644 INUNDATION OF THE ZAMBESI. Chap. XXXI. 



graduate in Dogmatic Theology and Moral Philosophy. There 

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

 Portuguese cliildren, 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 Saviour'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 educa- 

 tion highly, and send their children to Goa and elsewhere for 

 instruction in the higher branches. There is not a single book- 

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

 Loanda, with its 12,000 or 14,000 souls, cannot boast of one store 

 for the sale of food for the mind. 



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

 Tlnee such floods are expected annually, but this year there 

 were four. Tins 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 discoloured 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 a very slight discolora- 

 tion. This gradual rise was the greatest, and was probably caused 

 by the water of inundation in the interior. The sudden rise 

 which happened on the 2nd, being deeply discoloured, 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 recognising 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 



