-called rebellious subjects at Angoxa, an attack was made by Her Majesty’s naval, and the Portuguese small military, force. The Sultan of Angoxa promised to abandon the slave-trade, and was forced to acknowledge the sovereignty of Portugal.
A fiscal officer was placed on the point of land at the mouth of the river. As soon as he was unprotected, the natives of Angoxa forced him to take to the boat which had been left with him to escape by (for such an event was fully expected), and so ends for the last time the sovereignty of Portugal over Angoxa.
It must not for a moment be imagined that the assistance of Commodore Wyvill was solicited by the Portuguese authorities for the purpose of stopping the slave-trade; that was simply the pretext by which they obtained the assistance of the senior British naval officer to force upon the Angoxa people their hated rule. For I know, from persons who were then resident at Mozambique, that the slave-trade was at that time flourishing in Mozambique harbour, and that a Spanish slaver was lying off Inhambane for more than three weeks, waiting for slaves, during which time she was supplied by the authorities at that place, and went away with 1000 slaves. It is in this manner that the British government has been duped, and British officers have been made instruments for extending the Portuguese dominion, under the specious pretext of stopping the slave-trade, which would have been more effectually done if the Portuguese had been left to maintain their sovereignty where they were able to do so; and, at all other parts of the coast, a system of open ports and free trade had been established.