278 AGRICULTURE AND GOLD. 



village, and the native population live in huts outside. The 

 fort and the church, near the river, are the strongholds; the 

 natives having a salutary dread of the guns of the one, and a 

 superstitious fear of the unknown power of the other. The 

 number of white inhabitants is small, and rather select, many of 

 them having been considerately sent out of Portugal " for their 

 country's good." The military element preponderates in 

 society ; the convict and " incorrigible " class of soldiers, receiv- 

 ing very little pay, depend in great measure on the produce of 

 the gardens of their black wives ; the moral condition of the re- 

 sulting population may be imagined. Even the officers seldom 

 receive their pay from government ; but, being of an enterprising 

 spirit, they contrive to support themselves by marrying the 

 daughters or widows of wealthy merchants, and trade in ivory 

 by means of the slaves of whom they thus become the masters. 

 In former times, considerable quantities of grain, as wheat, 

 millet and maize, were exported; also coffee, sugar, oil, and 

 indigo, besides gold dust and ivory. The cultivation of grain 

 was carried on by means of slaves, of whom the Portuguese 

 possessed a large number. The gold dust was procured by 

 washing at various points on the north, south and west of Tete. 

 A merchant took all his slaves with him to the washings, carry- 

 ing as much calico and other goods as he could muster. On 

 arriving at the washing place, he made a present to the chief of 

 the value of about a pound sterling. The slaves were then 

 divided into parties, each headed by a confidential servant, who 

 not only had the supervision of his squad while the washing 

 went on, but bought dust from the inhabitants, and made a 

 weekly return to his master. When several masters united at 

 one spot, it was called a " Bara," and they then erected a tem- 

 porary church, in which a priest from one of the missions per- 

 formed mass. Both chiefs and people were favorable to these 

 visits, because the traders purchased grain for the sustenance of 

 the slaves with the goods they had brought. They continued 

 at this labor until the whole of the goods were expended, and 

 by this means about one hundred and thirty pounds of gold were 

 annually produced. Probably more than this was actually 

 obtained, but, as it was an article easily secreted, this alone was 

 submitted to the authorities for taxation. At present the whole 



