During the two years which had elapsed since the commencement of this traffic, attention had been drawn to the facility with which slaves were obtained on the east coast of Africa, and the slave-dealers at Cuba turned their attention to Mozambique. We shall presently see them competing with the French in their slavery operations on the east coast of Africa.
The new demand on the slave market in Mozambique, caused by the arrival of Spanish and American slavers, induced the Governor-general of Mozambique to again despatch the soldiers of his king to the interior, in order to assist the Moors in their operations. At first they were again successful; but, at last, the Negroes, exasperated by the bloodshed which had again commenced among them, and attributing it to its correct cause, viz., the presence of the Portuguese soldiers among them, rose and destroyed some of them, and the survivors escaped only with their lives, to bring to the city of Mozambique the intelligence that all the natives had risen with the intention of driving the Portuguese into the sea. This was found no idle threat, for the detachment of soldiers stationed at the Palace of Messuril, on the mainland of Cabaceira, situated at about five miles distance from my house, was attacked about a month after my arrival at Mozambique. All the troops, with the exception of a sergeant and eight invalids, were removed from the city of Mozambique (which, being on an island, was considered secure), and encamped round the village of Messuril. For three weeks the Portuguese troops were in hourly expectation of an attack, and it was only in consequence of the great influence which one Portuguese had over the natives that they were prevented from annihilating the Portuguese troops. It appears that this officer, who had resided at Mozambique for more than fifty years, had quarrelled with the Governor-general of Mozambique, in consequence of being deprived of what he considered his just share of the head money obtained by the Portuguese officials from the French Free Labour Emigration. And when matters at Messuril had arrived at a crisis, he was induced by the inhabitants of the city to arrange his differences with the Governor-general, and save the Portuguese dominion in this part of the world. He did so, went among the natives, and, in three days’ time, by bribes and creating mutual jealousies among the native chiefs, he induced them to abandon their intentions, but with the stipulation that no more attempts would be made to obtain slaves from their country.
During the time this was going on at Messuril, to show the feelings of the natives towards myself, I ought to state that my wife, accompanied by her maid, drove through numbers of these natives unmolested. They knew well who the British Consul was, and the purpose for which I was sent to Mozambique; and they hailed my presence among them on all occasions with the liveliest satisfaction, frequently presenting my wife with flowers and fruit.
On the day of the threatened attack, previous to the intervention of the old Brigadier, numbers of slaves came into the compound of my house, bringing their native beds and cooking utensils, and pointing to the British consular flag flying over my house, assured me that they would be safe with me, if I would only allow them to remain; for the natives had determined only to spare my house and those within it. A sickly Portuguese soldier, who was lent to me as an interpreter, stated that even he would be safe with me. While this was going on, I sent a messenger to my neighbour, the Brigadier Soares, who was looked upon as the Metternich of Mozambique, and he sent me back word to say that he was ready to receive the natives, for he had 200 armed negroes in the gateway of his house, and at the same time stated that I had nothing to fear, for the natives knew very well who I was.
Similarly, Salt, who visited Mozambique in 1809, tells us that—
“The Makuas are a strong, athletic race of people, very formidable, and constantly in the habit of making incursions into the small tract of territory which the Portuguese possess on the coast. Their enmity is inveterate, and is confessed to have arisen from the shameful practices of the traders, who have gone among them to purchase slaves. They fight chiefly with spears, darts, and poisoned arrows; but they also possess no inconsiderable number of muskets, which they procure in the northern districts from the Arabs, and very frequently, as the governor assured me, from the Portuguese dealers themselves, who, in the eager pursuit of wealth, are thus content to barter their own security for gold, slaves, and ivory, which they get in return.
“These obnoxious neighbours have latterly been quiet, but in their last incursion they advanced with such a force into the peninsula of Cabaceira, as actually to oblige the Portuguese to quit the field. In their progress they destroyed the plantations, burnt the slave-huts, and killed or carried off every person who fell into their hands. They penetrated even into the fort of Messuril, and threw down the image of St. John, which was in the chapel, plundering the one adjoining the Government House, and converted the priest’s dress, in which he celebrates mass, into a habit of ceremony for their chief. This occurred about three years ago, and most clearly evinces the very weak and precarious state of the settlement.”—(A Voyage to Abyssinia, &c., by Henry Salt, F.R.S., London, 1814, p. 38.)
Salt also quotes Purchas, who mentions a similar incursion of the Makuas, in 1585, for which see Purchas, vol. ii., p. 1553.
On my arrival at Mozambique, I had carefully searched the official bulletin to see if the order of the Portuguese government, and the Portarias of the King of Portugal, dated 27th February, 1855, and 30th July, 1856, forbidding any participation in the French Free Labour traffic, had been published for the information of all parties. Finding it had not been published, and that consequently any one engaged in supplying slaves for that traffic might state in his justification that the traffic was established in Mozambique under the authority of the Governor-general of Mozambique, and consequently sanctioned by the Portuguese government, I considered it only proper to ask the Governor-general whether he had received the Portarias referred to. He said he had not, and expressed his astonishment that they had not been furnished to him. I immediately offered to furnish him with a copy of these Portarias, under my hand and seal, when he applied to the secretary of the government for information on the subject, and he was reminded by that functionary that he had received them some time previously. I urged upon him the necessity of giving them publicity; he acknowledged the good it might do, and stated that he would have them published immediately. A reference to the official bulletin will show that they were not published until after the arrival of his successor.
I soon discovered that the French Free Labour Emigration, and the Spanish and American Slave-Trade, were carried on by the Governor-general, and nearly all the officials in the Portuguese settlements on the east coast of Africa, and that the residents at those places (with the exception of the most influential, who could assist the traffic) were not allowed to interfere in it; and, if found doing so, were punished. We now come to proofs of my statements.