ortuguese expected that a
fabulous silver-mine would be rediscovered. The tradition in the country
is, that the Jesuits formerly knew and worked a precious lode at Chicova.
Mr. Thornton had gone beyond Zumbo, in company with a trader of colour;
he soon after this left the Zambesi and, joining the expedition of the
Baron van der Decken, explored the snow mountain Kilimanjaro, north-west
of Zanzibar. Mr. Thornton's companion, the trader, brought back much
ivory, having found it both abundant and cheap. He was obliged, however,
to pay heavy fines to the Banyai and other tribes, in the country which
is coolly claimed in Europe as Portuguese. During this trip of six
mouths 200 pieces of cotton cloth of sixteen yards each, besides beads
and brass wire, were paid to the different chiefs, for leave to pass
through their country. In addition to these sufficiently weighty
exactions, the natives of _this dominion_ have got into the habit of
imposing fines for alleged milandos, or crimes, which the traders' men
may have unwittingly committed. The merchants, however, submit rather
than run the risk of fighting.

The general monotony of existence at Tette is sometimes relieved by an
occasional death or wedding. When the deceased is a person of
consequence, the quantity of gunpowder his slaves are allowed to expend
is enormous. The expense may, in proportion to their means, resemble
that incurred by foolishly gaudy funerals in England. When at Tette, we
always joined with sympathizing hearts in aiding, by our presence at the
last rites, to soothe the sorrows of the surviving relatives. We are
sure that they would have done the same to us had we been the mourners.
We never had to complain of want of hospitality. Indeed, the great
kindness shown by many of whom we have often spoken, will never be
effaced from our memory till our dying day. When we speak of their
failings it is in sorrow, not in anger. Their trading in slaves is an
enormous mistake. Their Government places them in a false position by
cutting them off from the rest of the world; and of this they always
speak with a bitterness which, were it heard, might alter the tone of the
statesmen of Lisbon. But here there is no press, no booksellers' shops,
and scarcely a schoolmaster. Had we been born in similar untoward
circumstances--we tremble to think of it!

The weddings are celebrated with as much jollity as weddings are
anywhere. We witnessed one in the hous