396 CONVICT SOLDIERS. Chap. XX. 



conceive to be its due. In 1839 my friend Mr. Gabriel saw 37 

 slave-ships lying in this harbour, waiting for their cargoes, under 

 the protection of the guns of the forts. At that time slavers had 

 to wait many months at a time for a human freight, and a certain 

 sum per head was paid to the Government for all that were ex- 

 ported. The duties derived from the exportation of slaves far 

 exceeded those from other commerce, and by agreeing to the 

 suppression of this profitable traffic, the Government actually 

 sacrificed the chief part of the export revenue. Since that period, 

 however, the revenue from lawful commerce has very much ex- 

 ceeded that on slaves. The intentions of the home Portuguese 

 Government, however good, cannot be fully carried out under the 

 present system. The pay of the officers is so very small, that 

 they are nearly all obliged to engage in trade ; and owing to the 

 lucrative nature of the slave-trade, the temptation to engage in it 

 is so powerful, that the philanthropic statesmen of Lisbon need 

 hardly expect to have their humane and enlightened views car- 

 ried out. The law, for instance, lately promulgated for the 

 abolition of the carrier system (carregadores) is but one of 

 several equally humane enactments against this mode of com- 

 pulsory labour, but there is very little probability of the benevo- 

 lent intentions of the legislature being carried into effect. 



Loanda is regarded somewhat as a penal settlement, and those 

 who leave their native land for this country do so with the hope 

 of getting rich in a few years, and then returning home. They 

 have thus no motive for seeking the permanent welfare of the 

 country. The Portuguese law preventing the subjects of any 

 other nation from holding landed property unless they become 

 naturalized, the country has neither the advantage of native nor 

 foreign enterprise, and remains very much in the same state as 

 our allies found it in 1575. Nearly all the European soldiers 

 sent out are convicts, and, contrary to what might be expected 

 from men in then position, behave remarkably well. A few riots 

 have occurred, but nothing at all so serious as have taken place 

 hi our own penal settlements. It is a remarkable fact that the 

 whole of the arms of Loanda are every night in the hands of those 

 who have been convicts. Various reasons for this mild behaviour 

 are assigned by the officers, but none of these, when viewed in 

 connection with our own experience in Australia, appear to be 



