The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-02-01

guese government has done nothing for | the colony, beyond what might be eX-
 pected of any band of pirates at that
 The natives are debauched by the sale of "fire-water," and the government
 encourages this because it brings in a certain amount of revenue. In Natal I saw not single drunken black At Delagoa Bay employers of labor told me | that 1t was the curse of the natives | that bad rum was thrust at them all along the highways leading to their
 work. The native is after all child
 in mans body, and while be cordially approves of law forbiddlng the sale ot
 strong drink, yet so incapable is he or
 resisting temptation that he will lose no opportunity of getting drunk if
 drink presents itself in attractive form. There is, of course, a Portuguese gov ernor at Delagoa Bay, fort, an army
 of petty negroids--officials about as big as Filipinos and With ancestry about as
 ambiguous. I was shown maps of the colony which indicated splendid parks,
 avenues embankmente, plazas, and
 other adjuncts of a metropolis. None or these things existed excepting on offi- cial paper intended for the public Of
 Lisbon. In 1896 there were dirty streets and shabby houses, two or three vile
 hotels, and a drinking both, near which the little military band made
 music on occasion--and this was called
 the promenade. There was no such
 thing as a public conveyance to be had
 not even a jinrikisha. The British
 Consulate stood in lonesome dignity
 on top of the bluff overlooking the
 river and harbor-in fact that building
 presented to me the one hopeful ele-
 ment in the neighborhood.
 There was no American consulate
 there at that time. Indeed. in all South
 Africa I do not remember seeing
 single American consul. Tradition re- ferred to one at Cape Town, but while Americans were in trouble in the times succeeding the Jameson raid, it was from the English authorities, and not from their own counsul, that help came. An American at the Cape told me that in his experience of twenty years he had rot known an American consul who had succeeded in keeping sober after 12 o'clock noon. I hope this was not true.
 There was once, a noble and progres- sive governor of Delagoa Bay who was shocked by the number of accidents to ships entering the ports. He succeeded in securing a lightship to mark the channel This was so radical and so violent reform for Portuguese gov ernor that some suspected his sanity. But, on the contrary, he proved to be a very sane and businesslike man-for a Portuguese. Indeed, so businesslike was he that he employed this lightship during the day in carrying bricks, and in that way earned considerable ad- dition to his salary. Malicious critics pretend that he used 1t for private pur- poses at night as well, but that is not founded on satisfactory evidence. It would have been better had he done SO, however, for so ignorant were those in charge that the lightship was each night anchored in different part of the bay. Incoming vessels soon came to dread this cratic lightship more than they did the perils of the deep and it was the cause of many accidents than were ever known before it was in- vented It shows us however, that | now and then Portugal produces gov- ernor who means we'll, though he may | have eccentric ways of showing it. Letter to New York Times.