Senhor Martins, the Capitao Mor, expressed great indignation when I told him how our carriers had behaved, and was, I am sure, perfectly sincere. He succeeded in making several of them restore the calico they had received as wages in advance before leaving Tete, and said that he would have some of them flogged if I liked ; but having succeeded in my object in spite of them, my resentment had cooled, and I begged him to do nothing further in the matter. One day Burnett and I went to breakfast with this most hospitable Lusitanian, who is a right good fellow, though bitterly opposed to the acquisition of any territory by the British in South-East Africa. It being Sunday, Senhor Martins thought it would be the correct thing to make the two luiglishmen drunk. He first plied us with wine, and then ordered a case of beer and several flasks of Hollands gin. Several of the inhabitants of Tete dropped in, and every one drank as much as he liked, and they all liked to drink a good deal. Although not a teetotaler, I am by habit a very abstemious man, and practically a total abstainer. I drank as little as possible, as did also Burnett, but for the honour of our country we were obliged to drink a good deal more than we wanted. About eleven o'clock a coloured gentleman who had formerly been the schoolmaster of Tete was carried home crying drunk, and soon afterwards our hospitable entertainer, who had lately lost his wife, got into a very lachrymose condition. We thought this a good opportunity to get away, but he then rallied and insisted upon going with us to the house we had hired, and here of course we had to do our best to return his hospitality.

OUTRAGE ON A BRITISH SUBJECT 



307 



Presently, to our dismay, the schoolmaster again rolled up, now 
intensely polite, and constantly bowing and saying " Tank you." 
He was a weak-headed man, however, and soon again became 
melancholy, and at last fell backwards over the little parapet 
that surrounded our house, and a recumbent position just at 
that time suiting him better than any other, he lay where he 
fell until some friends presently removed him. Altogether, 
although no rain fell, this was a very wet Sunday, though I 
think the two Englishmen came very well through the ordeal. 

On 29th October we bade adieu to Tete, and in the after- 
noon passed the mouth of the Ruenya. Before leaving I called 
upon Senhor Alpuina, the Governor, but, as I have said before, 
was unable to see him. For this return journey down the 
Zambesi we hired a boat and crew from Senhor Anakulete 
Nuncs, who had boarded us during our stay in Tete. 

On 4th November we passed Sena, keeping, however, near 
to the opposite bank of the Zambesi to that on which the town 
is situated. Here were encamped a portion of the black levies 
with which Colonel Serpa Pinto soon afterwards attacked the 
Makololo beyond the river Ruo in a country which Consul 
Johnston had proclaimed to be British territory. 

Two days later we passed the mouth of the Shiri. Soon 
afterwards hfeavy rain began to fall, and a strong head wind 
lashed the river into waves that threatened to swamp our boat, 
so that on reaching Missongwi, where the Dutch East African 
trading company have a station, we took advantage of the 
hospitality of their agent, Mr. Van Yssom, and spent the rest 
of the day with him. 

On 7th November we reached Viccnti at about i P.M., 
where we found Mr. Baird in charge. This young Scotsman, 
who had been a fellow - passenger of ours on board the 
Courland, had shortly before our arrival been shamefully 
assaulted and ill-used by a Portuguese officer, backed by a 
rabble, for complaining of the theft of some of the African 
Lakes Company's property by black soldiers. Had there 
been a few Britishers about there would assuredly have been a 
row on the spot. It was very evident from many things that 
Mr. Baird told us that relations between the British and Portu- 
guese were now getting very strained in South-East Africa. 

 


 on the Quaqua, 
where wE were hospitably entertained 

by Mr. and Mrs. 
Henderson. Mr. Henderson was managing 

an opium plantation, 

which I think has since been abandoned. 

On 8th November wE started for Quillimani in two small 
boats belonging to the African Lakes Company, but as the 
river was very low, and the boats had to be continually pulled 
over shoals, our progress was very slow. 

Knowing that the steamer for Cape Town was due in 
Quillimani from Mozambique on  3th November, and that .she 
was advertised to leave on the 15th, wc dropped down to the 
anchorage on the 14th, and ran our boat alongside of the 
Courlaiid ; and although the Portuguese guard on the gangway 
made some demur, I went on board and deposited all my papers, 
diaries, and map with the purser, as I thought I Might have to 
undergo another inquisition at Quillimani. Then we went on 
.shore, but no one asked us any questions. That evening we 
spent very jjleasantly with Mr. and Mrs. Ross, and the next 
morning, after settling off with Rebecca and Rocky, went on 
board tlie Conrland again, and getting away with the afternoon's 
tide, reached Cape Town