When the van of the foreign volunteers reached the port there was a new
situation to be dealt with, and again the principle of "When in doubt
impose a tax" was satisfactorily employed. Men who had just arrived in
steamers, and who had never seen Portuguese territory, were obliged to
secure a certificate, indicating that they had not been inhabitants of the
local jail during the preceding six months; a certificate from the
consular representative of their country, showing that they possessed good
characters; another from the Governor-General to show that they did not
purpose going into the Transvaal to carry arms; a fourth from the local
Transvaal consul to indicate that he held no objections to the traveller's
desire to enter the Boer country; and one or two other passports equally
weighty in their bearing on the subject were necessary before a person was
able to leave the town. Each one of these certificates was to be secured
only upon the payment of a certain number of thousand reis and at an
additional expenditure of time and nervous energy, for none of the
officials could speak a word of any language except Portuguese, and all
the applicants were men of other nationalities and tongues. The
expenditure in connection with the certificates was more than a sovereign
for every person, and as there were thousands of travellers into the Boer
countries while the war continued the revenues of the Government were
correspondingly great. To crown it all, the Portuguese imposed the same
tax upon all travellers who came into the country from the Transvaal with
the intention of sailing to other ports. The Government could not be
charged with favouritism in the matter of taxation, for every man, woman,
and child who stepped on Portuguese soil was similarly treated. There was
no charge for entering the country, but the jail yawned for him who
refused to pay when leaving it.

Not unlike the patriots in Cape Town and Durban, the hotel and shopkeepers