396 
CONVICT SOLDIEES. 
Chap. XX. 
conceive to be its due. In 1839 my friend Mr. Gabriel saw 37 
slave-ships lying in this harbour, waiting for their cargoes, under 
the protection of the guns of the forts. At that time slavers had 
to wait many months at a time for a human freight, and a certain 
sum per head was paid to the Government for all that were ex¬ 
ported. The duties derived from the exportation of slaves far 
exceeded those from other commerce, and by agreeing to the 
suppression of this profitable traffic, the Government actually 
sacrificed the chief part of the export revenue. Since that period, 
however, the revenue from lawful commerce has very much ex¬ 
ceeded that on slaves. The intentions of the home Portuguese 
Government, however good, cannot be fuUy carried out under the 
present system. The pay of the officers is so very small, that 
they are nearly all obliged to engage in trade ; and owing to the 
lucrative nature of the slave-trade, the temptation to engage in it 
is so powerful, that the philanthropic statesmen of Lisbon need 
hardly expect to have their humane and enhghtened views car¬ 
ried out. The law, for instance, lately promulgated for the 
abolition of the carrier system (carregadores) is but one of 
several equally humane enactments against this mode of com¬ 
pulsory labour, but there is very little probability of the benevo¬ 
lent intentions of the legislatoe being carried into effect. 
Loanda is regarded somewhat as a penal settlement, and those 
who leave their native land for this country do so with the hope 
of getting rich in a few years, and then returning home. They 
have thus no motive for seeking the permanent welfare of the 
country. The Portuguese law preventing the subjects of any 
other nation from holding landed property unless they become 
naturalized, the country has neither the advantage of native nor 
foreign enterprise, and remains very much in the same state as 
our aides found it in 1575. Nearly all the European soldiers 
sent out are convicts, and, contrary to what might be expected 
from men in their position, behave remarkably well. A few riots 
have occurred, but nothing at all so serious as have taken place 
in our own penal settlements. It is a remarkable fact that the 
whole of the arms of Loanda are every night in the hands of those 
who have been convicts. Various reasons for this mild behaviour 
are assigned by the officers, but none of these, when viewed m 
connectiop with our own experience in Australia, appear to be 
