TETE AND ITS ENVIRONS. 2jl 



gun-barrels, and a succession of earthen pots filled 

 with water to keep them cool. The general report 

 here is that, while at Kilimane the fever is con- 

 tinuous, at Tete a man recovers in about three 

 days. The mildest remedies only are used at first, 

 and, if that period be passed, then the more severe. 

 " The fort of Tete has been the salvation of the 

 Portuguese power in this quarter. It is a small 

 square building, with a thatched apartment for the 

 residence of the troops, and though there are but 

 few guns, they are in a much better state than those 

 of any fort in the interior of Angola. The decay of 

 the Portuguese power in this region is entirely due 

 to the slave trade. In former times considerable 

 quantities of grain — as wheat, millet, and maize — ■ 

 were exported, besides coffee, sugar, oil, indigo, 

 gold-dust, and ivory. The cultivation of grain and 

 the washing for gold-dust were carried on by means 

 of slaves, of whom the Portuguese possessed a large 

 number, and the natives of the interior, both chiefs 

 and people, were friendly to the system, because 

 they supplied the food for the sustenance of the 

 slaves while engaged in gold washings, and thus 

 procured in return a quantity of European goods. 



" But when the slave trade began, many of the 

 merchants commenced selling their slaves as a more 

 speedy mode of becoming rich, and they continued 

 this until they had no hands left either to labour or 

 to fight for them. It was just the story of the goose 



