pilots, and made no attempt at conquest. As their empire, however, extended, resentment or ambition furnished motives for successively attacking those settlements. In 1505, Almeda, indignant at the reception given to him at Quiloa and Mombasa, landed and took possession of both these cities. In 1508, permission was obtained to erect a fort at Mozambique, by means of which the Portuguese soon expelled the Arabs, and became complete masters of the town. Attracted by its vicinity to the gold mines, and its convenience as a place of refreshment for their fleets, they made it the capital of their possessions in Eastern Africa. Melinda also, which had long shown such a friendly disposition to Europeans, became at last unable to endure the insulting spirit of the Mohammedans; a quarrel arose, and that city was added to the dominion of the Portuguese. They were now masters of an immense range of coast, fully 2000 miles in length, on which they held all the principal positions, though without extending their sway to any distance into the interior.

About 1569, the Portuguese made two vigorous attempts, under Nugnez Barreto and Vasco Fernandez, to advance into the country behind Mozambique, chiefly with the view of reaching the mines of gold, the produce of which was brought in considerable quantities down the Zambese to Sofala. They penetrated a considerable way up the river, on the banks of which they erected the forts of Sena and Tete. Its upper course was found overhung by steep and precipitous rocks, belonging to the mountainous range of Lupala, which here crosses its channel. They arrived at Zimbao, the capital of Quiteve,

or King of Motapa, and even at the gold mines of Manica; but, instead of the expected profusion of this precious metal, they found that, as in other parts of Africa, it was laboriously extracted in small quantities from the extraneous substances in which it is embedded. On this expedition they had frequent encounters with the natives, who were always beaten in the field; but the Europeans were so harassed by long marches, and by the scarcity of provisions, that they finally returned in a very exhausted state, and without having been able to establish any permanent dominion over that vast extent of country.

As the energy of the Portuguese government declined, its sway over these colonies was reduced within limits which always became narrower. In 1631, the people of Mombasa rose, made a general massacre of the Europeans, and re-established their independence. About the end of the seventeenth century, the Imam of Mascat, a powerful Arabian prince, drove them out of Melinda and Quiloa. Their possessions are now confined to Mozambique and Sofala, and are maintained even there on a very reduced scale. . The former of these stations, when visited by Mr Salt in 1808, was found to contain less than 3000 inhabitants, of whom only 500 were Portuguese; and the fortifications were in so neglected a state, that an Arabian chief assured the traveller that with 100 stout followers he could drive the subjects of Portugal out of this capital of Eastern Africa. Yet the government-house, in its interior arrangements, still exhibits some remains of the ancient splendour of the viceroys. The entertainment of tea, which is open every evening to

all the respectable inhabitants, is set out in a service of pure gold; and the negroes in attendance are absolutely loaded with ornaments of that metal. Mozambique has still a pretty considerable commerce in gold, ivory, and slaves, brought down from the regions of the Upper Zambese. These captives, since Britain shut against them the markets of the Cape of Good Hope and Mauritius, have been, to the number of about 4000 in the year, sent chiefly to Brazil.

CHAPTER XVI.

On the Social Condition of Africa.

HAVING Commenced this work by a general survey of Africa as it came from Nature's hand, we shall conclude with taking a rapid sketch of the changes made by man, the societies formed on its immense surface; its arts, its industry, its social and moral existence; noticing, finally, the few attempts which Britain has made to establish colonies on that continent.

A grand distinction must here be made, between the native inhabitants of Africa and the foreign races from Arabia and other Asiatic countries, by whom so large a portion of its surface has been occupied. This distinction we shall rest, not upon supposed resemblances of form and figure, or faint analogies between the language of distant nations, but upon the introduction, within the limits of authentic history, of a people, manners, and religion, belonging to another continent. The changes now mentioned were effected, in a great measure, by the inroads of the Arabs or Saracens, and afterwards by the conquests of the Turks,-events which have diffused over the northern half of Africa a social system, every way different from that of the tribes by whom it was formerly inhabited. We shall begin, however,