L I E) R.AFLY 
 
 OF THL 
 
 U N 1 VLRSITY 
 
 Of ILLl NOIS
 
 SOUTH EAST AFRICA 
 
 liflio ^ a^ . :V?:% AX . Johnrtm . I dmbur^
 
 THE CIVILIZATION 
 
 OF 
 
 SOUTH EASTERN AFRICA, 
 
 INCLUDING 
 
 REMARKS OX THE APPROACH TO NY ASS A BY 
 THE ZAMBEZI. 
 
 WITH MAP. 
 
 By JAMES STEVENSON. 
 
 ' Morning o'er that weird continent 
 Is dimly breaking." 
 
 ;^«conli (Ebitton. 
 
 GLASGOW : 
 
 JAMES MACLEHOSE, 61 ST. VINCENT STREET, 
 
 publisher to the Snibersttg. 
 
 1877.
 
 ^ UIUC
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The first part of the matter included in this reprint was 
 prepared at the instance of influential members of the 
 British Association for the Advancement of Science, with 
 a view to the discussion of the subject, in September of 
 last year. It has been mostly rewritten, with information 
 to the present date, but with the omission of the discussion, 
 which turned on points now generally conceded, 
 
 A second pamphlet was prepared in fulfilment of an 
 undertaking to have Von der Decken's journal translated, 
 with the view of making a road along his line of route, 
 which Sir Bartle Frere recommended as an important work 
 to the influential meeting which heard his interesting 
 address in the Hall of the Chamber of Commerce of 
 Glasgow in November. An attempt was made in it to set 
 before the English reader, by using cross lights from 
 German and English sources, an accurate view of what 
 such an enterprise as a road from the coast to the northern 
 end of Nyassa involves. 
 
 It is satisfactory that arrangements are being made to 
 construct this road as far as Mesule. This will be of great 
 importance in developing the new trade in Indiarubber, 
 which last year reached £100,000, and is one of the most 
 hopeful signs of the slave trade being permanently super- 
 seded by legitimate commerce. The next section of the 
 road, as far as to Lake Nyassa, will probably be surveyed 
 this year. A civil engineer in the Indian service is also
 
 4 PREFACE. 
 
 co-operating with the Livingstonia Mission and may 
 make investigations at the north end of that lake. 
 
 The construction of such a road as we indicate will 
 make it of ver}'' little moment to any but the Portuguese 
 themselves what duties they levy at Quillimane or other 
 coast stations. That which is now of the greatest impor- 
 tance is to maintain the freedom of the great line of water 
 communication, which the enterprise of British travellers 
 has disclosed from the mouth of the Shir^ to Lake 
 Victoria Nyanza. Our Government should follow out 
 what they have so well begun on the West Coast by 
 refusing to recognize, on unoccupied coasts, any right to 
 obstruct intercourse with the independent races of the 
 interior, or any claim to suzerainty over them. The 
 Portuofuese have for manv asres been unable to extend their 
 hold on the country beyond half a dozen stations on the 
 coast, and two or three on the Zambezi below the rapids, 
 preventing the natives from getting out except as slaves, 
 but themselves equally unable to get into the country. 
 A new line of inland water communication having been 
 discovered in the interior, with independent access from 
 Zanzibar, this absurd position must come to an end, unless 
 we allow ourselves to be cajoled into permitting this great 
 line of navigation, which we have alread}' throughout its 
 entire length occupied, or have made arrangements to 
 occupy, in the interests of the native races, to pass under 
 the same paralyzing system. The map prefixed, which 
 has found acceptance with the geographical authorities, 
 for the first time indicates the real importance of this 
 line of navigation. 
 
 4 WooDSiDE Crescent, 
 Glasgow, 24t.h April, 1877.
 
 THE CIVILIZATION OF 
 
 SOUTH-EASTEKN AFEICA. 
 
 This subject we pi'opose to deal with under three heads 
 — Missionary, Commercial, aud Governmental. 
 
 Missionary enterprise has become, after, in many cases, 
 fifty years of patient labour, a gieat power in Southern 
 Africa, tending to the spread of the blessings of civiliza- 
 tion in its highest form, and winning the good-will of 
 the natives, of whom careful inquiries prove that above 
 40,000 are members of Christian congregations, while it 
 is believed about 250,000 attend church or are under 
 regular Christian instruction, and that a million are more 
 or less under the influence of Christianity.* 
 
 In Eastern Central Africa the fii'st steps have recently 
 been taken for the establishment of missions in the 
 interior, which I proceed very briefly to describe. In 
 order to do so intelligently, it is necessary to speak of the 
 missions in South Africa which specially serve as a model 
 They may be said to aim at three objects — industrial 
 educational, and religious training. 
 
 In order to show more precisely what such an institu- 
 
 * Missions are conducted by tbe Londou Missiouaiy Society 
 anioug the Matabele aud generally in Southern Central Africa ; 
 by the Scottish Free Church among the Kalhrs aud Fiugos, and 
 the Zulus of Natal ; by the United Presbyterians among the Kaffirs ; 
 by Episcoijaliaus (S. P. G.) ; and also by the Wesleyans, pretty 
 widely disti-ibuted ; by German, French, aud Swiss Protestants in 
 the Transvaal and in Basutolaud ; and by Moravians among the 
 Hottentots : to which may be added the American missions in 
 Natal, aud the Norwegian mission in Zululand.
 
 b NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 tion embraces, I give the most recent statistics of the 
 Scottish Free Church institution for the Kaffirs of Cape 
 Colonv at Lovedale, which Dr. Stewai-t and his colleacmes 
 have for the last fourteen j^ears been developing as a base 
 of operations. He has now gone to found a similar in- 
 stitution at Lake Nyassa, in Eastern Central Africa, a 
 region he visited in the year 1862, in the service of 
 the Free Church, with the view to commeucincr a mission, 
 which the same adverse circumstances that led to the 
 failure of the Universities' mission at that time delayed 
 till the year before last.* 
 
 In the commencement of such missions, the industrial 
 department is necessaril}^ the most prominent. Com- 
 mencing with this the lowest department, it included, in 
 Lovedale, in the year 1876, wagon-making and black- 
 smith work, with 18 apprentices ; cai^p enter work, with 
 26, and cabinetmaking, with 4 apprentices; letterpress 
 printing, 5, and bookbinding, 2 apprentices. In tele- 
 graphy, which is managed by senior pupils, 2,974 mes- 
 sages were sent and received, of which 226 were native, 
 against 114 in the previous year. In farming, road 
 making, <S:c., all the lads were employed for two hours 
 each day. Of the girls, 12 were taught the house work, 
 and the whole 93 learned sewing. 
 
 In the educational department there were 267native male 
 boarders, students and pupils, receiving a good education, 
 commencing with the Kaffir languages, but rising to Eng- 
 lish as the classical tongue; 34boardei's,childi'en of colonists, 
 and 39 day scholars. In all, there were 560 resident 
 pupils male and female. The number who qualified them- 
 selves as teachers, by passing the Government examination, 
 was last year 24, of whom three-fourths were natives. 
 
 For that which is the great aim of the institution — 
 
 * See Livingstone, Zambesi and its Tributaries, p. 213.
 
 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTEKN AFKIOA. 7 
 
 religious instruction, provision is made by imparting it 
 during the first half hour in all the classes. In the 
 Church there is a membership of 600, to whom 30 were 
 added durinsr the vear. Evanorelistic work is carried on 
 in the heathen villages for some distance round, by the 
 students regularly visiting them in parties of six. 
 
 There is a college department, in which three years' 
 training are given to those who desire to have a complete 
 European education. In this are also trained those who 
 wish to enter the native pastorate, for whom the provision 
 for the first time of a complete system of theological in- 
 struction crowns the edifice. 
 
 There are two annual terms, the first being the most 
 largely attended ; but the buildings are overcrowded, and 
 large additions are in course of erection. 
 
 The annual outlay is about £8,000, but of this £2,182 
 comes in in fees from natives, and £1,296 from colonists. 
 The Government grant is a considerable help, and the 
 work done is valuable, so that on the whole the Free 
 Church is not taxed above £1,000 a year. 
 
 It may be as well to mention that the subject of in- 
 dustrial schools was discussed at the missionary confer- 
 ence at Bloemfontein in the end of October, when the 
 success of the Lovedale institution was attributed by the 
 French missionary, who introduced the subject, to the 
 personal qualities of Dr. Stewart ; but the general feeling 
 was that they will generally be found to answer in course 
 of time. 
 
 The appreciation of such training — industrial, edu- 
 cational, and religious — by the Afi-ican race is shown 
 by the remarkable fact that the chiefs and people of 
 the Fingo race of the Transkei independent district 
 raised, of their own accord, a sum of £1,500, and 
 placed it in the hands of Dr. Stewart, with the request
 
 <S jNuTES UN SOUTH-EASTERN AFKICA. 
 
 that he would found a smiilar institution among them, 
 which with a large extension of Lovedale has occupied 
 his attention this year (1876). * 
 
 To many it will be felt a matter of far surpassing 
 importance that, at the same time, a deep sense of 
 religious duty pervaded the institution of Lovedale itself, 
 resulting in the profession by many of the pupils and 
 their parents of lifelong devotion to the highest type of 
 Christian life. It may be further noted that, on a call 
 being made upon them for their assistance in carrying on 
 the work of the new mission in the interior, fourteen 
 volunteered, and of these six have been selected to be 
 the native contingent at Livingstonia. 
 
 This new mission or settlement, which has a singular 
 resemblance to those which were planted on our own 
 shores by St. Columba and other missionaries from Ire- 
 land now twelve centuries ago, includes in its members, 
 in addition to these natives, a carpenter, two engin- 
 eers and blacksmiths, and an assistant, two agricultur- 
 
 * Mr. Brownlee, the able Secretary for Native Affairs of the Cape 
 Governiuent, in the Bluebook for 1875 says — ** The great body of 
 the people iu this country are at present sunk in the lowest degrada- 
 tion and barbarism. . . . Notwithstanding this degradation 
 there is a strong desire manifested for education, and this desire we 
 shall soon be able to meet by appropriating as much of the revenue 
 of this country as may be required. The Bishop of St. John's is 
 about instituting a large educational establishment ; the Wesleyans 
 are also moving in this direction ; and on Dr. Stewart's return to 
 Africa, he will commence operations with his institution in the 
 Trauskei, for which £1,500 has already been conti-ibuted by the 
 Fiugos ; and there is every reason to believe that another appeal to 
 them would double this amount. 
 
 " Beside these principal institutions, numerous smaller schools 
 will soon be scattered over the country. . , . Almost all of them 
 are conducted by native teachers ; and thus we have a powerful and 
 ever-increasing native agency, spreading abroad knowledge and 
 civilization, and forming a direct link of sympathy between ourselves 
 and their countrymen."
 
 .NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFIUUA. 9 
 
 ists, a weaver, and a seaman. The superintendence is 
 under Dr. Stewart, at once a clergyman and a medical 
 man, who has with him Dr. Black, who is also an ordained 
 medical man. Of these, five members of the Free 
 Church, with one member each of the Established and 
 United Presbyterian branches of our Scottish Church, 
 w^ere, in 1875, carried to their destination at Cape 
 Maclear, at the southern end of Nyassa, by that admirable 
 pioneer missionary Mr. E. D. Young, of the Royal Navy, 
 and settled, with the full concurrence of the native chief 
 of the district, at the mouth of a fertile valley, with 
 anchorage for small vessels before an island opposite. 
 That which gives much additional importance to this first 
 settlement is the successful conveyance to and launching 
 on the lake of a steamer of about 50 feet in length, which 
 has proved capable of navigating what may be character- 
 ized as a stormy inland sea. This steamer, named the Ilala, 
 was built of steel plates, and fastened in such a way that 
 it could be taken down into portions, which were severally 
 not too heavy to be carried by the natives on their 
 shoulders. The success of Mr. Young, who had also been 
 with Livingstone at Lake Nyassa, in organizing a corps 
 of seven hundred natives for this purpose, and conveying 
 the vessel to its destination without the loss of any part, 
 over 70 miles of rough porterage, past the rapids of the 
 Shire, was a service, the importance of which cannot be 
 exaggerated. This successful operation gives command 
 to the mission party of the lake, which is found to 
 extend to a length of 350 miles, 100 miles longer than 
 had been supposed till the first circumnavigation dis- 
 closed a broad sheet of water extending to the latitude 
 of about 9 deg. south, which is nearly that of the 
 south end of Tanganika. There is thus opened to 
 missionary enterprise a coast region extending 800
 
 10 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 miles, besides 100 miles of river navigation down to 
 the rapids.* 
 
 On the east coast of Africa a base of operations has had 
 the attention of the churches for at least thirty years, and 
 the published travels of Krapf and Rebmann of the Church 
 Missionary Society, and New of the Wesleyan Mission at 
 Ribe, have testified to the ability of the men who devoted 
 themselves to missionary work in the region of Mombas 
 and Zanzibar. They were not so successful in making a 
 wide impression on the native races as the South African 
 missionaries, having the adverse influence of the slave 
 trade, and being without the moral support of British 
 rule. Latterly an important work, based upon industrial 
 training, has been done among the slaves liberated by 
 the intervention of British ships of war, and several 
 hundreds are being prepared, in the institutions of the 
 Church and other missionary societies, to form Christian 
 colonies in the district from which they were originally 
 stolen. The Universities Mission has just planted a colony 
 of this kind at Masisi, 120 miles inland from Lindy. 
 
 * Missionary work is uot carried on without large exioenditure on 
 the part of those in the home country who maintain it. 
 
 The venerable Convener of the Foreign Committee of the Scottish 
 Free Church informed the writer that to the Lovedale Institution 
 they grant ^1,000 a year, and that the recent extension of the build- 
 ings cost them £3,000 and jarivate subscribers as much more. For 
 the new Fingo Institution they supply an ordained missionary and 
 teachers, besides having granted £1,500 for the buildings. For 
 Livingstonia they have had provided a fund of £13,500, and the 
 noble family of Aberdeen have placed two-thirds as much at their dis- 
 posal for the Gordon Memorial Mission to the Zulus of Natal. 
 
 The Church Missionary Society recently announced their having 
 received donations amounting to £12,000 for their new mission at 
 Lake Victoria-Nyanza ; and the London Missionary Society a fund 
 of £12,000 on their undertaking the Lake Tanganika Mission. The 
 Scottish Established Churcii also announce having raised £4,800 for 
 their Nyassa Mission. See Reports ^Dublished during 1876.
 
 NOTES UX SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 11 
 
 I close this notice of what is ah-eady known to have 
 been accomplished, by some remarks as to what is in 
 progress. The party of the Scottish Established Church, 
 with the second party of the Free Church, have now, 
 February, 1877, settled, the first near Magomero, at a 
 place to be named Blantyre, the other at Livingstonia, 
 with the view of extending northward along the lake 
 from that point. The London Missionary Society, re- 
 presenting chiefly the Congregational churches of England 
 and Scotland, has in progress the arrangements for a mis- 
 sion at Ujiji on Lake Tanganika, In connection with 
 this an attempt, so far successful, is being made to substi- 
 tute bullock wagons for the usual system of porterage, 
 diminishing the cost of transit by one-half. They send 
 also a steamer in sections, to be launched on the lake in 
 the course of this year. Funds have also been obtained, and 
 two parties have been sent to plant missions of similar 
 character in Uganda, north of Lake Victoria-Nyanza, and 
 at Rumanika's town by the Church Missionary Society, 
 which has been occupying the coast at Mombas. * The 
 region of the lakes has thus been, or is likely soon to be, 
 occupied in an effective manner by agencies, from which 
 good results may be looked for in respect of industrial, 
 educational, and religious training, -f 
 
 * Our government Las recently made enquiries of the Khedive, as 
 to whether he intends to annex the independent states to which 
 these church missions have been sent. As the countries round Lake 
 Victoria-Nyanza were discovered by Speke and Grant, proceeding 
 from the east-coast ; as the occupation of that large hike by the 
 Egyptians, would mean the drawing of the slave trade, which we are 
 shutting out from the east-coast, down to the Nile; and as Abyssinia, 
 which learned to respect both our strength and our forbearance in 
 the Abyssinian war, lies close to the line of Egyptian communica- 
 tions, and could powerfully second our anti-slavery policy ; we may 
 very well require that the answer be in the negative. 
 
 t " Our mission is to elevate and enlighten them (the natives of 
 South Africa), and to raise them in the scale of civilization. . .
 
 1-2 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTEKN AFKICA. 
 
 The missions do not engage in commerce, but are looking 
 anxiously for some development in that direction, which 
 brings me to the second part of this paper. A consider- 
 able difficulty presents itself in respect of the transit 
 duties, which the Portuguese levy on imports by the Zam- 
 bezi, so as to be prohibitive of traffic. How far they are 
 entitled to do this may well be disputed, because the 
 southern bank of the Zambezi up to the point where 
 the Shire joins it on the north, and farther, is oc- 
 cupied by a perfectly independent tribe of Zulus, who have 
 even been accustomed to receive tribute from the Portu- 
 guese at Senna. Our government have taken a decided 
 position in not acknowledging the jurisdiction of the 
 Portuo-uese over the north bank of the Congo, and it is 
 hoped they may be equally decided here. Pending the 
 settlement of this matter, a porterage route to the nearest 
 point on the coast wathin Zanzibar territory would be of 
 great importance. The distance would be, at least, 
 350 miles; but judging from the fact of the services 
 of the 700 natives who carried the steamer having been 
 secured at the rate of six yards of calico each, it 
 would seem to be possible to eftect this transport at a 
 cost that would not be prohibitive. As the country is 
 almost wholly depopulated by the slave trade, and the 
 disorganization that has ensued, there would require to be 
 established stations which would form new centres of 
 
 This great work is beiug accomplished by the missionaries, a class of 
 men whose labours, disinterested and self-denying, are even now not 
 fully understood or appreciated. Through our magistrates and 
 ao'euts among the natives, we endeavour to attach them to us by a 
 just and righteous administration ; we contribute lai-gely to the ad- 
 vancement of education ; but the missionaries are the agency by 
 which the peo])le are enlightened and educated.'' — Mr. Brownlee, 
 Secretary for Native Affairs of the Cape Government, in Bluebook 
 for 1875.
 
 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFJIICA. 13" 
 
 population. If these were arranged at the distances of 70 
 or 80 miles from each other, it would save the carriage of 
 more than eight or ten days' provisions at a time. 
 With regard to the productions of the Nyassa region, 
 ivory, india-rubber, and gum copal, cotton and sugar, coffee 
 and tobacco have been mentioned ; but a full statement 
 with respect to this cannot be made till further reports are 
 received from the Mission party. There seems no doubt 
 that reasonable facilities for trade, added to other civiliz- 
 ing agencies, would produce satisfactory results. Around 
 the Cape Colony the natives, mostly cognate to the 
 Eastern Central Africans, purchase commercial articles 
 to the amount of £400,000, and produce them to the 
 value of £750,000 a year ; * those about Natal about 
 one-fourth as much. 
 
 The trade of the east coast is also considerable. During 
 1875, the .steam companies alone had on freight as 
 exports from the Zanzibar ports, of cloves, pepper, copal, 
 &;c., 2,143 tons, valued at £75,276, also 213 tons ivory, 
 valued at £264,527, and £4,841 in specie — and as imports 
 3,321 tons weight, of which a considerable proportion was 
 cotton goods, and £89,062 in specie. 
 
 There is one question deserving consideration — w^hether, 
 in the event of the slave trade being stopped, the Arab and 
 other merchants might be expected to carry on trade under 
 improved conditions ? This question seems to be answered 
 in the affirmative by those most competent to judge. If 
 we open up easy modes of transit, and remove harassing 
 restrictions, we may expect that self-interest will prompt 
 them to make use of them. We shall also thus avoid 
 trade jealousies, while by proper arrangements on the 
 coast, we may secure wholesale markets. 
 
 The third point to be treated deals especially with the 
 * Handbook, 1 87o, bv J. Noble, late Clerk to Cape Legislature, p. 231 .
 
 14 NOTES OX SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 question of the abolition of the slave trade. Recently 
 large caravans of slaves passed across the ferries, or to the 
 south of the Lake Nyassa, to the number, it is estimated, 
 of 20,000 slaves per annum — representing a loss of popu- 
 lation to Interior Africa of probably not less than 100,000. 
 That these should pass the British flag flying from the 
 mission steamer, or within a few miles of the settlement, 
 is painful. His own people are no longer openly sold by 
 the neighbouring chief, and there has been an instance of 
 a slave unable to keep up with the rest of the slave-gang 
 being directed to the mission instead of being killed. It 
 is probable that, by the prevalence of ameliorating influ- 
 ences on the population generally, some improvement in 
 respect of slavery might be gradually effected. There 
 seems no reason however why our Government, which uses 
 strong measures on the ocean, should stop short at the 
 inland waters. 
 
 Since the first edition of this pamphlet was prepared, 
 the slave trade in Zanzibar territory has received a serious 
 check by its having been rendered illegal by the pro- 
 clamation of his Highness the Seyyed, This, with the 
 influence of the Europeans at Livingstonia, has done much 
 to abolish the traffic at the ferries of Nyassa. 
 
 We have also treaties with Portugal for the suppres- 
 sion of the slave trade, and for the cessation of slave- 
 holding in her dominions ; and it is matter of great satis- 
 faction that she has anticipated all action of this kind by 
 declaring that she now permits no one to hold a slave in 
 her possessions wheresoever situated, which, we believe, 
 the authorities at Lisbon will carry out to the extent of 
 their power, unfortunately rather limited. 
 
 Irrespective of the slave trade, this region has been 
 for forty years past very much under the law of the sur- 
 vival of the idlest and most unruly, certainly not of 
 the most useful inhabitants. The aboriginal races of
 
 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 15 
 
 negroes, whom Livingstone found on his first journeys 
 smelting iron to make hoes, growing and weaving cotton, 
 tilling the ground, and fishing in the lake, have in great 
 measure given place to the Mazitu, north and west of 
 the lake, whose chief occupation seems to be preying 
 on their industrious neighbours. The Manganja, among 
 whom the Universities Mission made their unfortunate 
 attempt at a settlement, are now reduced to a small 
 remnant; and the skeletons of great numbers are seen 
 lying beside ruined villages on the banks of the lake. On 
 the bank of the lower Shird the remnant of another race 
 have come among them — the Makololo, whom Livingstone 
 found on the Upper Zambezi. This tribe, from among 
 whom he obtained his faithful allies and indefatisfable 
 assistants, was recently almost exterminated in the savage 
 wars of the interior. 
 
 In other parts of the country the unfair advantage 
 afforded by the possession of guns by one side only, has 
 given a fearful impetus to the desolation of the newly- 
 discovered regions by quelling the independence of the 
 natives. The destruction of the industrious race is going 
 on to such an extent that unless there be some effective 
 intervention soon, this continent may degenerate to the 
 condition of aboriginal Australia, and there may be no one 
 producing anything with which to trade. 
 
 The rabble of Arabs, half castes, and slaves, who with 
 2,000 guns are massacring the people of Manyueraa and 
 the other Ethiopian races, could not, man for man, cope 
 with the races they are destroying. If an expedition to 
 disarm them could be sent up, the whole condition of 
 things would be reversed. Even if 1,000 rifles were put 
 into the hands of the natives, they would right themselves. 
 Whether, if the country east of the great lakes were 
 properly settled, some expedition might not be organized
 
 IG NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 from the advanced basis this would aftbrd, which would 
 control the country westw^ard, is an important question, 
 well-fitted to stimulate to energetic prosecution of our 
 advance from the coast. 
 
 But it is difficult to make much real progress in 
 abolishing the slave trade, or in repressing the pre- 
 vailing anarchy, without comprehensive arrangements. 
 When we shut up the Zanzibar coast, so that there 
 is no inducement to take slaves thither, there is the 
 probability that the slave wars will go on as before, but 
 that the slaves will be marched in another direction. 
 
 Already a new slave trade seems to be getting established 
 west of Lake Nyassa, where the Mazitu, who were not ac- 
 customed to sell slaves, have begun to supply the half- 
 caste traders with victims for the Kaffir races south of 
 the Zambezi to the westward. 
 
 We believe one good remedy would be to place steamers 
 like the Ilala upon the lakes and upon the Zambezi and 
 Congo systems of river navigation. They might in many 
 cases be of larger size, and a few trained men on board of 
 them might act as a police upon occasion, while they 
 would be ordinarily occupied in trade. To effect this a 
 large company with considerable powers might be desir- 
 able. But we are not without hope that, even without 
 this, by occupying one section of the country after another 
 with colonies of Christian natives superintended by Euro- 
 peans, with such means of rapid communication as we 
 have indicated, communities might be formed capable of 
 defending themselves, and of checking disorders over 
 considerable tracts of country.
 
 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 17 
 
 REMARKS ON MATTERS CONNECTED WITH THE APPROACH 
 BY THE ZAMBEZI TO NYASSA, REQUIRING THE ATTEN- 
 TION OF GOVERNMENT. 
 
 When the Scottish missions proceeded to occupy the 
 Shire Valley and Lake Nyassa, arrangements were pro- 
 posed that their communications should be kept up by 
 their employing vessels to enter the Kongone or Luabo 
 mouths of the Zambezi from the ocean, and by smaller 
 vessels on the rivers to connect that navigation with that 
 of the steamer placed on Lake Nyassa. The original 
 discovery and navigation of these river communications 
 by agents of the British Government seems clearly made 
 out in Livingstone's Missionary Travels, pp. 640 and 665, 
 Zambezi, pp. 16, 91. The only exception is about 30 
 miles of the Zambezi navigation from Mazaro to the 
 entrance of the Shire, which is also part of the line of 
 water communication between the Portuguese settlements 
 of Quillimane, Mazaro, Senna, and Tette. 
 
 The carrying out of this intention was deferred in 
 consequence of the receipt of a letter from Senhor 
 Zagury, intimating that he had had conceded to him 
 by the Portuguese Government the exclusive right of 
 steam navigation between Quillimane, the Luabo mouth of 
 the Zambezi, and Tette. The missions have since used the 
 Portuguese approach by the Quillimane river, which con- 
 nects itself by a porterage of six miles with the Zambezi 
 at Mazaro. That this concession of the Portuguese 
 Government would have been, if carried out, an invasion 
 of British rights hardly admits of doubt, although it was 
 not the part of the Mission to contest the matter. But the 
 concession was probably hastily granted, when the passage 
 of the British steamer Ilala attracted attention, with the 
 view of keeping the question open, and it is understood
 
 18 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTEEN AFRICA. 
 
 to be now withdrawn. The Portuguese settlements nearest 
 to these mouths of the Zambezi are Quillimane, 80 miles 
 north, and Mazaro, 70 miles inland. To connect these by 
 the Zambezi doubles the distance between them, and 
 the proposal could only have had the object we have 
 indicated. 
 
 The next question that presented itself regarded transit 
 duties, which did not arise in connection with what we 
 may call the British line of communication, but in con- 
 sequence of the second party having gone round by and 
 stopped at the Portuguese settlement of Quillimane. The 
 duty of 26 per cent, which was charged by the local 
 officers on both mission and trade goods, has been returned, 
 and the question is understood to be limited to a proposi- 
 tion to charge in future a transit duty of moderate amount. 
 
 The Portuguese route from Quillimane to Tette above 
 mentioned, as we have said, coincides for 30 miles with 
 the new route from the mouth of the Zambezi to Nyassa, 
 but the Portuguese are very much in the position of a 
 power that has been withdrawing from it, which came 
 about in this way. 
 
 The high price of slaves in Brazil, 40 years ago, induced 
 a pretty general sale of the agricultural population con- 
 nected with their settlements, destroying both their 
 defensive power and their revenues. The Landeens, part 
 of the great Abantu or Zulu Kaffir race, which now occupies 
 most of Eastern Africa from the Cape to within five 
 degrees of the equator, have gradually, in the last 30 
 years, driven them from the south bank of the river. 
 The town of Senna is secured by the payment to the 
 Landeens of an annual tribute or land-tax, enforced in 
 case of refusal by occupation and slaughter of the inhabi- 
 tants. Livingstone's Missionarij Travels, p. 658; Zani- 
 bezi, p. 152 ; Fritsch, Eing. Sud. African, p. 494. The
 
 NOTES UN SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 11) 
 
 Livingstone Search Expedition found the inhabitants, in 
 1867, living on the islands of the Zambezi, in consequence 
 of 600 persons having been killed the previous year on 
 account of this and other provocations. The party in the 
 llala also found that, in November, 1874, the Landeens had 
 occupied Mazaro, on the north bank, vs'ith a slaughter of 
 200 people, vs^hen enforcing the payment of their land-tax 
 there. As they also levy dues on the river, and the 
 Portuguese Government has not seen its way during 
 thirty j^ears to prevent their thus treating the whites as a 
 conquered tribe, it would appear to be necessary to con- 
 sider the position of this race as well as that of the 
 Portuguese in any settlement. The concession of transit 
 duties might be made to the Portuguese on condition of 
 the river from Mazaro to the Shire being kept open, a task 
 which, judging from British experience of the Kaffirs in 
 South Africa, may involve difficulty and exj)ense. With 
 the Landeens between the mouth of the Zambezi and 
 Mazaro we presume we must deal ourselves. 
 
 Another question of importance has just been brought 
 up by a message sent by a Portuguese named Ferrao to 
 the Makololo chief who occupies the country towards the 
 cataracts of the Shire. The message was sent by means of 
 Dr. Lawes of the Livingstonia Mission, and was to the 
 effect of stating that the chief was located upon Ferrao's 
 land, and must clear out, which brings up the question, 
 what right Ferrao has to land on the Shire at all, even 
 to that which he now occupies at the mouth of the river. 
 
 After Livingstone had for the first time navigated the 
 Shire and Nyassa, he proceeded for two years up the 
 Zambezi. On his return he found that a half-caste 
 named Mariano who had been liberated from prison at 
 Mozambique, had built a stockade at the mouth of the 
 Shire, entered the newly discovered region with guns,
 
 20 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 and sent many of the inhabitants in chains to Quillimane 
 to supply labour to Reunion, so that with slave-i'aids, war, 
 and consequent famine, a most populous region had been 
 turned into a desert. Livingstone, Zambezi, pp. 450, 473. 
 
 After our Government withdrew this expedition, the 
 remnant of the inhabitants gathered under the chieftain- 
 ship of the Makololo, who had formed part of the expedition, 
 but whom Livingstone left behind. Having been Living- 
 stone's men, they are practically our own people, send 
 their sons to the Livingstonia Institution, and accept our 
 civilization, both they and their subjects having heartily 
 welcomed our return in 1875. Being of Kaffir race, and 
 living in stockaded villages, they are effective governois, 
 and have so far saved the valley from being swept a 
 second time by the Mazitu, Mr. E. D. Young having been 
 able to bring these dreaded warriors to terms with them. 
 
 In these circumstances it is somewhat strange to 
 hear of a summons of the kind described coming 
 from what we believe to be the ci-devant Mariano's 
 stockade. Mariano, although there seems too much 
 reason to think that he and his coadjutors were 
 secretly countenanced by some of the officials, was in tlie 
 eyes of the Portuguese law a rebel engaged in enter- 
 prises inconsistent with treaties between Portugal and 
 this countr3^ 
 
 Any claim by Ferrao is foreclosed by our exploration 
 of the country, and the settlement of its ancient inhabi- 
 tants under the Makololo; for it will haixlly be pretended 
 that Mariano's slave raids in the country during our 
 teinporary absence effected a transfer of it. The object of 
 Senhor Ferrao may possibly be to escape the exactions of 
 the Landeens, to which he is exposed on his present loca- 
 tion, but it is not at all improbable that there is an attempt 
 at embarrassment contrived by some of the officials,
 
 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 21 
 
 which would not be countenanced by the home Govern- 
 ment of Portugal. In any case it shows the importance 
 of a distinct declaration on these subjects on the part of 
 the two Governments so that complications may be 
 avoided. This is all the more necessary, because the 
 Portuguese settlements are convict settlements not very 
 strictly controlled. 
 
 The actual position is that Senhor Ferrao has a stock- 
 ade three miles up the Shire on the left bank, and has 
 been hitherto understood to claim the land on that side 
 for a distance of 30 miles ; the boundary being a marsh 
 called Nyanga Pangono, which becomes an extensive 
 sheet of water in time of flood, and might be reckoned 
 the limit of Portuguese jurisdiction. 
 
 Another point deserving consideration is the possibility 
 of some check being put upon the introduction of ardent 
 spirits. The tariff for the province of Mozambique and 
 the concession to Zagury, both of which followed im- 
 mediately on the establishment of the mission, are fitted 
 to give countenance to the idea that the Portuguese 
 Government are disposed to give special encouragement 
 to this traffic; and as the Landeens show indisposition to 
 accept such wares from the Portuguese, an outlet among 
 the races to whom our missions are sent would be con- 
 venient for them, and there has been a rumour of this 
 being carried out by concessions of exclusive naviga- 
 tion of the Shire by steamers, that French houses may 
 take up the trade of Lake Nyassa. (See Appendix.) 
 
 For this reason, and also because the laws of Portugal, 
 while tolerant of the religious services of foreigners, do 
 not permit any Portuguese subject to hold church services 
 other than those of the Church of Rome, it is expedient 
 that the missions should know who are and who are not 
 to be reckoned Portuguese subjects; and it is desirable
 
 22 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFEICA. 
 
 that this should be made clear before expenses are in- 
 curred for permanent buildings in the country between 
 the mouth of the Shir^ and the cataracts, or in the 
 education of native preachers. 
 
 There is no question that the high tariffs and the 
 uncertainties regarding rights of navigation during the 
 last two years have been peculiarly unfortunate in the 
 state of the country. The establishment of the missions, 
 the repression of the slave trade by Zanzibar, and the 
 incipient relations with the Mazitu, should all have been 
 supported by a free introduction of legitimate trade. The 
 slave trade, which was actually all but stopped for a 
 twelvemonth, has been regaining vigour; and it is now 
 quite essential that the British Government should repress 
 it on the inland waters of Nyassa, to prevent our whole 
 policy in this direction from being stultified. 
 
 The settlement of the questions we have indicated 
 would probably be followed by action on the part of the 
 mercantile community either by way of the Zambezi or 
 through Zanzibar territory, as the decisions arrived at 
 might render most expedient, which would naturally 
 supersede the irregular action of the slave trade in 
 supplying the wants of the natives of Nyassa, a result not 
 likely to be obtained under the state of uncertainty at 
 present existing as to what can and what cannot be safely 
 undertaken.* 
 
 * At the instance of tlie Liviugstoiiia Mission, several gentlemen 
 sent some goods with Mr. Cotterill last 3'ear, to cnahle him to make 
 a pioneering expedition ; but in the text we refer to the opening up 
 of communications by merchants experienced in African trade.
 
 23 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Duties and Dues chargeable on Merchandise in the province 
 of Mozambique, and approximate Eates of Freight to 
 Tete by proposed Portuguese Steamship Company. 
 
 I. 
 
 -IMPORTS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 Duties. I 
 
 Dues. 
 
 Freight 
 to Tete. 
 
 Cotton, unbleached, ... 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 £ s 
 1 9 
 
 B 
 
 5 \ 
 
 
 £ S D 
 
 17 
 
 Do., prints, ordinary, 
 
 „ 
 
 2 9 
 
 10 
 
 
 do. 
 
 Do., do., fine, ... 
 Do., dyed in twist, or., 
 
 )) 
 
 3 12 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 9 1 
 
 1 
 
 O 
 
 do. 
 do. 
 
 Do. , do. , fine. 
 
 !> 
 
 2 14 
 
 4 
 
 c3 
 
 03 
 
 do. 
 
 Do., do., twilled, 
 
 J> 
 
 2 18 
 
 10 
 
 o 
 Q 
 
 9 
 
 do. 
 
 Iron bars, plates, sheets. 
 
 ,, 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 3 j 
 
 'o 
 > 
 
 do. 
 
 Do. nails, 
 
 ,, 
 
 4 
 
 6 : 
 
 o 
 
 do. 
 
 Tea, 
 
 »> 
 
 1 14 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 > 
 
 do. 
 
 Gunpowder, 
 
 Muskets, 
 
 Each 
 
 11 
 2 
 
 3 ' 
 
 
 17 2 
 
 Ale, cider, 
 
 Distliquors (except Paim), 
 
 Gal. 
 
 >> 
 
 
 1 
 
 4i 
 
 2^ 
 
 1 j 
 
 36s. per 
 Puncheon, 
 equal to 4s. 
 
 Rum, 
 
 „ 
 
 10}^ 
 
 10 
 
 J ^ 
 
 per cwt. 
 
 Cotton, unbleached, 
 Indian, 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 i 
 ! 
 
 17 
 
 Do. do. of ' ' Carvi & Cadi, " 
 
 >> 
 
 13 
 
 7 
 
 i 
 
 do. 
 
 Do. dyed in piece, ordi- 
 nary blue European, 
 
 )» 
 
 2 12 
 
 1 
 
 ! 1 
 
 1 CO 
 
 do. 
 
 Do. do. Indian, ... 
 
 >» 
 
 1 9 
 
 5 
 
 c3 
 
 o 
 
 do. 
 
 Do. do. of "Cadi," 
 
 >> 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 
 do.
 
 24, 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 II.— EXPORTS. 
 
 
 ¥ 
 
 Duties. 
 
 Dues. 
 
 Freight 
 from Tete to 
 Quillimane. 
 
 Coffee, 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 3%adval. 
 (InvcelO%) 
 
 1 
 
 £0 10 7 
 
 Hides, 
 
 
 > 
 
 3% ad val. 
 
 1 '^ 
 
 13 7 
 
 Ivory, large, 
 
 
 > 
 
 £1 16 3 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 7 2 
 
 Do. , middling. 
 
 
 > 
 
 1 4 11 
 
 + 
 
 do. 
 
 Do., small, 
 
 
 > 
 
 1 2 8 
 
 o 
 O 
 
 do. 
 
 Oil, 
 
 P 
 
 pe 
 
 3% ad val. 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 > 
 
 1 15 6 
 
 Wax, 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 4 6 
 
 
 13 7 
 
 Hippopotamus — 
 Teeth (of two Kilos or 
 more), 
 
 
 1 4 11 
 
 o 
 
 1 7 2 
 
 Do., ordinary, 
 
 " 
 
 0-3 5 
 
 r-l 
 
 do. 
 
 On miscellaneous articles the import duty is 6 per cent, and 
 the export duty 3 per cent ad valorem. Thirty per cent of the 
 above duties on imports are remitted when the goods are im- 
 ported in Portuguese vessels. 
 
 These abstracts were furnished by J. W. Moir, Esq., 
 Edinburgh, now engaged in the opening up of a trade 
 route to Nyassa from the Zanzibar coast. 
 
 ROBERT MACLEIIOSE, PRINTER, 153 WEST NILE STREET, GLASGOW. 
 
 i