660 COUNTRY ROUND SENNA. Chap. XXXII. 



to this region, by offering any mining company permission to 

 search for the ores and work them. Such a company, however, 

 would gain but little in the way of protection or aid from the 

 government of Mozambique, as that can but barely maintain 

 a hold on its own small possessions ; the condition affixed of 

 importing at the company's own cost a certain number of 

 Portuguese from the island of Madeira or the Azores, in order 

 to increase the Portuguese population in Africa, is impolitic. 

 Taxes would also be levied on the minerals exported. It is 

 noticeable that all the companies which have been proposed 

 in Portugal have this put prominently in the preamble, " and 

 for the abolition of the inhuman slave-trade." This shows, 

 either that the statesmen in Portugal are enlightened and phi- 

 lanthropic, or it may be meant as a trap for English capitalists ; 

 I incline to believe the former. If the Portuguese really wish 

 to develop the resources of the rich country beyond their pos- 

 sessions, they ought to invite the co-operation of other nations 

 on equal terms with themselves. Let the pathway into the 

 interior be free to all ; and, instead of wretched forts, with 

 scarcely an acre of land around them which can be called their 

 own, let real colonies be made. If, instead of military establish- 

 ments, we had civil ones, and saw emigrants going out with then* 

 wives, ploughs, and seeds, rather than military convicts with 

 bugles and kettle-druins, we might hope for a return of prospe- 

 rity to Eastern Africa. 



The village of Senna stands on the right bank of the Zambesi. 

 There are many reedy islands in front of it, and there is much 

 bush in the country adjacent. The soil is fertile ; but the village, 

 being in a state of ruin, and having several pools of stagnant 

 water, is very unhealthy. The bottom rock is the akose of 

 Brongniart, or granitic grit, and several conical hills of trap have 

 burst through it. One standing about half a mile west of the 

 village is called Baramuana, which has another behind it ; hence 

 the name, which means " carry a child on the back." It is 300 

 or 400 feet high, and on the top lie two dismounted cannon, 

 which were used to frighten away the Landeens, who in one 

 attack upon Senna killed 150 of the inhabitants. The prospect 

 from Baramuana is very fine ; below, on the eastward, lies the 

 Zambesi, with the village of Senna ; and some twenty or thirty 



