BETWEEN ANGOLA AND TEE ZAMBESI. 
459 
are entrusted to a military force told off for Benguella 
from one of the regiments, and from Benguella itself 
various forces are scattered among the communes of the 
interior, thus weakening the garrison of the town, which 
is small enough, in all conscience, already. 
We possess two armies, one in the mother country, 
the other in the colonies, which have no connection 
between them. Our home army is good, because the 
Portuguese are good soldiers ; our colonial army is bad, 
because the blacks, of which it is composed, are bad 
soldiers, and the few whites that are mixed up with 
them are even worse than the negroes. Transported 
for offences which exclude them from society and cause 
them to forfeit in Europe the rights of citizenship, they 
follow in Africa the noble calling of a soldier, by which 
it happens that our African autonomy and the public and 
private safety are entrusted to the defence of men who 
can give as sole guarantee a past career of crime or mis¬ 
demeanour. Hence the constant scenes of a shameful 
character that are there enacted. During my stay in 
Benguella an impudent burglary was committed in the 
military department, and a large sum of money was 
carried off. The Governor displayed extraordinary 
energy in his endeavours to discover the thieves, and 
received great assistance at the hands of his secretary, 
Captain Barata ; and in the end their efforts were 
successful, both in catching the rascals and recovering 
the money. It will scarcely be credited that the robbery 
was planned by the very sergeant of the detachment, 
and was carried out by him with the aid of some of the 
soldiers ! 
If our army at home can escape the censure of 
fastidious military critics, our colonial forces are objects 
for the well-merited lash of all foreigners who deign to 
bestow upon them any attention. 
Serpa Pinto did at last succeed in getting together a 
scratch lot of porters, but was in continuous trouble in 
this respect, and also on account of the scanty provi¬ 
sions. From Benguella he proceeded eastwards along 
the lofty Bihe plateau, and on in a southerly direction 
