Chap. XXXU. SENNA : ITS RUINOUS STATE. 421 



We breakfasted on the 27 th at Pita, and found some half-caste 

 Portuguese there, who had fled from the opposite bank to 

 escape the ravage of Kisaka's people. On the afternoon of the 

 27th we arrived at Senna, which we found to be twenty-three 

 and a half hours' sail from Tete with the current in our 

 favour. We met various parties towing their canoes labori- 

 ously up stream : they usually take about twenty days to 

 ascend the distance we had descended in about four. The 

 wages paid to boatmen are considered high, and some of the 

 men who had accompanied me gladly accepted employment 

 from Lieutenant Miranda to take a load of goods in a canoe 

 from Senna to Tete. 



I thought the state of Tete quite lamentable, but that of 

 Senna was ten times worse. At Tete there is some life ; but 

 here everything is in a state of stagnation and ruin. The 

 village stands on the right bank of the Zambesi, with many 

 reedy islands in front of it, and much bush in the adjacent 

 country. The soil is fertile ; but the village, having several 

 pools of stagnant water, is very unhealthy. The fort, built of 

 sun-dried bricks, has the grass growing over the walls, which 

 have been patched in some places by paling. The Landeens 

 visit the village periodically, and levy fines upon the inha- 

 bitants, as they consider the Portuguese a conquered tribe. 

 The half-castes appear to be in league with them, for, when 

 any attempt is made by the Portuguese to coerce the enemy 

 or defend themselves, information is conveyed at once to 

 the Landeen camp, and, though the Commandant prohibits 

 the payment of tribute to the Landeens, on their approach the 

 half-castes eagerly pay it. Senhor Isidore, the Commandant, 

 a man of considerable energy, had proposed to surround the 

 whole village with palisades as a protection against them, 

 and the villagers were to begin this work the day after I left. 

 The most pleasant sight I witnessed at Senna was the boat- 

 building carried on by the negroes of Senhor Isidore, without 

 any one to superintend their operations. They had been 

 instructed by a European master, and now they can lay 

 down the keel, fit in the ribs, and turn out very neat boats 

 and launches, valued at from 20/. to 100/. Senhor Isidore 

 had some of them instructed also in carpentry at Pdo Janeiro, 

 and they constructed for him the handsomest house in Kilimane, 



