MOSAMBIQUE 73 
inadequacy of these salaries to the proper maintenance of such 
officers ; the Governor's cook gets at this time fifty dollars per 
month for wages, besides his provisions and a bottle of wine per 
day, which, as may be observed, is more than treble the pay of a 
captain. Hence has arisen the too frequent practice of tolerating 
certain abuses, such as selling the inferior commands, of keeping 
a nominal instead of an effective force, and in fact of winking at 
every species of injustice. 
Even with men of high feeling it is to be apprehended that a 
system of this nature might have had no small influence on their 
integrity ; what then could be expected, when we regard the de- 
scription of persons usually sent out to these settlements? With 
the exception of the Governor and his staff, the rest have been 
mostly culprits exiled for transgression ; the place being so un- 
healthy, and bearing so inditferenl a character, that very few 
people of respectability would volunteer their services. To main- 
tain themselves when they arrive, they are obliged to enter into 
speculations with the native traders and planters, whose chief 
employment consisting in the nefarious traffic of dealing in slaves, 
renders them not very scrupulous about the means of obtaining 
wealth. 
The great encouragement given to this trade, which consti- 
tutes one of the principal perquisites of the Governor, has also 
contributed greatly to the degradation of the Settlement, from its 
haying rendered the planters vicious, indolent, and careless of 
improving their property. Had a more enlightened policy been 
pursued, and the cultivation of the land more closely attended 
to, the proprietors might have now seen prosperous villages 
