The Washington critic., 1890-04-24
PORTUGUESE AFRICA.
The Government Nothing But the Will
Of the OaIicera
From he F'0rtnl014y RegleW.

From the FoTtnigt4y Rerlep.
On one OF these lands, within day's
journey from Quillimane, l have seen
encamped as lately as 1884 o large slave
caravan few minutes walk from the
owners residence waiting TO dispose Of
its living merchandise over these Portu-
guese estates. To mention that in the
compound Of the house itself was q
native of the slave.stick may only be
considered as superfluous deal 1t is
well known that yearly large caravans
of slaves are brought from the lakes
district and absorbed into the estates
around Quillimane.
Shut out from the gaze of civiliza.
tion; coloniZed by convicts and crimi-
nails of the worst type overrun by
race, cross bred between negro slaves
and the dregs of Portuguese iails; oc.
cupied by an administration powerless,
no less from poverty than national
apathy TO enforce its Jurisdiction save
by bribery and acquiescence in q sys.
tenn Of slavery and degraded despotism,
II Is not surprising that this vast re-
gion should have become buried in
barbarism, Its unfortunate peoples
and commerce dwarfed to insignificant
proportions.
To give an idea of the nature Of
Portuguese rule where alone they have
any effective occupation, that is in the
Delta of the Zambesi, l may say that
the native soldiers who collect the
mussoco or poll tax are in the habit of
forcibly dishonoring the native women
and numbering their husbands or
fathers If they resist or even expostu-
late. In the early part of 1889 my.
self gave medical assistance to young
native man who had been stabbed
through the body by one of these Portu-
guese soldiers because he had dared to
expostulate-he had not ventured to
resist-when his young wife was
violated by the soldier The man
fingered for two months in great pain
and then died. This case is simply an
example of what is happening every
day under Portuguese administration.
In one sphere, the sphere of morality,
Portuguese civilization has made its
mark. During my six years expert
epce of consular work in the Zambesi
regions nothing perhaps has so forcibly
been impressed upon me as one of the
results of Portuguese influence on the
native population as the lameDtable
deterioration of native morality. The
Portuguese on this coast line have
reached depth of sexual immoral
ity-indeed, of sexual criminality-
below which it is impossible for
humanity to fall. Family honor is
unknown among these degraded
| pioneers of pseudo civilization.
Incest and unnatural vices are committed
without any attempt at secrecy. The
Portuguese morality in these dark re.
gions is apparently lower than that OF
the brute beasts. With the morality OF
the native Makololo it can be com
pared in no particular. Among the un
contaminated native peoples the mora
code is relatively high one, and its in
fringment is punished by death. Those
fearful and horrible crimes agains
natural instincts practiced by the Portu
guese in their settlements on the coas
are unknown to the natives of the in
terror.
Under the exemplary tuition of tht
Portuguese, however, the native popu
lation in the neighborhood of and unde
the influence of the Portuguese settle
ments have fallen almost to the Portu
guese level. Encouraged by the gros
immortality of their white masters, the,
have long lost their own comparatively
high moral code. This is perfectly wei
known to residents in the Portuguese
coast settlements. and il is impossible t,
preserve silence about facts that ar
notorious when, as at present, the stat
of Portuguese civilization in East Afric
is a subject that claims the attention o
philanthropic Europe.