The slave-trade thrives only in the African dominions of the King of Portugal; and the late Portaria of that monarch at once places His Majesty foremost among the advocates of slavery. Until slavery is entirely abolished in the African dominions of Don Pedro the Fifth, the slave-trade will flourish, while outraged humanity and the suffering Africans exclaim to that potentate, “Thou art the man!”
CHAPTER II
The Portuguese Merchant and the Governor-general—Arbitrary Measures adopted towards the Banyans—The Piratical seizure of the “Ari-passa”—Measures adopted for her Restoration—Comparison between Wellington’s Soldiers and Mozambique Soldiers—The “Ari-passa” is restored—Seizure of the British cutter “Herald.”
There being some misunderstanding as to what portion of the coast between Cape Delgado and Delagoa Bay has belonged to Portugal, and, as the British government has never been represented by any agent on that coast until within the last three years, it naturally devolved upon me, as the first British functionary employed by Great Britain in the province of Mozambique, to make myself thoroughly acquainted with the real state of the question of Portuguese possession in Eastern Africa, on which, in a great measure, hangs the future commercial development and civilization of Central Africa; and I now lay before the intelligent reader the result of my patient and impartial inquiries on the subject.
On referring to the accompanying chart of Eastern Africa, the reader will observe that the Portuguese territory consists of positions almost entirely insular—namely, Ibo, Mozambique, Killimane, Sofala, Bazarutto, Inhambane, Delagoa Bay, and Pemba Bay; at which last named place the Portuguese have made a settlement within the last year.
On the river Zambesi they also have the towns of Seña and Tete.
Some of these positions—Ibo, Mozambique, and Bazarutto—are beyond gun-shot distance of the coast, virtually exercising no authority whatever over the mainland; and, strictly speaking, from my own personal observation, the Portuguese authority, even nominally, does not extend five miles above high-water mark, nor more than that distance from any flag-staff erected by Portugal anywhere on the whole line of coast from Cape Delgado to Delagoa Bay.
Excepting at the points indicated in the accompanying chart, and already named, the Portuguese do not, and have never, even for a short period of time, held even nominal possession of the coast referred to, with the exception of what is known as the kingdom of Angoxa.
The kingdom of Angoxa, having a sea-board of ninety miles, and reaching into the interior 180 miles, is reigned over by an independent sultan, having under him from thirty to forty chiefs. It is rich in produce, which is fully described in the chapter on the “Resources of Eastern Africa.”