394 A TEA PAETY AT TETE. 



not hesitate to ascribe these symptoms to inebriety, if intoxica- 

 tion was not described here by the phrase ' he speaks English,' 

 that is, ' he's drunk ; ' so that any such charge would have the 

 appearance of a tu quoque. The shocking prevalence of intem- 

 perance and other vices among the Portuguese at Tete made us 

 wonder, not that they had fever, but that they were not all 

 swept off together. Their habits would be fatal in any climate; 

 the natives marvelled even more than we did ; our Makololo, 

 for instance, looked on aghast at these convivial parties, and 

 Sininyane described one in a way that might have done 

 the actors good. 'A Portuguese stands up/ said he, 'and 

 cries Viva ! that means, I am pleased ; another says, Viva ! 

 I am pleased too ; and then they all shout out Viva ! we are 

 all pleased together; they are so glad just to get a little beer.' 

 One night he saw three inebriated officers in the midst of their 

 enjoyment quarrelling about a false report ; one jumped on his 

 superior and tried to bite him ; and, whilst these two were roll- 

 ing on the floor, the third caught up a chair and therewith 

 pounded them both. Sininyane, horrified at such conduct, ex- 

 claimed, ' What kind of people can these whites be, who treat 

 even their chiefs in this manner ? ' " 



As the preparations for their departure progressed, it was dis- 

 covered that some of those who had come down from the Mako- 

 lolo country with Dr. Livingstone had become so identified with 

 their temporary home that they were not inclined to return. 

 Many had taken up with slave-women, whom they assisted in 

 hoeing, and in consuming the produce of their gardens. Some 

 fourteen children had been born to them ; and in consequence 

 of now having no chief to order them, or to claim their services, 

 they thought they were about as well off as they had been in 

 their own country. They knew and regretted that they could 

 call neither wives nor children their own; the slave-owners 

 claimed the whole ; but their natural affections had been so en- 

 chained that they clave to the domestic ties. By a law of Por- 

 tugal the baptized children of slave-women are all free ; by the 

 custom of the Zambesi that law is void. "When it is referred to, 

 the officers laugh, and say, " These Lisbon-born laws are very 

 stringent, but somehow, possibly from the heat of the climate, 

 here they lose all their force." 



