708 CAPTUEE OF A KEBEL STOCKADE. 



On the 9th of May sixteen of my men were employed to car- 

 ry government goods in canoes up to Tete. They were much 

 pleased at getting this work. On the 11th the whole of the in- 

 habitants of Senna, with the commandant, accompanied us to the 

 boats. A venerable old man, son of a judge, said they were in 

 much sorrow on account of the miserable state of decay into 

 which they had sunk, and of the insolent conduct of the people 

 of Kisaka now in the village. We were abundantly supplied 

 with provisions by the commandant and Senhor Ferrao, and sail- 

 ed pleasantly down the broad river. About thirty miles below 

 Senna we passed the mouth of the River Zangwe on our right, 

 which farther up goes by the name of Pungvve ; and about five 

 miles farther on our left, close to the end of a low range into 

 which Morumbala merges, we crossed the mouth of the Shire, 

 which seemed to be about 200 yards broad. A little inland from 

 the confluence there is another rebel stockade, which was attacked 

 by Ensign Rebeiro with three European soldiers, and captured ; 

 they disarmed the rebels and threw the guns into the water. This 

 ensign and Miranda volunteered to disperse the people of Kisaka 

 who were riding roughshod over the inhabitants of Senna ; but 

 the offer was declined, the few real Portuguese fearing the disloy- 

 al half-castes among whom they dwelt. Slavery and immorali- 

 ty have here done their work; nowhere else does the European 

 name stand at so low an ebb ; but what can be expected ? Few 

 Portuguese women are ever taken to the colonies, and here I did 

 not observe that honorable regard for the offspring which I no- 

 ticed in Angola. The son of a late governor of Tete was pointed 

 out to me in the condition and habit of a slave. There is neither 

 priest nor school at Senna, though there are ruins of churches and 

 convents. 



On passing the Shire we observed great quantities of the plant 

 Alfacinya, already mentioned, floating down into the Zambesi. It 

 is probably the Pistia stratiotes, a gigantic " duck-weed." It 

 was mixed with quantities of another aquatic plant, which the 

 Barotse named "Njefu," containing in the petiole of the leaf a 

 pleasant-tasted nut. This was so esteemed by Sebituane that he 

 made it part of his tribute from the subjected tribes. Dr. Hook- 

 er kindly informs me that the njefu "is probably a species of 

 Trapa, the nuts of which are eaten in the south of Europe and in 



