Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/80

 The abolition of the slave trade by the English has been another severe blow to the trade of Mosambique. The whole supply of the Cape, of the Isles of France and of Batavia was formerly derived from these settlements, and many of the Indian ports afforded a ready sale for cargoes of this description; besides a very considerable number of these unfortunate creatures was carried over by American, and sometimes, even latterly, by English ships under American colours, into our West India possessions. The whole of these sources are now cut off by the strict adherence of our cruisers in this quarter to the subsequent laws of the abolition. Nothing therefore remains to Mosambique except the limited trade with India and the Brazils; the former is still lucrative. Ivory, gold, and slaves always find a ready market at Goa, Diu, and Demaun, and four or five vessels annually come from these places with cloths, cotton, teas, and other Eastern produce. The trade to the West is chiefly confined to slaves, which are carried as well to the Spanish as the Portuguese possessions in that quarter, and in return nothing but specie is received. The number of slaves annually exported from Mosambique is said to amount to more than 4000. The duty on each of these is sixteen and a half crusades. The Portuguese traders for a long time were charged only eight, but they are now obliged to pay at the same rate as the foreign trader. All other exports are exempt from duty. The duty on imports is charged in the following proportions: 2½ per cent. is imposed on all the specie brought into the country, one per cent. of which goes to the general revenue, and the remainder to the Governor. Other imports pay twenty per cent. ad valorem, to which may be added one and a half per cent. custom-house charges, forty dollars for pilotage, and the maintenance of two custom-house officers on board each ship trading in the port, to whom it is usual to pay besides one and a half crusade per day. These charges, with fees to secretaries, &c. may be computed altogether to amount to twenty-five per cent. The few following remarks on the trade, which may enable the reader to form a tolerably correct, though not