408 TETE: ITS POPULATION. Chap. XXXI. 



until they could erect their own huts, whereby they escaped 

 the bite of the tampans, or, as they were here named, Cara- 

 patos. We had heard frightful accounts of this insect while 

 among the Banyai, and Major Sicard assured me that its bite 

 is more especially dangerous to strangers, as it sometimes 

 causes fatal fever. The village of Tete is built on a long 

 slope down to the river, with the fort on the water's edge. 

 The rock beneath is grey sandstone, and has the appearance of 

 having been crushed away from the river, the strata thus 

 assuming a crumpled form. The hollow between each crease 

 is a street, the houses being built upon the projecting fold. 

 The rocks at the top of the slope are much higher than the 

 fort, and of course completely command it. The whole of the 

 adjacent country is rocky and broken, but every available spot 

 is under cultivation. The houses of the Europeans in Tete 

 are built of stone, cemented with mud instead of lime, and 

 thatched with reeds and grass ; they have a rough untidy 

 appearance in consequence of the cement having been washed 

 out by the rains. There are about thirty of them ; the native 

 houses are built of wattle and daub. A wail about ten feet 

 high encloses the village, but most of the native inhabitants 

 prefer to live outside it. There are about 1200 huts in all, 

 which with European households would give a population of 

 about 4500 souls. Generally there are not more than 2000 

 people resident, for the majority are engaged in agricultural 

 operations in the adjacent country. The number of Portu- 

 guese, exclusive of the military, was under twenty. There 

 were 80 soldiers, who had been removed hither from Senna, a 

 station lower down the river, in consequence of the mortality 

 that prevailed among them there. Here they enjoy much 

 better health, though they indulge largely in spirits extracted 

 from various plants, wild fruits, and grain, by the natives, who 

 understand a method of distillation by means of gun-barrels, 

 and a succession of earthen pots filled with water to keep 

 them cool. The general report of the fever here is that, while 

 at Kilimane the fever is continuous, at Tete a man recovers in 

 about three days. The mildest remedies only are used at 

 first, and, if that period be passed, then the more severe. 



The fort of Tete has been the salvation of the Portuguese 

 power in this quarter. It is a small square building, with 



