INUNDATION OF THE ZAMBESI. 689 



graduate in Dogmatic Theology and Moral Philosophy. There is 

 but a single school in Tete, and it is attended only by the native 

 Portuguese children, who are taught to read and write. The black 

 population is totally uncared for. The soldiers are marched every 

 Sunday to hear mass, and but few others attend church. During 

 the period of my stay, a kind of theatrical representation of our 

 Savior's passion and resurrection was performed. The images 

 and other paraphernalia used were of great value, but the present 

 riches of the Church are nothing to what it once possessed. The 

 commandant is obliged to lock up all the gold and silver in the 

 fort for safety, though not from any apprehension of its being 

 stolen by the people, for they have a dread of sacrilege. 



The state of religion and education is, I am sorry to say, as 

 low as that of commerce; but the European Portuguese value 

 education highly, and send their children to Goa and elsewhere 

 for instruction in the higher branches. There is not a single 

 bookseller's shop, however, in either eastern or western Africa. 

 Even Loanda, with its 12,000 or 14,000 souls, can not boast of 

 one store for the sale of food for the mind. 



On the 2d the Zambesi suddenly rose several feet in height. 

 Three such floods are expected annually, but this year there were 

 four. This last was accompanied by discoloration, and must have 

 been caused by another great fall of rain east of the ridge. We 

 had observed a flood of discolored water when we reached the 

 river at the Kafue ; it then fell two feet, and from subsequent 

 rains again rose so high that we were obliged to leave it when 

 opposite the hill Pinkwe. About the 10th of March the river 

 rose several feet with comparatively clear water, and it continued 

 to rise until the 21st, with but very slight discoloration. This 

 gradual rise was the greatest, and was probably caused by the 

 water of inundation in the interior. The sudden rise which hap- 

 pened on the 2d, being deeply discolored, showed again the effect 

 of rains at a comparatively short distance. The fact of the river 

 rising three or four times annually, and the one flood of inundation 

 being mixed with the others, may account for the Portuguese not 

 recognizing the phenomenon of the periodical inundation, so well 

 known in the central country. 



The independent natives cultivate a little cotton, but it is not 

 at all equal, either in quantity or quality, to what we found in 



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