Cotton is growing over the whole country; and indigo is everywhere.
The Kaffirs bring in plenty of ivory, hunting the elephants with poisoned bows and arrows, and sometimes digging pits for them.
The sea washes up large quantities of amber, while both descriptions of turtle are found along the coast. The sperm whale may be seen in the season off the harbour; and the sea and rivers abound with varieties of delicious fish.
The natives are a warlike race, and appear to keep the Portuguese in good order, but all their prisoners taken in war are supplied for the slave trade. It is unnecessary to state that many of these wars are occasioned by the demands of that inhuman traffic.
The huts of the natives of Inhambane are built square, instead of round, like those of the Kaffirs, and are sometimes made of mud bricks, but more commonly of wattle-dab, or palm leaves. Their manners and customs are very much like those of the natives met with on the Zambesi, of whom we purpose giving some account.
CHAPTER X.
Kingdom of Mocoranga—Kotba for the Soudan of Cairo—Sultan of Kilwa—Kingdom of Algarves—Remains of Ancient Cities—Inscriptions Not Deciphered—Zimboë Bruce—Sofala, the Ancient Ophir—Productions—The Manica Gold Mines—Surrounding Region Adapted for Europeans—Industry of the Natives—The Priests Rob the Jewels from the Image of the Blessed Virgin.
Captain Gordon having satisfied himself that the “Zambesi” was a Portuguese schooner of war—for from the number of negroes on board of her, and the confusion of Ex-governor Leotti, there were serious doubts entertained whether or not she were a slaver—we steamed away to the northward, keeping a bright look-out for the “Minnetonka,” and other slavers known to be on the coast.