With the Boer Forces | Page 5

the profits.
When the mines of the Johannesburg gold district were closed down,

and the Portuguese heard that they would no longer receive a
compulsory contribution of four shillings from every native who
crossed the border to work in the mines, the officials felt uneasy on
account of the great decrease in the amount of public revenues, but it
did not worry them for any great length of time. They met the situation
by imposing a tax of eight shillings upon every one of the thousands of
natives who returned from the mines to their homes in Portuguese
territory. About the same time the Uitlanders from the Transvaal
reached Lorenzo Marques, and, in order to calm the Portuguese mind,
every one of the thousands of men and women who took part in that
exodus was compelled to pay a transit tax, ranging from eight shillings
to a sovereign, according to the size of the tip tendered to the official.
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 of Lorenzo Marques took advantage of the presence of
many strangers and made extraordinary efforts to secure the residue of
the money which did not fall into the coffers of the Government. At the
Cardoza Hotel, the only establishment worthy of the name, a tax of a
sovereign was levied for sleeping on a bare floor; drivers of street cabs
scorned any amount less than a golden sovereign for carrying one
passenger to the consulates; lemonades were two shillings each at the
kiosks; and physicians charged three pounds a call when travellers
remained in the town several days and contracted the deadly
coast-fever. At the Custom House duties of ten shillings were levied
upon foreign flags, unless the officer was liberally tipped, in which
event it was not necessary to open the luggage. It was a veritable
harvest for every one who chose to take advantage of the opportunities
offered, and there were but few who did not make the foreigners their
victims.
The blockade by the British warships placed a premium upon
dishonesty, and of those who gained most by it the majority were
British subjects. The vessels which succeeded in passing the
blockading warships were invariably consigned to Englishmen, and
without exception these were unpatriotic enough to sell the supplies to
agents employed by the Transvaal Government. Just as Britons sold
guns and ammunition to the Boers before the war, these men of the
same nation made exorbitant profits on supplies which were necessary
to the burgher army. Lorenzo Marques was filled with men who were
taking advantage of the state of affairs to grow wealthy by means
which were not legitimate, and the leaders in almost every enterprise of
that nature were British subjects, although there were not a few
Germans, Americans, and Frenchmen who succeeded in making the
fortunes they deserved for remaining in such a