XXVII.] 



ABUSE OF THE PORTUGUESE FLAG. 



351 



wlio have witnessed some such heart-rending scenes. Indeed, 

 the cruelties perpetrated in the heart of Africa by men calling 

 themselves Christians, and carrying the Portuguese flag, c»n 

 scarcely be credited by those living in a civilized land ; and the 

 Government of Portugal can not be cognizant of the atrocities 

 committed by men claiming to be her subjects. To obtain these 

 fifty-two women, at least ten villages had been destroyed, each 

 having a population of from one to two hundred, or about fif- 

 teen hundred in all. Some may, perchance, have escaped to 

 neighboring villages ; but the greater portion were undoubtedly 

 burned when their villages were surprised, shot while attempt- 



July, 



1875. 



60ENB ON THE ROAD. 



ino" to save their wives and families, or doomed to die of star- 

 vation in the jungle unless some wild beast put a more speedy 

 end to their miseries. 



When Coimbra arrived with so rich a harvest, Alvez was 

 equal to the occasion, and demanded a number of the slaves to 

 meet the expenses incurred in having detained him. 



With this additional amount of misery imported into the 

 caravan, we marched the next day, and crossed the Lovoi, some 

 by a fishing-weir bridge, and others by wading where it was 

 mid-thigh deep and a hundred and twenty feet wide. The riv- 



