40 EARLY EAST AFRICA 



regarded as in any sense derogatory, it was looked 

 upon as one of the most honourable and justifiable 

 of callings. Curiously enough, the commencement 

 of this hideous occupation coincided almost exactly 

 with the first serious attempt at establishing per- 

 manent missions of Dominican friars for the evan- 

 gelisation of this portion of the country, parishes 

 being now founded (1652) all along the banks of 

 the Zambezi, from I^uabo in the delta as far as 

 Tete and Zumbo. It would not appear, however, 

 that these servants of the gospel of peace and good- 

 will towards man made any effort towards repre- 

 senting how heinous was this general and widespread 

 exportation of slaves, with all the abominable 

 cruelties, vices, and iniquities by which it was 

 attended. It would seem, indeed, that so com- 

 placently did they view the rapidly increasing 

 opulence of their backshding countrymen, that, 

 conscious of the advantages they were to derive 

 from so much unlooked-for wealth, the voice of 

 reprobation was smothered in tolerant anticipation 

 of temporal benefit. 



In spite of the disturbing appearance of the 

 Enghsh in 1649, and of the Hollanders two years 

 later, and notwithstanding the sensible impoverish- 

 ment caused by the growing export of slaves, a 

 remarkable growth in the development of Portu- 

 guese influence on the Zambezi is the most striking 

 feature of the seventeenth century. The gold 

 industry, moreover, had increased in that and the 

 Quehmane districts, just as it had declined almost 

 in direct ratio at the port of Sofala ; for about this 

 time, one reads, while Sofala with great difficulty 



