Angoxa—Its History—Perfidious Conduct of the Portuguese—Effects of British Interference—Wholesale Dread which the Portuguese have of the Imâm of Muskat—Visit of the Sultan of Angoxa to Johanna—Invites a British Merchant to Trade with him—Seizure of the British Brig “Reliance.”
Passing on from the mouths of the Zambesi, with all its untold treasures, we come to a country which, having abandoned the slave-trade, and entered into legitimate commerce, finds its reward in growing richer and more powerful every year, while the neighbouring Portuguese settlements, abandoned to the nefarious traffic in human beings, become annually more impoverished.
Steaming along this coast the prospect was quite enchanting, as ever and anon island after island rose from the sea, displaying their shores of the purest white sand, surrounded by the blue ocean, and surmounted by the beautiful and graceful Kasurina tree, which, at a distance, has much the appearance of our own fir tree.
At last we anchored as close as the surrounding reef would permit us, to an island called Mafamale.
This island is at the mouth of the Angoxa river, and is well known to the Arabs who frequent these seas as the burial-place of one of their prophets.
We visited the island, and made diligent search for the tomb of the prophet, but could not find a vestige of anything which might be taken for an Arab tomb. In fact, the only marks which we observed at all on the island of its having been visited at any time, were that some of the trees had been lately cut down and removed; and we also saw the remains of a recent fire.
On the 15th of July, the morning after we anchored, the Prime Minister of the Sultan of Angoxa came on board the “Hermes,” accompanied by the Sultan’s nephew. The latter evidently came to look after the prime minister, who, although entirely in the confidence of the chief of the country, was anxious to get back to Zanzibar, of which place he was one of the Arab community.
On the following day Captain Gordon went up the river and paid a visit to the Sultan, at the town of Angoxa, which is situated at the distance of twelve miles from the mouth of the river; to which there are two entrances, so that a vessel may enter and go out with a fair wind in either monsoon.
The town of Angoxa consists of a number of small houses, built partly of stone and partly of wood, the roofs being of the leaves of the palm or cocoa-nut. It contains about 1,000 inhabitants, the greater part of whom are Arabs, and carries on a considerable trade with the Arab settlements at Zanzibar, Melinda, and Mombas.
Angoxa supplies immense quantities of simsim, or sesame, or guergelin seed (which appears here particularly to thrive), the oil expressed from which is a valuable article of commerce, being used as a substitute for olive oil, and much prized for the finer portions of machinery.