270 THROUGH GASA LAND. 



assuming a crumpled form. The hollow between 

 each crease is a street, the houses being built upon 

 the projecting fold. The rocks at the top of the 

 slope are much higher than the fort, and of course 

 completely command it. The whole of the adjacent 

 country is rocky and broken, but every available 

 spot is under cultivation. The houses of the Euro- 

 peans in Tete are built of stone cemented with mud 

 instead of lime, and thatched with reeds and grass ; 

 they have a rough, untidy appearance in con- 

 sequence of the cement having been washed out by 

 the rains. There are about thirty of them ; the 

 native houses are built of wattle and daub. A wall 

 about ten feet high encloses the village, but most 

 of the native inhabitants prefer to live outside it. 

 There are about 1,200 huts in all, which with 

 European households would give a population of 

 4,500 souls. Generally there are not more than 

 2,000 people resident, for the majority are engaged 

 in agricultural operations in the adjacent country. 

 The number of Portuguese, exclusive of the mili- 

 tary, was under twenty. There were eighty 

 soldiers, who had been removed hither from Senna, 

 a station lower down the river, in consequence of 

 the mortality that prevailed among them there. 

 Here they enjoy much better health, though they 

 indulge largely in spirits extracted from various 

 plants, wild fruits, and grain by the natives, who 

 understand a method of distillation by means of 



