Numerous Villages Are Studded All Over The Valley;
But These Possess No Permanence, And Many More Existed Previous To
The Portuguese Expedition Of 1850 To Punish The Bangala.
This valley, as I have before remarked, is all fertile in the extreme.
My men could never cease admiring its capability for raising
their corn (`Holcus sorghum'), and despising the comparatively limited
cultivation of the inhabitants.
The Portuguese informed me that no manure
is ever needed, but that, the more the ground is tilled, the better it yields.
Virgin soil does not give such a heavy crop as an old garden,
and, judging from the size of the maize and manioc in the latter,
I can readily believe the statement. Cattle do well, too. Viewing the valley
as a whole, it may be said that its agricultural and pastoral riches
are lying waste. Both the Portuguese and their descendants
turn their attention almost exclusively to trade in wax and ivory,
and though the country would yield any amount of corn and dairy produce,
the native Portuguese live chiefly on manioc, and the Europeans
purchase their flour, bread, butter, and cheese from the Americans.
As the traders of Cassange were the first white men we had come to,
we sold the tusks belonging to Sekeletu, which had been brought to test
the difference of prices in the Makololo and white men's country.
The result was highly satisfactory to my companions, as the Portuguese give
much larger prices for ivory than traders from the Cape can possibly give,
who labor under the disadvantage of considerable overland expenses
and ruinous restrictions.
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