Chap. XX. EEACH THE ZAMBESI. 405 



had no fears of losing them, or of being punished for aiding 

 us. The system, in which they had been trained, had eradi- 

 cated the idea of personal responsibility from their minds. 

 The Portuguese slaveholders would blame the English alone, 

 they said ; they were our servants at the time. No white 

 man on board could purchase so cheaply as these men could. 

 Many a time had their eloquence persuaded a native trader 

 to sell for a bit of dirty worn cloth things for which he had, 

 but a little before, refused twice the amount of clean new 

 calico. " Scissors " being troubled with a cough at night, re- 

 ceived a present of a quilted coverlet, which had seen a good 

 deal of service. A few days afterwards, a good chance of 

 investing in hoes offering itself, he ripped off both sides, tore 

 them into a dozen pieces, and purchased about a dozen hoes 

 with them. 



We entered the Zambesi on the 11th of January, and 

 steamed down towards the coast, taking the side on which 

 we had come up ; but the channel had changed to the other 

 side during the summer, as it sometimes does, and we soon 

 grounded. A Portuguese gentleman, formerly a lieutenant 

 in the army, and now living on Sangwisa, one of the 

 islands of the Zambesi, came over with his slaves, to aid us 

 in getting the ship off. He said frankly, that his people 

 were all great thieves, and we must be on our guard not to 

 leave anything about. He next made a short speech to his 

 men, told them he knew what thieves they were, but im- 

 plored them not to steal from us, as we would give them a 

 present of cloth when the work was done. " The natives of 

 this country," he remarked to us, "think only of three 

 things, what they shall eat and drink, how many wives they 

 can have, and what they may steal from their master, if not 

 how they may murder him." He always slept with a loaded 

 musket by his side. This opinion may apply to slaves, but 



