3-053-676 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The East African Slave Trade: Mozambique, with Fort St. Sebastian, 1873. '...we have engraved for the present Number four views of Mozambique and the neighbouring territory, which were obligingly lent us by Sir William Parker,...having been drawn by him from slight sketches made on that coast a few years ago by his brother, the late Captain Hyde Barker...Sir William Parker writes: "The town of Mozambique, which nearly covers the low sandy island of the same name,...is the capital of the Portuguese possessions on the east coast of Africa, and the residence of the Governor...The fine harbour to which this place owes all its importance is one of the few safe anchorages on the coast during all weathers...The large fort of St. Sebastian, at the north-east end of the island, is a fine piece of old masonry, and was built at the commencement of the eighteenth century. Portuguese tradition says that it was completed within three years, but that its construction cost the lives of 60,000 n*groes...It can mount eighty guns, and commands the bay and harbour; and, though now in a neglected state, like everything Portuguese on this coast, it is still a strong work...The climate is deadly, and the depravity of morals notorious...".' From "Illustrated London News", 1873.