This hurricane will almost cause the ruin of some of the proprietors of plantations, and perhaps for some time turn their attention with fresh zeal towards the slave-trade.
Late on the 2nd of April, the hurricane gradually declined in strength, and then ceased entirely during the night of that day, which saw the last of the Mammekia or hurricane in these latitudes. This was a calamity which affected the whole of the province of Mozambique more or less, not only in its immediate results, but also in those which are to follow. The slaves themselves told me that now that their masters’ property was destroyed there was no food for them, and that many would be sent away in ships, where, or to whom, they did not know. But, alas! I knew but too well their fated doom.
In the city of Mozambique the Governor-general adopted every precaution, as soon as the hurricane was over, to maintain order and protect the property which had been washed on the beach from the wrecks. The Custom-house was opened to receive the merchandize saved; the military were posted in different places to maintain order; the dead were interred to prevent a plague; and in short, despite the great number of slaves with which the island abounds, there were not many robberies nor any disorders worth mentioning.
CHAPTER IV.
The Negro José—Negro Bread—The Promised Sail of Hope—The Commander of H. M. B. “Cruizer”—The Consul Supplied with a Guard by H. M. Brig—Jealousy of Slave-dealers—Governor-General Furnishes a Guard—Consul Renews his Correspondence on the Slave-trade—House Attacked and Wife Wounded—Governor-General Declares his Inability to Protect the British Consul—Consul Embarks on board H. M. S. “Lyra”—Outrage on the Grave of a British Subject.
The hurricane described in the last chapter had passed away; the north-east monsoon had set in, bringing with it the dhows from Cutch, Bombay, Goâ, and Zanzibar; and the marshy aspect given to the mainland around our house by the recent rains was somewhat disappearing, when one of my patients, after assisting me about the house for some few days, took advantage of a fine cool morning to steal out unobserved, and the first intimation which I had of his absence was again to hear the sound of his rifle.
In a few minutes Hilliard made his appearance in the court-yard, bearing in his hand a fine specimen of the Mozambique crow, jet black from bill to the tip of the tail, with the exception of a cravat of the purest white, which makes the bird, when standing on a wall, look uncommonly like a parson.
For being out before taking his quinine he received an extra dram, and we then began to talk seriously as to what chance we had of obtaining any bread. The Portuguese had positively refused to sell me any; and the Governor-general had written to say that he could not assist me—in fact, he had written as if there was a famine in the place, to justify his inhumanity in not assisting me to supply the wants of two Englishwomen exposed to these slave-trade persecutions.
Among the slaves which I had hired from a Banyan at Mozambique, one of them, José, had stuck to me through all; and many a time did this poor negro find his way to the city of Mozambique, and succeed in buying negro bread for me from the negroes at Mozambique. At first José acted very honestly; but, latterly, it appears that some of the slaves of Señhor João da Costa Soares, and others of the slave-dealers, instructed by their masters, got hold of José on his visits to the city, and, making him drunk, robbed him of his money. José would, in this way, be absent at times for some days, but as soon as he became sober the negro would always turn his face homewards, and he had the good sense not to return without bread. Sometimes he obtained it on credit, at others he would be accompanied by the owner of the bread; and as on all these occasions I took care not to scold the negro too much, and always to pay what he had promised the negroes who accompanied him from the city, I was never many days without bread. It is true that this was a very inferior article, and at all times expensive—costing me as much as three and four dollars for what might be bought at Mozambique for sixpence, or, at the outside, a shilling. It is true that this negro bread was generally sour, and at times blue-mouldy when it reached my house; but Rosa used to cut out the mouldy parts, and, steeping the remainder for a short time in boiling hot water, place it in an oven and rebake it, thereby making it at least eatable. While we were all sick, this miserable supply of bread was sufficient; but now that Hilliard was recovering, his appetite increased with his strength, and as there was no bread, nor any substitute, in the house, I looked very anxiously for the negro on this morning, for he had been absent more than five days. To apply to our neighbours I knew was useless, and I was thinking of making my breakfast of the heart of the head of one of the fallen cocoa-nut trees, when José made his appearance with enough bread to enable us to hold out for three days longer.