Soremekun Fola. And Angola was hotbed of corruption. For an understanding of the Portuguese view here was what the governor of Benguela himself told the mission in reply to the petition sent to him The governor said The whole proceedings of the missionaries appear unnatural who in the exclusive interest of the Christian faith should come to establish themselves in the center of Africa with no kind of remuneration in view that this unusual circumstance fatally brought upon the missionaries certain suspicion of reserv ed political motive and in this way it is perfectly explicable that not only Eduardo Braga but all the white traders who go inland receive instructions to hear from the gentis the people what has been and is the deportment of missionaries.
RELIGION AND POLITICS IN ANGOLA ed the suspicious atmosphere of mutual distrust of the one group against the other that one is forced to ask could the lion and the lamb coexist In the unsettled condition of the Benguela Highlands in the late i88os the missionaries at least certainly needed the strong arm of the Portuguese government to curb what to them was the intransigent behaviour of some of the African chiefs which was hindrance to the peaceful work of preaching For example when the missionaries got to Bailundu in Ekuikui was raiding the outlying country as part of the last ceremony of his inauguration For the following three years there was no peace as the trade routes eastward and westward were being plundered.
The nearness of Portuguese traders meant the nearness of rum The Christians accused the slaves of Portuguese traders of stealing from the mission nelds Difficulties occurred more and more frequently In what the mission called self-defence member of the church shot and wounded some slaves of Portuguese trader whom they say had been stealing from the mission farm The owner of the slave reported to the fort The Christian was arrested and jailed without trial This was the last straw the mission decided to move to Chilesso.
RELIGION AND POLITICS IN ANGOLA would appear before magistrate or some other representative of the Curador General of Angola This latter personality was to certify that the contract was free and voluntary The pay of the labourer was to be agreed upon The labourer was to do such domestic or agricultural services as his employer might require He was to work nine hours day and rest on Sunday two hours rest period was taken out for lunch The contract was to last for nve years the nrst instance and could be renewed if both parties so agreed The children born during the period were to be free and could not be used for any type of work.
FOLA SOREMEK at the time consolidation of administration native policy and economic development Norton de Matos began to cut the districts of Angola into various circumscriptions The administrators of these were for the native people administrative judicial and military author ity The administrador in many respects was modern projection of pater familias In his status however the Portuguese administrator was more authoritarian than the average British district officer Each administrator was appointed by the governor-general of the province and he was responsible to the governor of his district Norton de Matos surrounded himself with competent administradores With the use of Regulamento das eir conserte es da provincia de Angola Norton de Matos outlawed the obnoxious labour system.
