they largely indulge, besides partaking chiefly of unwholesome native food, better health could scarcely have been expected.  The natives here understand the method of distillation by means of gun-barrels, and a succession of earthen pots filled with water to keep them cool.  The general report of the fever here is that, while at Kilimane the fever is continuous, at Tete a man recovers in about three days.  The mildest remedies only are used at first, and, if that period be passed, then the more severe.

The fort of Tete has been the salvation of the Portuguese power in this quarter.  It is a small square building, with a thatched apartment for the residence of the troops; and, though there are but few guns, they are in a much better state than those of any fort in the interior of Angola.  The cause of the decadence of the Portuguese power in this region is simply this:  In former times, considerable quantities of grain, as wheat, millet, and maize, were exported; also coffee, sugar, oil, and indigo, besides gold-dust and ivory.  The cultivation of grain was carried on by means of slaves, of whom the Portuguese possessed a large number.  The gold-dust was procured by washing at various points on the north, south, and west of Tete.  A merchant took all his slaves with him to the washings, carrying as much calico and other goods as he could muster.  On arriving at the washing-place, he made a present to the chief of the value of about a pound sterling.  The slaves were then divided into parties, each headed by a confidential servant, who not only had the supervision of his squad while the washing went on, but bought dust from the inhabitants, and made a weekly return to his master.  When several masters united at one spot, it was called a “Bara”, and they then erected a temporary church, in which a priest from one of the missions performed mass.  Both chiefs and people were favorable to these visits, because the traders purchased grain for the sustenance of the slaves with the goods they had brought.  They continued at this labor until the whole of the goods were expended, and by this means about 130 lbs. of gold were annually produced.  Probably more than this was actually obtained, but, as it was an article easily secreted, this alone was submitted to the authorities for taxation.  At present the whole amount of gold obtained annually by the Portuguese is from 8 to 10 lbs. only.  When the slave-trade began, it seemed to many of the merchants a more speedy mode of becoming rich to sell off the slaves than to pursue the slow mode of gold-washing and agriculture, and they continued to export them until they had neither hands to labor nor to fight for them.  It was just the story of the goose and the golden egg.  The coffee and sugar plantations and gold-washings were abandoned, because the labor had been exported to the Brazils.  Many of the Portuguese then followed their slaves, and the government was obliged to pass a law to prevent further emigration, which, had it