Escape of British Consul and Party from the Attack of the
Natives—Supplies Cut Off—Governor-General Protects the
Consul—Insolence of the Portuguese Guard—The Crew of the Cutter
“Herald” Arrive—The Consul’s Position Improved—Insolence of the
Portuguese Coxswain Exposed—The Governor-General furnishes the
Consul with a Guard—The Slave-dealers Disband the Mozambique
Police, and the Consul is without a Guard—Fever Attacks the
Inmates of the Consul’s House—The Portuguese Doctors Refuse to
Render any Assistance—Mr. Duncan Dies—Hurricane at Mozambique.
Having learned that there was a house to let at Messuril, I called upon
the owner of it in the city of Mozambique, and as he asked me a yearly
rent of seventy-five pounds sterling, and assured me “that it was just
the residence suitable for a British consul,” I determined to go and
see what it was like; and according to arrangement with the owner of
it, the next afternoon I went to Messuril, accompanied by Mrs. M’Leod
and her maid. On approaching the house, we saw at once that sending us
to look at it was intended as an insult, for it was nothing more than a
large hut with the walls whitewashed, and indeed was but little better
than the stable of the house I was then living in. However, as we had
seen the outside, we determined to look at the inside, and entered it for
that purpose, when we found there was not an apartment in it that would
contain my bed. Before entering the house, I had made a remark on the
loneliness of the situation, and what a distance it was from the sea;
and while examining the house, and smiling at the impertinence of those
who had played off such a practical joke on us, I observed that a number
of people were collecting round the carriage. I hurried my wife and her
maid into the carriage, and made the best of my way to the palace, as the
native war-drums were sounding, and a number of the natives, armed with
assegais and muskets, were collecting round us, yelling and shouting.
As soon as I got in sight of the guard at the palace of Messuril, the
natives stopped and made off to the road by which we usually went to
Messuril. Here I was met by one of the native Portuguese soldiers, who
desired me to save my party by taking the lower road nearer the sea.
I therefore pushed on for my house by that road, and when the natives
observed that we had escaped, they began yelling and shouting at their
own discomfiture.
In the time of Vasco Guedes, when he was encamped at Messuril with all
the available force in Mozambique, and the war was going on between him
and the natives, my wife, accompanied only by her maid, frequently drove
fearlessly through numbers of the natives; she was never annoyed, but
always treated by them with great respect.
I therefore brought this matter under the notice of the Governor in a
semi-official note, and he took care to have the guard on the alert at
Messuril after that occurrence.
Subsequently I had inquiries made among the natives, and I found that
a party of strange people, who had come in to barter, were engaged to
attack us; and that, humanly speaking, we owed our safety to going to
Messuril at an earlier hour than was anticipated.
Soon after this event, finding that we were not to be tempted into the
country again to our destruction, Mr. Soares sent one Sunday morning to
borrow the carriage and horse, and forgot to return them.
After this occurrence, the natives were ordered by their masters, the
neighbouring Portuguese, not to sell us anything; and some of them having
been seen to enter my house for the purpose of selling fowls and eggs,
they were waylaid by the overseers of the neighbouring plantations and
cruelly beaten.
Those slaves who were in the habit of bringing fire-wood to my house, by
the sale of which they obtained food for themselves, were forbidden to
come near the house; and there was a cordon of slaves established for
the purpose of preventing any supplies coming near us. But the slaves
were more considerate than their masters, and for a time some of the
very slaves who were set to keep a watch over the house, and prevent any
supplies reaching us, came after dark with wood, fowls, eggs, and milk.
This went on for some time, until they were betrayed by the other slaves
of our neighbours, when a more rigid look-out was established, and
regular night parties were told off, not only to watch the house for the
purpose of preventing any supplies arriving, but also to disturb us at
all hours of the night.
In the dead of the night a tremendous thumping would be heard at the door
of the house, disturbing us out of our sleep; when, on going to one of
the windows to see the cause of this disturbance, there would be no one
near the house. Hardly had I returned to my bed, when again I was obliged
to rise from the same cause.
I had recourse to the Governor-general in this state of affairs, and
he promised that he would establish a night patrol. Finding that this
was only a promise, after putting up with it for three weeks longer,
during which I had been frequently disturbed four, five, and six times
of a night, I addressed his Excellency officially, when he informed me
that this was the first intimation which he had received of my having
been molested, and forthwith he supplied me with a night patrol. The
annoyance ceased at once, and we had some rest at night.
However, the Capitain-Mor, commanding on the mainland, ordered the
patrolling to cease, and the slave-dealers, apprized by him of the
circumstance, ordered their slaves to renew their midnight attacks on my
house.
I was obliged to make another official intimation to the
Governor-general, when the patrol was restored, with an intimation from
the Governor-general that it had been discontinued without his knowledge,
and contrary to his express orders, and that he had, in consequence,
visited the Capitain-Mor with a severe reprimand, and directions to
continue the patrol as long as I remained resident on the mainland.
The Portuguese patrol now informed me that they were directed to intimate
to me their presence, and that they would do so as long as I desired
it. They arrived about eleven o’clock at night, and intimated their
presence by battering the house-door with the butts of their muskets.
They patrolled the house and grounds until four o’clock in the morning,
and during the whole of that time they kept up an incessant yelling from
one to the other. There were four men and a sergeant, and every time they
came to the front of the house they made an attack on the front door
with the butts of their muskets, accompanying the assault with the most
frightful oaths in Portuguese. When I remonstrated with the sergeant, he
coolly informed me that he was obeying his orders by thus intimating his
presence, and that he was instructed to do so on every occasion that he
visited the house; that my remonstrances were in vain, and that he would
continue this as long as I required a patrol. For three more nights this
continued, we in the house being obliged to go without any sleep. On the
fifth night a violent storm rid us of our persecutors; and, as I did not
make another official complaint to the Governor-general, the patrol was
discontinued.
As soon as the slave-dealers were aware of this, their slaves were sent
again to disturb us, during the night, not only by stoning the house at
all hours after dark, but even, at times, by firing musketry close under
the windows.
This state of affairs went on until, at last, we had no fire-wood to
light a fire, and all the old casks and packing-cases in the house were
being fast consumed. Since the desertion of the “Castor” frigate, things
were worse and worse, and I even found that the Governor-general could
not be prevailed upon to carry out the promises of assistance which he
had made me.
Finding that I had been so shamefully deserted by one of Her Majesty’s
ships, immediately after the seizure of the “Charles et Georges” he
began to be quite careless about the suppression of the slave-trade,
and informed me that, with the best intention, he found himself quite
powerless to protect me; in fact, he began to dread the consequences of
the decisive step which he had taken by seizing the “Charles et Georges;”
and, I believe, had made his mind up to see myself and family perish
from the state of starvation which we were in by the rigid blockade
established by the slave-dealers.
He knew that I had not a slave in my house, and that the only means of
communication which I had with him was in writing, by way of his palace
at Messuril. To get a letter there, I had to fee a negro well, for he ran
the risk of being flogged for having any communication with my house;
and, on his arrival at Messuril, he was obliged to fee the sergeant
of the guard to send the letter to Mozambique. The Governor-general
had promised to provide a house for me on the island, and in the city
of Mozambique, but he found he could not procure one—at least, so he
said. His Excellency had asked me to wait for some servants until the
“Charles et Georges” was condemned, and that then he would place under my
protection as many of the slaves comprising her cargo as I was willing
to take charge of, knowing, as he said, that they could not be in kinder
hands, until it was decided what was to be done with them. But here I
found that he had otherwise arranged, for, it having been represented
to him that if those slaves got into my hands I should be able to learn
who their masters were, and also who were the owners of the other slaves
on board of that vessel, it was decided that they should be returned to
their owners in the city of Mozambique.
On being apprized of this distribution of the slaves, it became more
certain that the state of imprisonment in which I was held on the
mainland was decided to continue.
Fortunately for me, at this juncture, the crew of the British cutter
“Herald,” which had been illegally seized by the Portuguese, when trading
with the natives in the Manakusi river, arrived at Mozambique, and the
Governor-general, now that I had some more witnesses to testify to the
treatment to which I was subjected by the officials and slave-dealers,
attended to my requisition for a government boat to communicate with him
relative to the cutter “Herald.” The Superintendent of the Dock-yard, a
notorious slave-dealer, sent this boat over for me without an awning,
in the mid-day sun, although, at all other times, the boat was fitted
with an awning. The object which he contemplated by this arrangement
was to give me fever by exposure to the sun. He succeeded in this. The
government slaves, who rowed the boat, were ordered by this officer not
to carry me into the boat, so that I would be compelled to walk _through
the water up to my knees_. The coxswain of the boat was made drunk, so
as to be excessively insolent to me.
On this occasion I was accompanied by the late Mr. G. W. Duncan, the
captain of the “Herald,” who, from having been in the Brazils some five
years, spoke Portuguese fluently. I had cautioned him not to speak a
word but English on the passage across to the town; and, on my arrival
at the palace, I complained to the Governor-general of the conduct of
the coxswain of the boat, and of his not allowing the crew to carry me
through the water into the boat; also, of his insolence on the passage
across. The Governor-general apologized for the absence of an awning,
which he said must have been accidental. He sent for the coxswain of
the boat, when he was satisfied of his not being sober. When asked for
an explanation of his conduct, he at first denied everything _in toto_,
and, of course, said that I had entirely mistaken his meaning. The
Governor-general hoped that I was satisfied, when I informed him that
I was by no means satisfied by the explanation given to him by the
drunken coxswain of the boat, and requested Mr. Duncan to explain to
His Excellency the nature of the language made use of by the Portuguese
coxswain.
Hereupon Mr. Duncan pulled out a small pocket-book; and to the
consternation of His Excellency, the coxswain, and the negroes, read
out of it some of the oaths made use of by the coxswain on the passage
across; and, commencing with our arrival on the beach, he, in the purest
Portuguese, described everything that had occurred until our arrival at
the palace, particularly dwelling upon the curses heaped upon the British
consul and the English nation by this Portuguese felon.
The Portuguese coxswain, finding the tables completely turned upon him,
informed the Governor-general that in all he had done he was only obeying
the orders of his superior, who took the awning out of the boat with his
own hands, and directed him not to allow the crew to carry me into the
boat.
The slaves, interrogated by the Governor-general, confirmed the statement
of the coxswain, while they stated that every word uttered by Mr. Duncan
in recounting the passage across was perfectly true. The Governor-general
made a most abject apology, and begged that I would make great allowances
for him when I saw him surrounded by such people.
Mr. Duncan and I now proceeded through the city, and prevailed upon some
of the Banyans to allow their slaves to come and serve in my house. By
this means we were enabled to collect a crew for my boat, which had been
lying idle, for want of hands, on the beach in front of my house for many
weeks.
Mr. Duncan took the boat in hand, and employed her between the house and
the city until we laid in a large stock of fire-wood, fowls, ducks, two
sheep, a goat, and two cows.
During this time the most strenuous endeavours were used to get the
slaves in my employment away, but we made the Banyans stick to the
agreement, which was in writing, and by that means got the consulate
provisioned.
We could not get the Portuguese to sell us any flour, but we hoped to
get some from vessels coming in. In this we were disappointed, for Mr.
Duncan was only able to get 12lbs. of flour from a German brig, and this
had to be obtained through the Portuguese custom-house officer on board
of her.
Soon after the arrival of the survivors of the crew of the British cutter
“Herald” at Mozambique, I succeeded in obtaining the house of Señhor José
Vincente de Gama, at the yearly rental of 400 dollars; and now that there
were a few more Englishmen in the port, the Governor-general was pleased
to furnish me with a guard consisting of four native policemen belonging
to the city of Mozambique, under the command of a Portuguese sergeant
from His Excellency’s body-guard.
The slaves of the neighbouring slave-dealers were not allowed to insult
me; the natives were permitted to approach the house and furnish us with
supplies; and the Banyans were persuaded to allow their slaves to come
and serve in my house. All this was in consequence of the presence of a
few Englishmen, and the persevering energy of Mr. Duncan, who thought he
could not do too much for the consul of his nation, to enable him to
maintain his post against the slave-dealers. Loud were the complaints
among all classes of the shameful desertion of H. M. Consul and the
Governor-general by the British frigate “Castor,” and by no party at
Mozambique was the captain of that vessel more thoroughly despised and
abused than the very slave-dealers who had been assisted by the absence
of a British ship of war.
Mr. Duncan and his mate, Mr. Charles Hilliard, both resided in my house,
while the remainder of the crew of the “Herald” lived in the city of
Mozambique.
Mr. Duncan gave the Portuguese very clearly to understand that their
treatment of the British consul should be made known to the world; and as
they already were aware that he had exposed slaving practices at Lourenço
Marques, by his letter in the “Natal Mercury,” they were afraid of him,
and consequently hated him intensely. I cautioned him at all times to
avoid eating or drinking with them when he had occasion to visit the city
of Mozambique to look after his crew. But having escaped the poison
cup at Lourenço Marques, he said that he felt he would live to expose
the infamy of these people to the world. Among other good offices which
he rendered us, he induced a Portuguese lady in the city of Mozambique
to allow her slaves to wash our linen; and thus my wife and poor Rosa
were relieved from labour which was absolutely killing them, with the
approaching sickly season before us.
Everybody spoke of the fearful season which was approaching; that it was
the seventh year since the awful hurricane and fatal season of 1851, and
that it was sure to be most destructive of life. Constant inquiries were
made relative to the health of the British consul and his family as the
season advanced, but Providence wonderfully protected us, as will be seen
in the following pages.
For a brief space after getting into our new house we had peace, and
we made the best use of our time by putting everything in order, and
laying in a good stock of supplies; we were successful in obtaining all
we stood in need of, excepting flour; but as we were able to buy bread
at Mozambique, after the arrival of the crew of the “Herald,” we hoped
that we would be able to hold out until the dhows began to come over from
Bombay.
The slave-dealers at Mozambique remonstrated with the Governor-general
for giving me a guard of police from Mozambique. His Excellency explained
that all the trustworthy men of the garrison were sick, and that it was
useless his sending men to guard me, who would give as much trouble as
the negroes who were sent to persecute me; and that, as he was compelled
to protect me, he could but furnish me with a police guard.
The Governor-general of Mozambique is entirely in the hands of the
Finance Committee, and they are governed by slave-trade interests.
Finding that remonstrance was useless, the Finance Committee informed the
Governor-general that they, from motives of economy, had disbanded the
police force, and, of course, next morning my guard vanished.
A few days afterwards the two cows and nearly all the poultry were
stolen. The butcher at Mozambique, from whom I had purchased the cows,
sent me word that they were at the palace of the Governor-general at
Messuril. At first the Governor-general refused to return them, alleging
that they were his property. The butcher went to his Excellency, and
stated that I had purchased the cows from him, they being his property.
Some days after the butcher had seen the Governor-general on this
subject, the cows were returned to me, and the butcher was put in prison.
Some days previous to this occurrence, Mr. Charles Hilliard, the mate of
the “Herald,” was attacked with fever, and after Mr. Duncan and myself
had completely despaired of his recovery, by the blessing of Providence
on my wife’s treatment of this fever, and her unwearied nursing, he
was enabled to get about again. He had five different attacks of this
most malignant fever before we left Mozambique, but, owing to his good
constitution and the treatment adopted in his case, he recovered, and
is now, I believe, in the enjoyment of the best health at Natal. Mr.
Duncan, in consequence of the illness of some of his men at Mozambique,
exposed himself a good deal, and, in fact, had never felt quite well
since his arrival at Mozambique, having suffered considerably from the
treatment he underwent at the hands of the Governor of Lourenço Marques.
On the 24th of February, he complained of headache, lassitude, loss of
memory, and pains in his back and limbs, being the usual symptoms of this
fever.
Having studied for the medical profession in his younger years, he had
some knowledge of the treatment of fevers in general, and adopted what
he considered was a most efficacious mode for his recovery. For this
purpose he had recourse to emetics, to clear the stomach; and, although
remonstrated with, he, by this treatment, so reduced the system, that
when we took him in hand, although we were able to keep him alive by the
use of quinine for some short time, still he never recovered sufficiently
to rally against the fever, and he positively died from sheer exhaustion,
the fever having in his case assumed the most malignant form.
Unfortunately, at the same time that Mr. Duncan was attacked with fever,
my wife had an attack of the same fever, but at first in a milder form,
and was of course confined to her room.
Rosa, observing a great change in Mr. Duncan on the evening of the 2nd
of March, communicated her fears of his approaching dissolution to her
mistress; and, in the hope of being able to suggest something for the
recovery of Mr. Duncan, my wife insisted on being wrapped up in blankets,
and taken to see him. Mrs. M’Leod was at the time in that stage of the
fever when it is so necessary to humour the patient, and by no means
to excite irritation by offering opposition to their wishes. Finding
that dissuasion only rendered her more determined to endeavour to be as
useful in his case as she had been in Mr. Hilliard’s, she was wrapped
in blankets, and conveyed to the side of the sufferer, when she at once
pronounced that there was no hope. Perceiving that he was partially
conscious, she endeavoured to prepare him for his approaching end, and
asked for any message he might have for her who was so soon to be a
widow. While trying to catch a few inarticulate sounds from the dying
man, she leaned over him, and, in her anxiety not to lose a sound, she
inhaled the fetid breath of him who was fast passing into eternity. The
consequence of this was that she had a putrid sore throat accompanying
her fever, and for six long weeks she was confined to her bed.
During the time that Mr. Duncan was dying, Mr. Hilliard was suffering
from another attack of fever, and for three days and nights I expected
from hour to hour to lose him.
The Portuguese frigate, “Don Ferdinand,” was lying in the harbour, on
her return from Goâ, and _en route_ to Lisbon. There were two medical
officers on board of that vessel; at the city of Mozambique there were
three medical men; and of these five doctors not one could be found to
visit the British consul’s house, with three people at the point of death
in it, although I made an application to the Governor-general for that
purpose.
To my neighbour, Brigadier Candido da Costa Soares, I applied, asking
him to send me his native doctor, in the hope of saving Mr. Duncan, and
suggesting something for the other sufferers; but although this man’s
son, João da Costa Soares, had been treated by my wife and myself, when
he was sick at the Cape of Good Hope, as if he had been our brother, he
brutally refused to send me any assistance.
I again applied to the Governor-general, begging him to send me a doctor,
and if he could not get the Portuguese doctors to visit my house, to
oblige me by sending his _aide-de-camp_ on board the French steamer of
war “Mahé Le Bourdonnais,” then in harbour, and ask the doctor of that
vessel to visit the sick in my house. The Governor-general was obliged to
ask the French doctor to visit us, for the Portuguese had made up their
mind to let us all die. His Excellency also procured a dozen leeches
for me, which were immediately applied to my wife’s throat, and had the
desired effect of giving her immediate relief.
When the French doctor visited us, he found my wife propped up with
pillows in bed, much relieved from the application of the leeches, and
engaged in making the shroud of our departed friend, Mr. Duncan. This
employment he of course forbade, and it was laid aside, but only to be
renewed on his departure. Mr. Hilliard was in that state that it was very
doubtful if he would recover, and Rosa he found had a low, nervous fever.
Poor girl, she was struggling hard to help her mistress.
That night a coffin was sent over by the Governor-general, in answer
to my application, and the next morning his Excellency sent a boat to
convey the remains of Mr. Duncan to their last resting-place. Previous
to their leaving, I had the coffin placed under a large tamarind tree in
the court-yard of my house, and, spreading over it my consular flag as a
pall, I read the beautiful service for the dead of the Church of England.
Rosa, at last worn out, had taken to her bed, unable to move; and my poor
dog “Belle” was the only one to mourn with me over my friend.
Having thus performed the last sad Christian rites over the remains of
the noble Duncan, and wrapped them in that flag which he loved so well,
I had them conveyed to the boat for interment in a grave by the side of
his countrymen, Captain Dacres, R.N., and Lieutenant Loch, R.N., which
the Governor-general was so considerate as to attend to. I wrote to the
survivors of his crew, and my German friend, to see him laid in his
grave. The sail was hoisted, and I turned from the service of the dead to
endeavour to save those who were between life and death.
Mr. Hilliard I found was quite sensible, and I made known to him that the
French doctor had strongly urged his removal to the hospital, as the only
chance of saving his life. I pointed out to him that even poor Rosa was
at last ill, and that I had no one to assist me about the house. He asked
for his friend Duncan, and I answered that “_he was better now_,” for he
was too ill to be informed of his death.
Looking at me very earnestly, he asked me to grant him one favour—to
allow him to remain in my house. I explained to him that I did not know
the moment when the fever might attack myself, and then there would be no
one to attend to his wants; and that he would perish from neglect; that
his only chance of being saved was going to the hospital, where there
were plenty of attendants.
To all this he replied by asking me in a tone and with an earnestness
that I could not resist, “To let him die under his own flag?” Of course
he remained in my house.
In a few days Rosa was herself again, but my wife was a long and patient
sufferer.
The French vessel proceeded to sea; the day after, the good young doctor
of her visited us, and I was then obliged to make an urgent official
application to the Governor-general for medical assistance. Dr. Fonseca,
the Surgeon Major, then visited the inmates of my house. For my wife he
prescribed manna, and what he called cream of tartar, and finding this
had not been taken on his second visit, he asked for a cup, in which he
placed the manna, and sprinkled over it the cream of tartar, instructing
me to fill the cup with warm water next morning, and, after mixing it
well, to insist upon my wife taking it.
On my asking when he would next visit us, he said that Mr. Hilliard’s
was a hopeless case; Rosa was quite well; and that after Mrs. M’Leod
had taken the medicine prescribed by him, “_she would require no more_;”
adding, that “it would, therefore, be unnecessary for him to call again.”
The next morning my wife took the medicine prescribed, which was
administered by my own hand, and I went to look at Hilliard. On my
return, I found my wife in the greatest agony, with Rosa hanging over
her. It appears that soon after my leaving the room the medicine had
acted as a violent emetic, and Rosa was attracted to the room by my
wife’s shrieks of agony, which I did not hear, being in the lower part
of the house. Mrs. M’Leod complained of a feeling of intense burning,
not only in her stomach, but in her throat, and during more than two
hours she endured great agony, during which we observed the curving
of the back, and twitching of the muscles, as described in cases of
poisoning from strychnine. Her belief is that an over-dose of poison
was administered to her, which, acting as an emetic, had not time to
lodge in the system. After this we felt that we had a better chance of
living without the attendance of Mozambique doctors than with them; and
consequently dispensed with their services for the remainder of our stay
at that place.
The sickly season had now set in, and it proved a very fatal one; numbers
of deaths occurred daily at Mozambique.
The Governor of Killimane had come out, with his wife and three
daughters, in the Portuguese frigate from Lisbon, in company with the
Governor-general. At first the mother fell a victim to the climate; and
on being apprized of this intelligence by the Governor-general, my wife
sent an invitation, through his Excellency, for the young ladies to
stay with us while they remained at Mozambique. But they very naturally
preferred remaining with their bereaved parent. They were all very ill,
and the youngest of the three died just before the hurricane, and was
buried during that great calamity which I am now going to describe.
On the 1st of April, 1858, the city of Mozambique, on the east coast
of Africa, situated in latitude 15° 2′ S., and longitude 40° 48′ E. of
Greenwich, was visited by a hurricane which in less than twenty-four
hours did more destruction to the city and surrounding districts than any
tempest in the memory of the oldest resident in these parts.
For some eight days this great convulsion of nature had been announced
by heavy rains, which laid in ruins many dwellings in the city, and
on the mainland; and more especially, since the 29th of March the
weather had been very uncertain—torrents of rain, changeable winds, an
atmosphere overcast with thick clouds, charged with electricity, were the
forerunners of a terrible tempest, which commenced on the morning of the
1st of April.
The following vessels were anchored in the harbour of Mozambique:—the
French schooner of war “l’Aigle;” the French barque, “Charles et
Georges;” the Portuguese ship, “Adamastor;” brigs, “Amisade,” “2 Irmaõs,”
and “Nostra Señhor de Soccorro,” “Flor do Mar;” schooners, “19 de Maio,”
“Esperança,” and “Livramento,” together with twenty-nine Arab dhows.
On Thursday, April the 1st, at six A.M., at the British consular
residence, Cabaçeira Grande, on the mainland of Port Mozambique, the
barometer B.T., No. 341, stood at 29·924 (t. 78°). The wind was from the
S. and S.W., very squally, and up to eleven A.M. very heavy showers, or
almost torrents of rain, came up from the S.W. At noon the barometer had
fallen to 29·800 (77°), when the wind commenced blowing furiously, the
horizon became less distinct, and the clouds denser and more lowering.
The wind kept increasing, and with it the sea in the harbour, until four
P.M., when the Portuguese schooner of war, “19 de Maio,” the Portuguese
schooner, “Livramento,” some of the dhows and other vessels, began to
drag their anchors. The blasts of wind were augmented in force, until
the tempest became furious at sunset; from which it gradually increased
in violence, so that all the dhows, with the exception of one called
the “Mantalla,” parted their cables; and some of them, as well as the
schooner, “19 de Maio,” and “Livramento,” were blown on the Cabaçeira
side of the harbour, and stranded there.
The schooner “Livramento,” thrown in the first place on the north side of
the harbour, turned upside down, and, when the wind chopped round from
the opposite quarter, she righted; then being forced afloat again by the
violence of the wind, she was again upset in the middle channel, or, as
it is called, the grand canal. Four men belonging to the crew of this
vessel were able to cling to that part of the hull which was not entirely
submerged, and were saved by the crew of the Portuguese ship “Adamastor,”
whose captain sent a boat to rescue these unfortunates.
At nine P.M. the wind appeared to lull, and almost gave rise to the hope
that the hurricane had passed. This lull was of short duration; the wind
appeared to cease, in order to commence afresh with greater fury, which
continued until eleven P.M.
The destruction that the first part of this terrible visitor had caused
was already considerable. The plantations on the mainland had suffered in
a great measure, many of the cocoa-nut trees having been uprooted, and
all stripped of their nuts; whilst temporary buildings, and even houses,
had been laid in ruins.
The city of Mozambique had suffered likewise, and up to this time
considerable damage had been done to the shipping in the harbour. In
my house on the mainland every precaution had been taken to resist the
hurricane; all doors and windows having been well secured, and even
the shutters of the latter were doubly secured by being screwed to the
frame-work of the windows. No opening was allowed for the entrance of the
wind.
Shortly before eleven P.M. I had observed the barometer, and placed
a lamp near a window to attract the attention of the unfortunate
shipwrecked mariners, or any of the natives whose huts might have been
destroyed by the tempest. From the barometer still continuing to fall, I
was led to believe that the centre of this revolving storm was passing
not far distant from my house. I had retired about ten minutes, when
suddenly the wind ceased, and was followed by a calm too horrible to
describe. Springing out of bed, I observed it was exactly 11 P.M., and
that the barometer, which an hour previous had stood at 29·000, had now
fallen to 28·740.
The wind had ceased; the sea suddenly became still, not a leaf
moved—nothing was heard but the lowing of the cattle, and the bleating
of the sheep, which had hitherto survived the storm, and these signs
of animal life added to the horror of so intense a calm after such a
convulsion of nature. The stars shone bright in the firmament of heaven,
more especially in the zenith, and the atmosphere had the most serene
appearance.
Since the commencement of this calm I had been narrowly watching the
barometer, and, instead of its rising, it continued to fall, so that I
might almost say that the mercury was seen to move in the tube. At 11h.
18m. P.M. the barometer had fallen to 28·700; at this instant a blast
of wind, never to be forgotten by those who experienced it, came from
the N.W., accompanied by rain, thunder, and lightning; blast upon blast
of wind succeeded each other rapidly, if possible, increasing in force.
Torrents of rain accompanied these blasts more rapidly and violently.
The heavens instantly became black and obscured—not a star was visible;
for twelve minutes the barometer was stationary; then at 11h. 30m. P.M.
it began to rise very gradually until midnight, when it was 28·720. At
this time I went to observe if the magnetic instruments were affected
by this storm, but the house shook so violently that it was impossible
to read the instruments; these instruments were placed on pillars of
solid masonry, which I had built for the purpose; the pillars were on the
ground-floor, or basement of the house, and the instruments were so much
agitated, that one was almost led to the belief that the ground on which
the pillars were built was moved by an earthquake, and yet I think that
it was only the violence of the wind.
My house was built of solid masonry, the outside walls from three to
three-and-a-half feet thick, and the partition walls at least three feet
thick. The houses are built with walls thus thick in order to make them
cool, and yet my house moved as if built of wood; and at one time, when
the wind came from the N.W., I expected it would have been swept into the
sea. It was much shaken at that time, and immediately afterwards the rain
began to make its way through the flat roof, and deluge the rooms.
Some idea of this blast of wind may be formed by my stating that I
counted upwards of four hundred cocoa-nut trees which had all been
uprooted by this one blast, the whole of them having been thrown on the
ground towards the south.
In the city of Mozambique, the frightful darkness of night, unillumined
by moon or stars, added to the horrors of the scene which this convulsion
of nature produced.
It was impossible to traverse the streets inundated with water. The sand
raised from the beach was formed into sand-whirlwinds, which reached to
a great altitude, and, breaking, descended with the torrents of rain
invading every place; the houses themselves, even those most solidly
built, trembled from the impetuous violence of the wind, and shook
everything contained in them. The rain deluged the houses; many trees,
and some of them gigantic, lost their limbs, which were carried great
distances; others, on which the first Portuguese voyagers had looked with
admiration for their enormous size, were now uprooted from their mother
earth, and laid beside their companions.
The shrubs and plants looked as if they had been burned by the fury of
the wind; not a garden escaped the ravages of this fearful storm.
All these direful events, heightened by the shrieks of the unfortunate,
which, at intervals, added to the howling and hissing of the wind,
increased the terror and consternation of the inhabitants of this doomed
city. Many huts were swept away by the wind; others, as fragile, being
saved by the fact of their being almost buried by the sand which the sea
and wind drove over the island. But if this was the terror and suffering
in the city, how much greater damage did the tempest cause in the harbour!
There the horrors of the tempest were increased by the fury of the sea,
the fragileness of the vessels, the frightful darkness of the night, and
the absolute impossibility of help from any quarter.
After the illusive calm already described, when the wind changed suddenly
to the N.W., just previous to midnight, the dhows commenced to get foul
of each other. Immediately all was disorder, confusion, and terror.
Some dhows were capsized; others were dashed to pieces on the beach,
or crumpled up among the rocks. In the middle of this sad disorder were
heard the despairing cries of the wretched sailors, calling for help, and
raising their hands to the Almighty to save them. To hear the piercing
cries of those men, child-like in the depth of their despair, was
heart-rending, but to witness their struggles when cast upon the beach,
and they came nigh being dashed against the rocks, without being able to
assist them, was horrible.
The numerous wrecks subsequently encountered on the shore of the island
of Mozambique attested, at the same time, the violence of the tempest and
the extent of this direful catastrophe. Sad to relate, among the _debris_
of the wrecks and cargoes on the beach, numerous corpses were met with.
The ship “Adamastor,” the barque “Charles et Georges,” and the brig
“Amisade,” were the only vessels at anchor in Mozambique that escaped.
The French schooner of war, “l’Aigle,” was only saved by her anchors
holding until 11 P.M.; she appeared to be anchored too close to the
beach; after that time she went on shore in consequence of two dhows
drifting on top of her, from whose crews she succeeded in saving fourteen
persons. She parted her anchor, lost her rudder, and was otherwise
injured, but the solidity of her construction prevented her making water,
and after the hurricane she was got afloat again.
The schooner belonging to the Portuguese government, called the “19 de
Maio,” was thrown on the Conducia or north shore of the harbour, with
little damage to her hull; as was likewise a dhow sent from Ibo, and
detained at this port for having four sea-pieces on board, which suffered
no damage. The brigs “2 Irmaõs,” “Nostra Señhor do Soccorro,” and “Flor
do Mar,” were beached, and more or less injured. On the mainland the
hurricane destroyed houses, swept away huts, uprooted gigantic trees,
killed many negroes and cattle, and levelled with the ground many
palm-trees, and in some places whole plantations of cocoa-nut trees, each
tree producing annually nuts to the value of three shillings.
This hurricane will almost cause the ruin of some of the proprietors of
plantations, and perhaps for some time turn their attention with fresh
zeal towards the slave-trade.
Late on the 2nd of April, the hurricane gradually declined in strength,
and then ceased entirely during the night of that day, which saw the last
of the Mammekia or hurricane in these latitudes. This was a calamity
which affected the whole of the province of Mozambique more or less, not
only in its immediate results, but also in those which are to follow.
The slaves themselves told me that now that their masters’ property was
destroyed there was no food for them, and that many would be sent away in
ships, where, or to whom, they did not know. But, alas! I knew but too
well their fated doom.
In the city of Mozambique the Governor-general adopted every precaution,
as soon as the hurricane was over, to maintain order and protect the
property which had been washed on the beach from the wrecks. The
Custom-house was opened to receive the merchandize saved; the military
were posted in different places to maintain order; the dead were
interred to prevent a plague; and in short, despite the great number of
slaves with which the island abounds, there were not many robberies nor
any disorders worth mentioning.