A Little Oil And Wheat Are Exported, But Nothing Else.
Trade With The Tribes Beyond The Exclusive Ones Is Much
Better.
Thirty brass rings cost 10s. at Senna, 1 Pound at Tete, and 2 Pounds
beyond the tribes in the
Vicinity of Tete; these are a good price for
a penful of gold-dust of the value of 2 Pounds. The plantations of coffee,
which, previous to the commencement of the slave-trade, yielded one material
for exportation, are now deserted, and it is difficult to find a single tree.
The indigo (`Indigofera argentea', the common wild indigo of Africa)
is found growing every where, and large quantities of the senna-plant*
grow in the village of Tete and other parts, but neither indigo nor senna
is collected. Calumba-root, which is found in abundance in some parts
farther down the river, is bought by the Americans, it is said,
to use as a dye-stuff. A kind of sarsaparilla, or a plant
which is believed by the Portuguese to be such, is found from Londa to Senna,
but has never been exported.
-
* These appear to belong to `Cassia acutifolia', or true senna of commerce,
found in various parts of Africa and India. - Dr. Hooker.
-
The price of provisions is low, but very much higher than previous to
the commencement of the war. Two yards of calico are demanded
for six fowls; this is considered very dear, because, before the war,
the same quantity of calico was worth 24 fowls. Grain is sold in little bags
made from the leaves of the palmyra, like those in which we receive sugar.
They are called panjas, and each panja weighs between 30 and 40 lbs.
The panja of wheat at Tete is worth a dollar, or 5s.; but the native grain
may be obtained among the islands below Lupata at the rate of three panjas
for two yards of calico. The highest articles of consumption
are tea and coffee, the tea being often as high as 15s. a pound.
Food is cheaper down the river below Lupata, and, previous to the war,
the islands which stud the Zambesi were all inhabited, and, the soil being
exceedingly fertile, grain and fowls could be got to any amount.
The inhabitants disappeared before their enemies the Landeens,
but are beginning to return since the peace. They have no cattle,
the only place where we found no tsetse being the district of Tete itself;
and the cattle in the possession of the Portuguese are a mere remnant
of what they formerly owned.
When visiting the hot fountain, I examined what were formerly
the gold-washings in the rivulet Mokoroze, which is nearly
on the 16th parallel of latitude. The banks are covered
with large groves of fine mango-trees, among which the Portuguese lived
while superintending the washing for the precious metal.
The process of washing is very laborious and tedious. A quantity of sand
is put into a wooden bowl with water; a half rotatory motion
is given to the dish, which causes the coarser particles of sand to collect
on one side of the bottom. These are carefully removed with the hand,
and the process of rotation renewed until the whole of the sand is taken away,
and the gold alone remains. It is found in very minute scales, and,
unless I had been assured to the contrary, I should have taken it to be mica,
for, knowing the gold to be of greater specific gravity than the sand,
I imagined that a stream of water would remove the latter
and leave the former; but here the practice is to remove the whole of the sand
by the hand. This process was, no doubt, a profitable one to the Portuguese,
and it is probable that, with the improved plan by means of mercury,
the sands would be lucrative. I had an opportunity of examining
the gold-dust from different parts to the east and northeast of Tete.
There are six well-known washing-places. These are called
Mashinga, Shindundo, Missala, Kapata, Mano, and Jawa.
From the description of the rock I received, I suppose gold is found
both in clay shale and quartz. At the range Mushinga to the N.N.W.
the rock is said to be so soft that the women pound it into powder
in wooden mortars previous to washing.
Round toward the westward, the old Portuguese indicate a station
which was near to Zumbo on the River Panyame, and called Dambarari,
near which much gold was found. Farther west lay the now unknown
kingdom of Abutua, which was formerly famous for the metal; and then,
coming round toward the east, we have the gold-washings of the Mashona,
or Bazizulu, and, farther east, that of Manica, where gold is found
much more abundantly than in any other part, and which has been
supposed by some to be the Ophir of King Solomon. I saw the gold
from this quarter as large as grains of wheat, that found in the rivers
which run into the coal-field being in very minute scales.
If we place one leg of the compasses at Tete, and extend the other
three and a half degrees, bringing it round from the northeast of Tete
by west, and then to the southeast, we nearly touch or include
all the known gold-producing country. As the gold on this circumference
is found in coarser grains than in the streams running toward the centre,
or Tete, I imagine that the real gold-field lies round about the coal-field;
and, if I am right in the conjecture, then we have coal encircled
by a gold-field, and abundance of wood, water, and provisions -
a combination not often met with in the world. The inhabitants are not
unfavorable to washings, conducted on the principle formerly mentioned.
At present they wash only when in want of a little calico.
They know the value of gold perfectly well, for they bring it for sale
in goose-quills, and demand 24 yards of calico for one penful.
When the rivers in the district of Manica and other gold-washing places
have been flooded, they leave a coating of mud on the banks.
The natives observe the spots which dry soonest, and commence digging there,
in firm belief that gold lies beneath.
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