from the river: the strata have
thus a crumpled form. The hollow between each crease is a street, the
houses being built upon the projecting fold. The rocks at the top of the
slope are much higher than the fort, and of course completely command
it. There is then a large valley, and beyond that an oblong hill called
Karueira. The whole of the adjacent country is rocky and broken, but
every available spot is under cultivation. The stone houses in Tete are
cemented with mud instead of lime, and thatched with reeds and grass.
The rains, having washed out the mud between the stones, give all the
houses a rough, untidy appearance. No lime was known to be found nearer
than Mozambique; some used in making seats in the verandas had actually
been brought all that distance. The Portuguese evidently knew nothing
of the pink and white marbles which I found at the Mbai, and another
rivulet, named the Unguesi, near it, and of which I brought home
specimens, nor yet of the dolomite which lies so near to Zumbo:
they might have burned the marble into lime without going so far as
Mozambique. There are about thirty European houses; the rest are native,
and of wattle and daub. A wall about ten feet high is intended to
inclose the village, but most of the native inhabitants prefer to live
on different spots outside. There are about twelve hundred huts in all,
which with European households would give a population of about four
thousand five hundred souls. Only a small proportion of these, however,
live on the spot; the majority are engaged in agricultural operations
in the adjacent country. Generally there are not more than two thousand
people resident, for, compared with what it was, Tete is now a ruin. The
number of Portuguese is very small; if we exclude the military, it is
under twenty. Lately, however, one hundred and five soldiers were sent
from Portugal to Senna, where in one year twenty-five were cut off by
fever. They were then removed to Tete, and here they enjoy much better
health, though, from the abundance of spirits distilled from various
plants, wild fruits, and grain, in which pernicious beverage 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 Kiliman