The Negro José—Negro Bread—The Promised Sail of Hope—The
Commander of H. M. B. “Cruizer”—The Consul Supplied with a
Guard by H. M. Brig—Jealousy of Slave-dealers—Governor-General
Furnishes a Guard—Consul Renews his Correspondence on the
Slave-trade—House Attacked and Wife Wounded—Governor-General
Declares his Inability to Protect the British Consul—Consul
Embarks on board H. M. S. “Lyra”—Outrage on the Grave of a
British Subject.
The hurricane described in the last chapter had passed away; the
north-east monsoon had set in, bringing with it the dhows from Cutch,
Bombay, Goâ, and Zanzibar; and the marshy aspect given to the mainland
around our house by the recent rains was somewhat disappearing, when one
of my patients, after assisting me about the house for some few days,
took advantage of a fine cool morning to steal out unobserved, and the
first intimation which I had of his absence was again to hear the sound
of his rifle.
In a few minutes Hilliard made his appearance in the court-yard, bearing
in his hand a fine specimen of the Mozambique crow, jet black from bill
to the tip of the tail, with the exception of a cravat of the purest
white, which makes the bird, when standing on a wall, look uncommonly
like a parson.
For being out before taking his quinine he received an extra dram, and
we then began to talk seriously as to what chance we had of obtaining
any bread. The Portuguese had positively refused to sell me any; and the
Governor-general had written to say that he could not assist me—in fact,
he had written as if there was a famine in the place, to justify his
inhumanity in not assisting me to supply the wants of two Englishwomen
exposed to these slave-trade persecutions.
Among the slaves which I had hired from a Banyan at Mozambique, one of
them, José, had stuck to me through all; and many a time did this poor
negro find his way to the city of Mozambique, and succeed in buying negro
bread for me from the negroes at Mozambique. At first José acted very
honestly; but, latterly, it appears that some of the slaves of Señhor
João da Costa Soares, and others of the slave-dealers, instructed by
their masters, got hold of José on his visits to the city, and, making
him drunk, robbed him of his money. José would, in this way, be absent
at times for some days, but as soon as he became sober the negro would
always turn his face homewards, and he had the good sense not to return
without bread. Sometimes he obtained it on credit, at others he would be
accompanied by the owner of the bread; and as on all these occasions I
took care not to scold the negro too much, and always to pay what he had
promised the negroes who accompanied him from the city, I was never many
days without bread. It is true that this was a very inferior article, and
at all times expensive—costing me as much as three and four dollars for
what might be bought at Mozambique for sixpence, or, at the outside, a
shilling. It is true that this negro bread was generally sour, and at
times blue-mouldy when it reached my house; but Rosa used to cut out the
mouldy parts, and, steeping the remainder for a short time in boiling
hot water, place it in an oven and rebake it, thereby making it at least
eatable. While we were all sick, this miserable supply of bread was
sufficient; but now that Hilliard was recovering, his appetite increased
with his strength, and as there was no bread, nor any substitute, in the
house, I looked very anxiously for the negro on this morning, for he had
been absent more than five days. To apply to our neighbours I knew was
useless, and I was thinking of making my breakfast of the heart of the
head of one of the fallen cocoa-nut trees, when José made his appearance
with enough bread to enable us to hold out for three days longer.
After breakfast, my wife—pale, anxious, and feeble—crawled out of her
room, which she had not left for the last six weeks; and poor Rosa, who
had struggled through it all for so long a time, now that she saw her
mistress about once more, took to her bed, and succumbed to a severe
attack of fever. Every attention was paid to the poor girl who had
behaved so nobly throughout, and for some time we feared that she would
fall a victim, not to the climate, but to the persecutions which we had
endured.
About noon, my wife, on this memorable day, the tenth of April, was
seated in a room of the house set aside for my office, preparing the
skin of the bird which Hilliard had shot in the morning, to be added
to our Mozambique collection; when, having finished my meteorological
observations, I took up the telescope to scan the horizon, as I had
done for so many months, unsuccessful in discovering the promised sail
of hope, when I observed, standing in through the southern channel, a
vessel which, from her rig, I at once knew to be one of the beautiful
Symonite brigs of our navy. Doubting my own senses, I took the glass into
another room to inspect the stranger more leisurely; when I satisfied
myself that I was not mistaken, and that the intelligence might be safely
communicated to my fellow-sufferers. My wife immediately tried to cheer
Rosa with the intelligence, and we all expected that we should hold
communication with our countrymen before evening.
The stranger anchored about two P.M., but, instead of communicating with
the British consul, the commander of the British ship-of-war amused
himself at the billiard-table of the slave-dealer, João da Costa Soares,
and then returned on board of her Majesty’s ship. The next day, Sunday,
this promising officer again repaired to the same society; and on the
following day, after a letter by José from me reaching him, he woke up to
the folly of his conduct, and reached my house, after being at anchor in
the harbour fifty-two hours, at six o’clock in the evening of Monday.
It appears that the captain of the “Castor,” who was senior officer
at the Cape, in the absence of the admiral, to cover his own flagrant
desertion of me, had sent up to Mozambique an officer whose total
incapacity and unfitness for the Mozambique business was too well
known to him. For the credit of the service and of the country, I
have not named even the vessel, commanded by one who is at present on
half-pay, to escape the severe punishment which the total neglect of
the public service had justly merited. While at Mozambique, he was the
constant companion of slave-dealers, contrary to repeated and official
remonstrance, and he must not complain if those who used him as a tool
now express their unmeasured contempt for him—an unenviable reputation,
that of being despised even by slave-dealers.
The morning after the commander visited me I returned his official visit,
and requested him to furnish me with a guard, in order that I might renew
in safety my correspondence with the Governor-general on the subject of
the slave-trade going on in the province, which was conducted by the
officials of all ranks and denominations.
This guard consisted of a corporal and five privates of the Royal
Marines. On the guard reaching my house, I despatched my communications
to the Governor-general, and the next day the slave-dealers represented
to him that the British consul had landed an armed force, preparatory to
taking possession of the country. The commander of the brig-of-war and
myself were called upon to explain our conduct, when the former referred
the Governor-general to me for an answer.
My reply was simply, that “His Excellency had stated, that it was not
in his power to protect me from the fury of the slave-dealers; that for
months, leaving me thus unguarded, he had silenced my remonstrances
against the slave-trade, openly carried on in every port of the Province;
that now a British cruiser had anchored in the port, I had demanded a
guard from her Commander, to enable me to communicate with His Excellency
on the public service.”
The Governor-general talked about an invasion of Portuguese territory;
and told me that, if not satisfied with the treatment I had received, I
was welcome to haul down my Consular flag and retire from the Province.
To which I replied, that having suffered so long in the cause of the
oppressed slaves, it was my intention to obtain some results from the
same—the first of which was, to make His Excellency officially acquainted
with, what I knew well he was aware of, the fearful extent to which the
slave-trade had increased in the last few months. He now called on the
Commander to re-embark the Marines; and on this officer again referring
him to me, the Governor-general told me, “that I was like my country—now,
that I was strong with a British ship-of-war in the harbour, I intended
to trample upon him in his weakness.”
At this outbreak I kept my temper; and when Colonel Almeida recovered
his, he apologized for his rudeness, and begged me, as a favour, to order
the guard to be re-embarked.
On this point I was immovable. He then offered to furnish me with a
Portuguese guard of soldiers, and pledged his honour, as a soldier, that
they should protect me from all insult, if I would re-embark the Marines.
I accepted His Excellency’s offer, and he pledged his word that they
would be at my house before sunset, again repeating his application, that
the Marines would leave my house at once. At last it was arranged, that
the Portuguese guard were to arrive about five o’clock in the afternoon,
and that the English guard would leave the house at the same time. At
the appointed hour, a boat was in waiting from the brig-of-war, but no
Portuguese guard made their appearance; consequently, the English guard
remained in my house that night. Seeing that I was determined on this
point, the next morning the Portuguese guard made their appearance, and
the English guard returned to the brig. Two of the Marines, who had
volunteered to do duty, as servants in the house, were retained, and with
them Hilliard and myself, we were prepared for any treachery on the part
of our convict guard.
Rockets were supplied from the brig to be fired off at night, in the
event of an attack on the Consulate; and I awaited the reply of the
Governor-general to my communications. The first intimation of their
having told was—the Portuguese lady, who had been prevailed upon by Mr.
Duncan, to allow her slaves to wash our linen, declining to accommodate
us for the future. I had pointed out a fact, notorious to every one, that
this lady’s father, Major Olliveira, Governor of Inhambane, was carrying
on the slave-trade, as successfully as his predecessor, the Buccaneer
Leotti; and, because I had done so, I was, according to Portuguese
justice, to go without clean linen.
Dr. Huson, R.N., from the brig, attended on Rosa day and night, with
the most unremitting attention, and his efforts in saving her life were
crowned with success.
The Marines insisted upon washing everything they could lay their hands
upon; but my poor sick wife and her weak maid had again to have recourse
to the washing-tub—there was no help for it—no one in Mozambique would
wash for the Consul’s family.
The brig-of-war had now been lying in the harbour about a month; the
slave-dealers had learned from those who were in daily and hourly
communication with them the signal which I had arranged should be made,
in case of a night attack on the Consulate; and to feel our pulse they
had made a false alarm, which caused the boats of the brig, manned and
armed, to present themselves before my house at one o’clock in the
morning, which resulted in nothing.
A court-martial was at last summoned to try Leotti and the Moor, who
commanded the “Zambesi,” on the occasion of her communicating with the
“Minnetonka,” and these worthies were of course acquitted, being simply
tried for disobedience of orders—not one word in the charge relative
to the “Minnetonka.” In order that this mockery of justice should be
made known in the proper quarter, I asked for a copy of the sentence of
the court in both cases, and in consequence my house was attacked the
same evening. During the time the house was mobbed, and before the lazy
Portuguese guard would turn out, my wife was wounded by a stone thrown
through our bedroom window, which broke a pane of glass, some of which
lodged in her hand. This stoning lasted until the guard fired three times
on those thus engaged; and finding that our gallant protectors, enraged
at having to turn out, were determined to do mischief, the mob withdrew.
The next day the Governor-general made a great fuss, and furnished me
with another guard to patrol around the house. Two officers were sent
over to inquire into the affair; and, although I led them over the
house, and showed them the damage done by the stoning—the broken windows
and damaged exterior of the house—a report was sent to Portugal that
no attack was made on my house. Being prepared for this, I caused the
Portuguese corporal to make to me a statement in writing; likewise the
two marines, and also Charles Hilliard, whose blood was up that night,
when he saw my wife, his gentle nurse, bleeding from the effects of her
wounds. It is satisfactory to know that the British Government was not
imposed upon; for, when a high authority in this country read to me the
Portuguese report, without waiting for any remark from me, he at once
pronounced it an “infernal lie”—very plain and very true.
From the late attack, when protected by the presence of a Portuguese
guard in my house, and that of a British ship of war in the harbour,
it became apparent to what extent the slave-dealers intended to carry
their animosity. To demand satisfaction from the Governor-general for
these insults would have only lowered him still more, where it was the
Anti-Slavery policy clearly to support him and strengthen him against
the slave-dealers. Numbers of the men and officers on board of the brig
were on the sick list from the effects of the climate, and the medical
officer was urging upon the Commander the necessity of proceeding to
sea immediately, when I would have been wholly unprotected, and when the
Governor-general distinctly stated to me that he would not be answerable
for any consequences which might ensue, affirming that he was totally
unable to protect me against the slave-trade party, and that I would be
doing a service to the interest of both my own country and also that
of Portugal by representing his utter inability to protect the consul
of any nation professing anti-slavery principles, until his hands were
strengthened by the Imperial Government of Portugal.
Taking all the circumstances into consideration, after mature
deliberation, it was decided, in consultation with the senior naval
officer, that the best course was to retire to Mauritius, or even
England, until such time as arrangements were made between England and
Portugal for the reception of a British consul, in honour and safety,
to Mozambique. This decision was made known to His Excellency, which he
looked upon as the wiser course, to prevent more serious results than
had already arisen; and, on the 18th of May, I embarked on board H.M.S.
“Lyra,” which had lately joined her consort from the Cape, with my
fellow-sufferers.
The next day we proceeded to sea, and soon lost sight of the city of
Mozambique.
Perhaps of all the melancholy reminiscences of this vile nest of slavery,
the most painful which recurs to my mind is the great indignity offered
to the British nation in the desecration of the grave of one of her most
enterprizing members.
I have already stated that the remains of my lamented friend Duncan were
interred beside those of his countrymen already buried there. The grave
was dug by the express orders of the Governor-general of the Province,
but when Señhor José Vincente de Gama commenced building a tomb over the
remains, in compliance with my earnest request that he would do so, and
charge the expense to me, he was interrupted in this Christian office
by a ruffian named Thomas de Souza Santos, who stated that the ground
belonged to him, and that he would not allow a tomb to be erected over
the remains of the Englishman. When remonstrated with by Señhor de Gama,
he made use of the vilest reproaches at his daring thus to honour the
resting-place of a heretic; and when told that he was only carrying out
the wishes of a countryman of the deceased viz., the British Consul, the
rage of this brute, Santos, became ungovernable. He kicked the stones
from off the sacred spot, and jumped upon the grave of him before whose
living eye his vile and coward heart had often quailed. This insult was
offered to England while a British ship of war was lying in the harbour,
and a British consular flag was flying in the port.
Being further remonstrated with, the wretch threatened De Gama, that
if he addressed another word to him on the subject, he would disinter
the remains of the Englishman, and cast them on the beach—to prevent
which Señhor Gama immediately repaired to me. On my representing matters
officially to the Governor-general, he could only give me an assurance
that the remains of my countryman should not be disturbed; and I was
obliged to content myself with having a cross made on board Her Majesty’s
ship, then in harbour, and having this erected at the head of poor
Duncan’s grave.
The future is unknown to us; but if it should be in my destiny ever
to go to Mozambique again, I hope to be able to erect a monument over
the remains of Duncan, the pioneer of British commercial enterprise
in Eastern Africa, which will at once attest the admiration of his
countrymen and their abhorrence of his persecutors, who would attempt to
carry their contemptible hatred even beyond the tomb.[4]
After the trials of the last five months, it will not be surprising that
the sudden change to shipboard, where all was peace and comfort, was too
much for me. And although I had borne the excitement of this period with
apparent indifference, now that the long struggle was over, the spirit
yielded to the weakness of the body, and before we were many days at
sea I had a severe attack of fever. The blessing of God on the skill of
Dr. Speers, and the unwearied attention of an ever-gentle nurse, soon
brought me round.
Anxious to meet with Dr. Livingstone, whom I expected to fall in with
off the Zambesi, we directed our course to the mouths of that river; and
while approaching the Killimane mouth, we fell in with a dhow, under
Portuguese colours, which we found bound to Mozambique. This vessel,
called the “Flor de Moçambique,” when boarded, was discovered to have on
board a number of boys, who were being doubtless carried to Mozambique
for the purpose of being sold as slaves. The captain of the dhow, who
was a Moor, at first strenuously denied that this was the case; but on
a more diligent search being made, a poor decrepit slave was discovered
headed up in a cask in her hold. On being brought on board the “Lyra,”
and finding himself in safety, he stated, that having been taken in
war, he had been most cruelly treated by the Portuguese, pointing to
various wounds and putrifying sores on his body; that he was now going to
Mozambique, in company with a number of small boys, to be sold as slaves;
and that this system of slave-trade was carried on constantly from
Killimane. The Moor tried to get over this by stating that the slave in
question was a refractory one, belonging to the Government, and that he
was being sent up to Mozambique for punishment by the Governor-general,
as they could do nothing with him at Killimane! I thought that they were
getting mighty particular about negro life, and that this tale differed
considerably from what I had heard at Mozambique was a usual mode of
disposing of refractory slaves throughout the whole Province, viz., tying
them up in a sack and drowning them.
The ship’s papers were produced, and on them were a number of fictitious
names; the Moor wished the boys to answer to these names, but the
imposition was too gross to be allowed to pass. Boys of seven, eight, and
nine years, were required to pass muster for persons of thirty and forty
years, whose names they had never heard before!
At this stage of the proceeding the Commander of the “Lyra” asked my
opinion of matters, and I told him that she appeared to be one of the
numerous dhows employed along the coast feeding the slave-trade, by
collecting them from distant parts, and so obtaining cargoes for the
large slavers from America and Cuba.
I told the Moor that I was the British Consul for Mozambique, and that
he had better make a clean breast of it. The Moor then stated that,
previous to leaving Killimane, the Governor of that place had sent
twenty-two slaves on board, to be delivered to his owner at Mozambique.
He remonstrated with the Governor of Killimane, and told him that,
since they had a British Consul at Mozambique, the English stopped
all slave-trade. That when at sea he was sure to meet with an English
man-of-war, and when the Captain of the man-of-war found he had slaves on
board he would seize the dhow. That to make his mind easy on this point,
the Governor of Mozambique added what he thought a sufficient number of
names to the list of his crew, so that no English man-of-war would seize
the dhow. He admitted that these slaves were, with some others which
were to follow, a portion of a cargo for a slaver; and stated that the
owner of the dhow was the Collector of the Customs at Mozambique, and the
uncle of João da Costa Soares, the notorious French Free Labour Agent at
Mozambique. Commander Oldfield at once decided upon seizing this slave
dhow. The crew were subsequently landed at the Bazarutto Islands; the
captain and slaves conveyed to Natal, where we were bound, and the vessel
set on fire.
Commander Oldfield, acting on information which I supplied to him,
after landing me at Mauritius, on his return to the Mozambique Channel,
captured sixteen dhows engaged in the slave-trade, showing what one
energetic officer, having the public service at heart, could do in the
Mozambique Channel, while his senior officer, playing at billiards, kept
his vessel at anchor in that harbour. These are facts which ought to be
inquired into, and the zealous officer should obtain his well-earned
promotion.
Although we were twenty-four hours off the Luavo mouths of the Zambesi,
we could not obtain any response to the guns which we fired, to make
known the presence of the “Lyra” to the “Hermes,” which we had heard was
anchored off one of the mouths; and although greatly disappointed in not
meeting with the expedition, we were compelled to hurry on to Natal.
There we learned that there was no hope of overtaking the mail to the
Cape of Good Hope, and, after landing the faithful Rosa (who was there
among many friends), the survivors of the “Herald,” whom I had brought
with me from Mozambique, and the slaves from the captured dhow, with a
Lieutenant in charge of them, to the Mixed Commission Court at Cape Town,
we proceeded to Port Louis, Mauritius, where I immediately forwarded a
telegram, through Her Majesty’s Consul-general in Egypt, apprising the
Government of my arrival at Mauritius, and desire to proceed to England,
as soon as sufficiently recovered, for the journey home.