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. They are said not to dig
deeper than their chins, believing that if they did so the ground
would fall in and kill them. When they find a `piece' or flake of gold,
they bury it again, from the superstitious idea that this
is the seed of the gold, and, though they know the value of it well,
they prefer losing it rather than the whole future crop. This conduct
seemed to me so very unlikely in men who bring the dust in quills,
and even put in a few seeds of a certain plant as a charm
to prevent their losing any of it on the way, that I doubted
the authority of my informant; but I found the report verified
by all the Portuguese who knew the native language and mode of thinking,
and give the statement for what it is worth. If it is really practiced,
the custom may have been introduced by some knowing one who wished to defraud
the chiefs of their due; for we are informed in Portuguese history
that in former times these pieces or flakes of gold were considered
the perquisites of the chiefs.
Major Sicard, the commandant, whose kindness to me and my people
was unbounded, presented a rosary made of the gold of the country,
the workmanship of a native of Tete, to my little daughter;
also specimens of the gold-dust of three different places,
which, with the coal of Muatize and Morongoze, are deposited in
the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street, London.
All the cultivation is carried on with hoes in the native manner,
and considerable quantities of `Holcus sorghum', maize,
`Pennisetum typhoideum', or lotsa of the Balonda, millet, rice, and wheat
are raised, as also several kinds of beans - one of which,
called "litloo" by the Bechuanas, yields under ground, as well as
the `Arachis hypogaea', or ground-nut; with cucumbers, pumpkins, and melons.
The wheat is sown in low-lying places which are annually flooded
by the Zambesi.
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