There are other mines still farther from Sofala, being about 400 or 500 miles distant, where the gold is found in solid lumps, or as veins in the rocks and stones.
In the still portions of the rivers, when they are low, the natives frequently dive to obtain the lumps of gold which have been washed down into these holes and gullies in the beds of the rivers. They will also sometimes join together in hundreds, and deflect a stream temporarily from its course, to drain these holes, and obtain the rich deposits which they contain. With such natives, what could the Portuguese not do if they would only exert themselves?—but they tell one that the natives are lazy and stupid brutes. On the other hand, the Moors induce the natives to work and obtain gold for them; and so it is very apparent who are deserving of the degrading epithets applied to them by the degenerate hybrid race of Canareens who lord it over them.
On this side of Africa I believe mercury has never been employed for the purpose of extracting the gold, the more valuable metal being so abundant. The natives do not value it, making their ornaments of copper in preference to gold.
The iron from Sofala has been long celebrated for its malleable qualities, and has been carried to India for many ages by the Arabs, where it has always found a ready market.
In the whole of this territory elephants are found; and it has been estimated, from the enormous quantity of ivory produced, that the natives at one time must have killed from three to four thousand of these animals every year.
Along the whole of this coast, the pearl-oyster is to be found. At Inhambane the natives obtain it along the beach without even going out of their depth; while the Bazarutto Islands, near the mouth of the Sabia river, have been long celebrated for the pearl fishery carried on there. It was from these islands that the pearls which accompanied the gold and ivory and precious stones to the court of King Solomon were doubtless obtained.
The Portuguese flag is kept flying at the Bazarutto Islands, but for what purpose, except to keep others from benefiting by the pearls which they neglect, one cannot imagine. From accounts which I have received, I am led to believe that the pearl-fishery at these islands, properly worked and protected, would rival that of Ceylon.
On both banks of the river Sofala, and from that river northwards to the southern bank of the Zambesi, the country is one mass of mineral wealth; gold, silver, copper, and, toward Tete, even iron and coal being found in abundance.
The town of Sofala, which is built at the mouth of the river of the same name, is divided into two portions, one of which contains the Moors, or labourers of the small settlement, and the other the Governor and his subordinates, together with their slaves, who may, collectively, be well styled the drones, for they live by taxes and duties levied on the more industrious Moorish community.
The houses are not unlike those already described at Inhambane, the exteriors by no means leading one to surmise the high-sounding titles of the occupants. That portion of Sofala which is known as Portuguese Town is dirty in the extreme, while the Moorish Town is but little better.