of the inhabitants who remain acknowledge the authority of Bonga, and not of the Portuguese.  When at breakfast, the people of Shiramba commenced beating the drum of war.  Lieutenant Miranda, who was well acquainted with the customs of the country, immediately started to his feet, and got all the soldiers of our party under arms; he then demanded of the natives why the drum was beaten while we were there.  They gave an evasive reply; and, as they employ this means of collecting their neighbors when they intend to rob canoes, our watchfulness may have prevented their proceeding farther.

We spent the night of the 26th on the island called Nkuesi, opposite a remarkable saddle-shaped mountain, and found that we were just on the 17th parallel of latitude.  The sail down the river was very fine; the temperature becoming low, it was pleasant to the feelings; but the shores being flat and far from us, the scenery was uninteresting.  We breakfasted on the 27th at Pita, and found some half-caste Portuguese had established themselves there, after fleeing from the opposite bank to escape Kisaka’s people, who were now ravaging all the Maganja country.  On the afternoon of the 27th we arrived at Senna. (Commandant Isidore’s house, 300 yards S.W. of the mud fort on the banks of the river:  lat. 17d 27’ 1” S., long. 35d 10’ E.) We found Senna to be twenty-three and a half hours’ sail from Tete.  We had the current entirely in our favor, but met various parties in large canoes toiling laboriously against it.  They use long ropes, and pull the boats from the shore.  They usually take about twenty days to ascend the distance we had descended in about four.  The wages paid to boatmen are considered high.  Part of the men who had accompanied me gladly accepted employment from Lieutenant Miranda to take a load of goods in a canoe from Senna to Tete.

I thought the state of Tete quite lamentable, but that of Senna was ten times worse.  At Tete there is some life; here every thing is in a state of stagnation and ruin.  The fort, built of sun-dried bricks, has the grass growing over the walls, which have been patched in some places by paling.  The Landeens visit the village periodically, and levy fines upon the inhabitants, as they consider the Portuguese a conquered tribe, and very rarely does a native come to trade.  Senhor Isidore, the commandant, a man of considerable energy, had proposed to surround the whole village with palisades as a protection against the Landeens, and the villagers were to begin this work the day after I left.  It was sad to look at the ruin manifest in every building, but the half-castes appear to be in league with the rebels and Landeens; for when any attempt is made by the Portuguese to coerce the enemy or defend themselves, information is conveyed at once to the Landeen camp, and, though the commandant prohibits the payment of tribute to the Landeens, on their approach the half-castes eagerly ransom themselves.  When I was there, a party of