But, Taking The Distance
Below This Point, We Have, In Round Numbers, 300 Miles Of Navigable River.
Above This Rapid
We have another reach of 300 miles, with sand,
but no mud banks in it, which brings us to the
Foot of the eastern ridge.
Let it not, however, be thought that a vessel by going thither
would return laden with ivory and gold-dust. The Portuguese of Tete pick up
all the merchandise of the tribes in their vicinity, and, though I came out
by traversing the people with whom the Portuguese have been at war,
it does not follow that it will be perfectly safe for others to go in
whose goods may be a stronger temptation to cupidity than any thing
I possessed. When we get beyond the hostile population mentioned,
we reach a very different race. On the latter my chief hopes at present rest.
All of them, however, are willing and anxious to engage in trade,
and, while eager for this, none have ever been encouraged to cultivate
the raw materials of commerce. Their country is well adapted for cotton;
and I venture to entertain the hope that by distributing seeds of better kinds
than that which is found indigenous, and stimulating the natives
to cultivate it by affording them the certainty of a market
for all they may produce, we may engender a feeling of mutual dependence
between them and ourselves. I have a twofold object in view,
and believe that, by guiding our missionary labors so as to benefit
our own country, we shall thereby more effectually and permanently
benefit the heathen.
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