“Portuguese Rosa was lying on a native bed, or sofa, which was placed with its head about three feet from the doorway of an outhouse, in which cocoa-nuts were stored until required for the use of the house.
“This Portuguese woman was reclining at full length on the sofa, her chin supported by her hand, and contemplating, with evident pleasure, the disgusting scene of barbarity which was being enacted inside of the cocoa-nut house. A negro, one of the finest specimens of man I have ever looked upon, and one that an artist would have wished for a model of Apollo, was lashed up to a ladder by his hands and legs; two negroes were castigating him on his posteriors; two spare ones were waiting to relieve them, and one old negro stood by, who appeared to be a doctor, witnessing how much the sufferer could bear without being killed. The poor creature’s posteriors and thighs were covered with blood, and a pool of blood was around his feet. There lay the Portuguese woman, calmly enjoying this scene of blood, occasionally instructing the actors where to strike, when a cry of more thrilling anguish would testify to her refinement in torment.
“Anxious to put an end to this revolting scene, I asked—nay, I begged—this fiend in woman’s form to pardon and release the man.
“Instantly her dark eye was lighted up with the frenzy of intense hatred, and, turning to me, she said, ‘For anything with a white skin, I would pardon—but for you, thou champion of the slave!—never!’ Then turning to the executioners, she yelled, ‘Flog, sons of hell, flog! or else I’ll pour the boiling oil upon you.’ This drew my attention to a neighbouring fire, on which stood a pot, which, I afterwards learned, contained boiling oil. To have remained longer would have only added to the sufferings of the slave. This was a case of domestic slavery, in which, of course, I could not interfere. A late Portaria of the King of Portugal declares that this slavery shall cease in twenty years time; that is to say, continues it for that period. Subsequently, I heard that this slave was punished for disobedience of orders. Inquiring further into the matter, I learned that this noble black had refused to castigate his own mother. Women of England, and mothers of Portugal, hear me; and when you hear, speak—so that Don Pedro the Fifth, of Portugal, shall cause slavery to cease in his African dominions, and leave to his dynasty a name, the memory of which shall awaken prouder associations than those even of the Era of Conquest.”
A few days after witnessing the frightful atrocity just related, I had a letter sent to me from the master of the cruel Portuguese woman, and the owner of the godlike manly form, with a black skin, whose ignominious tortures I had witnessed, in which I was called a spy, and sundry other equally complimentary epithets, for having unfortunately witnessed a scene revolting to humanity, when I imagined I was bound on an errand of mercy, in an endeavour to save the life of a fellow-being. Of this I took no notice; but, from that moment, I felt convinced that my neighbours’ slaves were more rigorously dealt with than even before. With a refinement of devilment, during the remainder of my stay at Mozambique, the Sabbath of the Lord was set aside specially for the punishment of Mr. Soares’ negroes; and, as that Portuguese gentleman knew that the Consul of Protestant England performed the service of the Church of England, every Sunday, at eleven o’clock in the forenoon, that hour was chosen for the commencement of these harrowing tortures, which were continued until one P.M., when he imagined that the prayers of the heretic were ended. Where those cries of anguish ascended to the throne of the Omnipotent, the song of praise will, assuredly, be heard at no distant period.
The Portuguese, entirely devoted to slavery, have neglected the natives in religion, as in all other matters; and as the Makuas have not imbibed Mahometan principles from the Moors or Arabs, who do not here attempt any proselytism, there is an admirable opening at Mozambique for Protestant missionaries; but Moloch, in the shape of the slave-trade, must first be done away with, when a noble field for missionary labour will be laid open.
As a further example of the cruelty which Portuguese women perpetrate on their slaves, the following barbarity was related to me as having been inflicted in the city of Mozambique:—
A Mozambique lady, having been clearly convicted of some delinquency, by the evidence of one of her female slaves, adopted this method of punishment, which,—even among those who are in the habit of burning their slaves with red hot iron, pulling out the nails of the fingers and toes for punishment, and otherwise perpetrating, in that remote region, the horrors of the Inquisition—is spoken of with disgust. The unhappy girl was seized and firmly secured; an egg was boiled, and, on being removed from the pot, was forcibly placed in the mouth of the wretched slave. A sail-needle was then driven as a skewer through both lips, when the girl was released, and the lady owner viewed her torments. This she-devil, not yet satisfied with the punishment inflicted on her fellow-being, ordered the slave-girl to be struck on both cheeks until the egg was broken, and the scalding contents went down her throat.