He next made a short speech to his men, told them he knew what thieves they were, but implored them not to steal from us, as we would give them a present of cloth when the work was done.

"The natives of this country," he remarked to us, "think only of three things, what they shall eat and drink, how many wives they can have, and what they may steal from their master, if not how they may murder him." He always slept with a loaded musket by his side.

This opinion may apply to slaves, but decidedly does not in our experience apply to freemen.

We paid his men for helping us, and believe that even they, being paid, stole nothing from us.

Our friend farms pretty extensively the large island called Sangwisa,--lent him for nothing by Senhor Ferrao,--and raises large quantities of mapira and beans, and also beautiful white rice, grown from seed brought a few years ago from South Carolina.