Measures of Administration.
João Fernandez Vieira must be credited with the first serious attempt to organise the military forces of the country (1660), by raising a regiment, or terço, of infantry, for Luandu, and a company for each presidio. These “regulars” were to be supported by the guerra preta, or empacaceiros. A company of cavalry was added to the regular troops in 1672; and the exemption from every kind of military service conferred upon the inhabitants of Luandu since 1660 was partly abolished in 1695, and orders given for the organisation of a terço of ordenanças (militia) for Luandu, and of seventeen companies for the districts and presidios. The fortifications of Luandu had been much improved since the expulsion of the Dutch. The fort of S. Miguel, at Luandu, which was begun in 1638, had been completed by D. João de Lencastre in 1689; and at the close of the century there existed forts, sufficiently strong to resist native attack, at Muchima, Masanganu, Kambambe, Pungu a ndonga, Mbaka, S. Filippe de Benguella, and Kakonda.
The only measure bearing upon the civil administration of the country seems to have been the publication of a Regimento for the guidance of officers of revenue and of justice, in 1675. At the same time, an extra export-duty of ten testões509 was ordered to be paid on every slave, the proceeds to go towards the dowry of Queen Catherine, the consort of Charles II of England.
The introduction of copper coins (makutas) into Luandu, in 1624, caused much dissatisfaction, and actually led to a mutiny of the troops, who not unnaturally felt agrieved at being expected to accept 200 reis in copper as an equivalent of a native cloth, up to that time valued at 700 reis.510 The mutiny was suppressed, and the five ringleaders were executed. In the interior of the country, the ancient currency remained in force, larger amounts being paid in merchandise (fazenda de lei), whilst smaller sums were paid in zimbos (njimbu) or cowries, libongos (mbongo, plural jimbongo), or square pieces of native cloth, or blocks of rock-salt.
The only attempt at geographical exploration was that of José de Roza, who left Masanganu in 1678, for the lower Zambezi, but turned back after only a few days’ journey, owing to the hostility of the natives.
At the end of the seventeenth century, Portugal held sway over a territory of over fifty thousand square miles; she maintained fortified posts far inland; her traders had penetrated as far as the upper Kwanza; and on the coast she held the prosperous cities of S. Paulo de Luandu and S. Filippe de Benguella. But this prosperity depended almost exclusively upon the slave trade. Scarcely any attempt had been made to develop the great natural resources of the country, and even the food of the inhabitants was still largely supplied by the Brazils. The colonists introduced included too large a criminal element; the Government officials were more intent upon realising large fortunes511 than permanently benefiting the country they had been sent to rule; and even among the preachers of the gospel were men quite unfit to hold the office which they filled. And this deplorable state of affairs continued long beyond the period with which we have dealt. Lopes de Lima512 calls D. Francisco Innocencio de Sousa Coutinho, who was appointed in 1764, the “first Governor who undertook to civilise this semi-barbarous colony; and who during his rule of eight years and a-half, did more in that sense than all his predecessors had ever thought of.” Up to his time, “Governors, captains, magistrates, men of the church and the cloister” were only intent upon dividing the spoils of office, and acted in the most scandalous manner.