My First Voyage to Southern SeasKingston, William Henry Giles
General
My First Voyage to Southern Seas
Kingston, William Henry Giles
Oceania -- Juvenile fiction; Voyages and travels -- Juvenile fiction
I was glad to get away from the spot where the catastrophe I have
described occurred, but it was very, very long before I could get the
scenes I had witnessed out of my head. How different would have been
the fate of Sills had he been guided wisely, instead of foolishly, and
endeavoured by every means in his power to perform his duty. We first
made sail for Mozambique, where Captain Armstrong had to communicate
with the governor to arrange a plan for the suppression of the
slave-trade. Mozambique belongs to the Portuguese. It is the chief of
their settlements on the east coast of Africa. They claim the whole
coast from Cape Delgado in the north, situated in about eleven degrees
south latitude, to Delagoa Bay, which will be found at about the
twenty-sixth degree south latitude; an extent of nine hundred miles in
length, but reaching, I fancy, a very little way inland. Their
authority does not in reality exist except at their fortified ports and
towns. We brought up in an extensive harbour before the city of
Mozambique, which stands on an island of the same name. This island
with two others, Saint Jago and Saint George, and the mainland, form the
confines of the harbour, and shelter the vessels riding between them
from every wind.
I and several of the officers landed with Captain Armstrong, who wished
to communicate with the governor-general. It was said that he was very
anxious to suppress the slave-trade, but that he was actually
intimidated by the slave-dealing community.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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