Chap. YL PRETENSIONS OF THE PORTUGUESE. 147 



keep it secret for slaving purposes, and refused to show it, even 

 to him. Masakasa felt confident that he could get it out of 

 these hunters by his diplomacy, and said that a soft tongue 

 would eat them up, whilst a hard one would drive them 

 off; but they all left during the night. We subsequently 

 ascertained that the entrance to it is "by a natural opening 

 called Kushishone, between two and three miles above the 

 Kongone canal, but on the opposite bank of the Zambesi. 

 It is however of no importance, as it is at times capable of 

 passing only small canoes. 



The Portuguese Government in Lisbon have since striven 

 with amusing earnestness to prove that these parts were 

 Ions; as;o well known to them. To the rest of the world 

 this is a matter of perfect indifference. We had to discover, 

 or at least to rediscover, them for ourselves ; and consider- 

 ing the perfect knowledge possessed by that ministry, it is 

 odd that none of their information accompanied the orders 

 to the officials in Africa. The Governor of Quillimane had 

 orders to examine the Kongone, but frankly confessed he did 

 not know where that harbour lay. Our friend Major Sicard, 

 after receiving the assurance from us that no Zulus could 

 cross the creeks around it, with sly foresight resolved to 

 gain possession of a large slice of the soil for himself, and 

 sent slaves to make a garden, and build him a house at 

 Kongone, which gives the harbour its value. They exe- 

 cuted their orders at a point some twenty miles off; not 

 knowing that we had taken the name from the side of the 

 natural canal between the Kongone branch and the Zam- 

 besi. We could see plainly, that we and our Portuguese 

 friends had different ranges of vision. We looked for the 

 large result of benefit to all, both white and black, by 

 establishing free commercial intercourse. They could see 



l 2 



