overtook one party holding solemn conclave as to
what they Should throw away, what they should bury,
and what they could possibly manage to take on.
Boxes, containing liquor, clothes, and other commodities
which could be dispensed with, are frequently
found on the road, telling their tale of desertion
by bearers and acute misery of the possessors.
He who first- started the evil plan of paying these
dark bearers in advance ought-for ever to be held up
to public obloquy. The Kaffir, doubtless, has been
often cheated by the white man, for many unscrupulous
individuals have traversed this road from TTmtali
to Beira, and the black man was wise in his generation
when he insisted on payment before undertaking
the journey; but now he has too dangerous an
opportunity for retaliation, of which he takes frequent
advantage, and many are the cases of desertion
at awkward points. A white man, stricken with
fever, had to pay his bearers over and over again
before he could persuade them to go o n ; the Sisters
on their way to TJmtali were deserted at Chimoia;
and at the season of the year when the fields are to
be ploughed they develop a still greater tendency to
this unscrupulous behaviour.
The Portuguese manage their affairs far better
than we do. Troops of so-called convicts are shipped
from their West African provinces to those on the
east coast, and vice vevsd, so that in both places
they have ready-made slaves to carry their baggage
and their mashilcis, or travelling hammocks. The
Portuguese word is law with their black subjects,
whereas the unfortunate Englishman has to pay 25s.
or 2/. for a bearer, who will carry sixty pounds, but
will desert when the fancy takes him. Furthermore,
the Englishman dare not treat his nigger as he
deserves ; if he did, he would be had up at once before
the Portuguese magistrates, and be sure to get
the worst of it. Before- the Pungwe route can be
made available, even for the lightest traffic, this order
of things must cease. The native bearer is undoubtedly
a fine specimen of humanity. He will carry on
his head weights of surprising size, which it requires
two men to lift up to its exalted position ; he runs
along at a rapid pace, and does his twenty-five tò
thirty miles a day with infinite ease ; and if the desertion
and payment question were settled, there would
not be so many thousands of pounds’ worth of valuable
stuff spoiling at Beira, and much wanted at
TJmtali. Each chief ought to be compelled to supply
a fixed number of bearers at a fixed tariff, and cases
of desertion should be severely punished. But thè
way to do this is not clear as yet, for the Portuguese
do not wish it, and to the British mind this form
of compulsory labour might savour too much of
slavery.
With our cart we did eighteen and twenty miles
a day ; quite far enough for the pedestrian in this
warm climate. The first hour’s walk, from 6 to 7
a .m ., was always delicious, before the full power of
the sun was felt ; the rest of the day was atrociously
hot, especially when our road led us through steaming
tropical forests and rank vegetation. Luckily for us