Shallow ravines, running parallel with the river, form the streets, the
houses being built on the ridges. The whole surface of the streets,
except narrow footpaths, were overrun with self-sown indigo, and tons of
it might have been collected. In fact indigo, senna, and stramonium,
with a species of cassia, form the weeds of the place, which are annually
hoed off and burned. A wall of stone and mud surrounds the village, and
the native population live in huts outside. The fort and the church,
near the river, are the strongholds; the natives having a salutary dread
of the guns of the one, and a superstitious fear of the unknown power of
the other. The number of white inhabitants is small, and rather select,
many of them having been considerately sent out of Portugal "for their
country's good." The military element preponderates in society; the
convict and "incorrigible" class of soldiers, receiving very little pay,
depend in great measure on the produce of the gardens of their black
wives; the moral condition of the resulting population may be imagined.

Droughts are of frequent occurrence at Tette, and the crops suffer
severely. This may arise partly from the position of the town between
the ranges of hills north and south, which appear to have a strong
attraction for the rain-clouds. It is often seen to rain on these hills
when not a drop falls at Tette. Our first season was one of drought.
Thrice had the women planted their gardens in vain, the seed, after just
vegetating, was killed by the intense dry heat. A fourth planting shared
the same hard fate, and then some of the knowing ones discovered the
cause of the clouds being frightened away: our unlucky rain-gauge in the
garden. We got a bad name through that same rain-gauge, and were
regarded by many as a species of evil omen. The Makololo in turn blamed
the people of Tette for drought: "A number of witches live here, who
won't let it rain." Africans in general are sufficiently superstitious,
but those of Tette are in this particular pre-eminent above their