Africa by Élisée Reclus/Volume 4/Chapter 9

by Élisée Reclus

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CHAPTER IX.

MOZAMBIQUE.

From the Zambese to Rovuma.

HE territory assigned to Portugal by the late international treaties still continues north of the Zambese as far as the valley of the Rovuma, and extends from the seaboard inland in the direction of Lake Nyassa. But Portuguese jurisdiction is very far from making itself felt throughout the whole of this vast domain. Even the influence of the officials appointed from Lisbon extends in many places little beyond the immediate vicinity of the coast. They possess nothing except mere hearsay knowledge of the lands represented on the maps as belonging to the crown of Portugal. Even down to recent times the slave-trade was the only traffic carried on in this region; hence the beaten tracks were jealously guarded by the dealers in human merchandise, and these alone dared to venture into the interior, which they described as inhabited by hordes of ferocious anthropophagists.

The station of Mozambique itself, mainstay of the Portuguese authority along the seaboard, is situated not on the mainland but on a neighbouring island, while the surrounding country might, till quite recently, be described as a terra incognita to within a short distance of the opposite coast. Like all other stations on the East African seaboard, except Sofala, Mozambique was regarded as little more than a port of call for vessels plying between Europe and India. It had never been utilised as a starting-point for exploring expeditions in the interior, and the Portuguese continued to occupy it for three hundred years without collecting any information regarding the neighbouring lands und peoples that might, nevertheless, have easily been visited.

The journeys of Lacerda and his successor Gamitto were the first serious geographical expeditions, and even these were directed towards the regions beyond Nyassa. Then came Roscher, Johnson, Last, Cardozo, and especially O'Neill, by whom the Mozambique lands have been traversed in every direction during the latter half of the present century. Strictly speaking, this territory has become a part of the known world mainly through the labours of O'Neill, by whom the banks of the Shire and of Lake Nyassa have been connected with the maritime ports by carefully surveyed routes comprising a total length of about 4,000 miles, It would scarcely be unfair, says an English writer, to give to this region the name of O'Neill's Land, in honour of the explorer who first laid down on our maps the true features of its mountains, lacustrine basins, and running waters. The territory thus newly acquired by science comprised a superficial area of about 140,000 square miles, with a population approximately estimated at a million souls.

 

Relief of the Land

Tho mountain system of the interior is connected westward with the Shire uplands and the ranges skirting the east side of Lake Nyassa. West of Mozambique

Fig. 81. — Chief Routes of Explorers East or Nyassa.

the chief eminences are the Namuli Mountains, an almost isolated mass which till recently was supposed to penetrate into the region of snows, but which in any case forms a superb group, dominating far and wide above the surrounding plains and diverging fluvial valleys. The mean level of the land above which it lowers is itself about 2,000 feet high. But the hills are much more elevated and precipitous on the southern slope, where the outer escarpments attain an altitude of from 2,300 to 2,600 feet above the neighbouring plains. Here rise the loftiest summits, among others the twin-peaked Namuli, whence the whole group of highlands take their name. According to the explorer, Last, the Namuli, supposed by the natives to be the cradle of the human race, has an absolute elevation of about 8,000 feet above sea-level. After storms the slopes are at times covered with a layer of hailstones, producing the effect of a snow-clad mountain. Towards the west, Namuli is separated from a rival peak by a deep cleft with almost vertical sides, several hundred yards high. In other directions it presents less formidable approaches, although its polished rocks, on which O'Neill detects traces of a glacial period, were everywhere found to be so precipitous that the English explorer was unable to reach the summit. Some rivulets, which in the rainy season become copious torrents, descend from the higher plateaux, tumbling from cascade to cascade, and lower down developing numerous streams, which almost everywhere disappear under the overhanging foliage. Native hamlets straggle up to a height of 6,000 feet, mostly surrounded by verdant thickets. Both for their wealth of vegetation and charming landscapes the Namuli mountains

Fig. 82. — Namuli Mountains.

are one of the most remarkable regions in the whole of Africa. The secondary spurs rooted in the central nucleus, and gradually falling in the direction from east to west down to a mere terrace skirting the low-lying strip of coastlands, are also clothed with a rich forest growth, presenting a striking contrast with the treeless plains at their base.

West of the Namuli Mountains, the uplands have been partly denuded by the erosive action of running waters. Nevertheless here also occur some groups of lofty hills, such as the Milanji Mountains, which rise to the south-east of Blantyre and to the south of the Lake Shirwa depression. In the southern part of this region the extensive plains extending in the direction of the Zambese are dotted over with isolated eminences, such es Mounts Shiperoni and Kanga, which are visible for a great distance round about. In the northern districts the heights rise but little above the level of the plateau, or from 350 to about 1,200 or 1,300 feet, yet they present such steep escarpments that they are not easily sealed. The peninsular tract enclosed between the Rovuma and its Lujenda affluent in the extreme north is relieved only by the lateral ridges of the Nyassa coast range from the generally monotonous and dreary aspect of the open plateau country.

 

River Systems.

The chief rivers traversing this plateau between the Zambese and the Rovuma

Fig. 83. — Lakes Kilwa Chiuta and Amaramba.

A thorn source either in the Namuli highlands or in the neighbouring heights. Such is the Walaga, which, under various names, flows first in the direction of the south-cast, then southwards, falling into the Indian Ocean some distance north LAKE NYASSA. 285 of the Zambose delta. The Ligonya, which reaches the coast midway between Quelimane and Mozambique, as well as the Lurio (Lu-Rio), which waters the Lomwe territory, discharging into a bay about 120 miles north of the capital, have also their farthest headstreams in the Namuli uplands. Numerous other less copious watercourses rising in the advanced spurs of the same hilly districts have their estuaries on the seaboard between the Lurio and Rovuma mouths. The Rovuma (Ro-Vuma, Ru-Vuma), which forms the northern frontier line of Mozambique, is a considerable stream whose basin comprises nearly the whole eastern drainage of the mountains skirting the east side of Nyassa. Its farthest affluents even rise to the south of the lake, their united waters forming the Lienda or Lujenda (Lu-Jenda), which for the length of its course must be regarded as the main upper branch of the Rovuma. Till recently it was even supposed to have its origin some 60 miles farther south in the Milangi hills, and that it consequently traversed Lake Kilwa, the Shirwa of English writers, discovered by Livingstone in 1859. But this lake is now known to be an independent reservoir without any present outflow, although it apparently belongs geologically to the same depres- sion as the Lujenda Valley, with which at some former period it was probably connected. Lake Kilwa. The sill confining the lacustrine basin on the north varies in height from about 14 to 30 feet at the utmost. This low ridge also lies considerably more than a mile from the northern extremity of the lake, and is clothed from one end to the other with large timber, showing that this tract has ceased to be flooded for a period of at least a hundred years. Nevertheless it is quite possible that in exceptionally wet seasons the level of Lake Kilwa may rise suflBciently to fill the sluggish marshy channels at its north-west extremity, and thus effect a communication northwards with the sources of the Lujenda, by skirting the western extremity of the old margin of the lake, where the ground is almost perfectly level. According to the statements of the oldest inhabitants, such communication in point of fact frequently took place before the present century ; but the level of Lake Kilwa has never ceased to fall lower and lower ever since that time. Hence this basin has now no outflow, the inflow being balanced by evaporation, while its waters, formerly fresh and potable, have now become quite saline. In its present condition the lake has an almost perfectly rectangular form, being about 36 miles long, with a mean breadth of 18 miles and a superficial area approximately estimated at 720 square miles. But it is very shallow, especially on the cast side, which is fordable for a long distance from the shore. The deepest part of the basin lies on the west side, under the escarpments of Mount Chikala, which rises precipitously to a height of from 2,000 to 2,600 feet above the lacus- trine level, which itself stands nearly 2,0Q0 feet above the sea. The two rocky islands of Kisi and Kitongwe serve to indicate the direction of a sub-lacustrine ridge which traverses the basin from north-east to south-west. This ridge will 2S6 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. perhaps, in course of time, rise completely above the surface, just as the northern ridpe has emerged with the continual subsidence of the waters. Shirwa is fed by a few swamps and rivulets, and the overflow of the recently discovered little Luke Limbi. Kilwu having ceased to communicate with the Lujenda, this great headstream of the Rovuma now receives its first contributions from the Mtorandanga morass, followed by another farther north. From this point the stream, which changes its name at every station, traverses in succession the two elongated Lakes Chiuta and Amaramba. It first takes the name of Lujenda at the outlet of the Amaramba basin, which is lined by pile-built cabins serving as granaries and refuges for the rivoruin populations. Here the river, flowing with a uniform and rapid current between steep banks, enters one of the most charming and fertile valleys in the interior of the continent. The broadening stream is divided by a chain of elevated islands, which are never submerged during the highest floods, and are everywhere clotlud with an exuberant vegetation of forest-trees, interlaced from branch to branch with festoons of creeping plants. Along the banks follow in pleasant variety grassy tracts, cultivated lands, and clumps of tall trees, while the distant horizon is bounded by the crests of blue mountain ranges. The Li jknda and Lower Rovuma. Swollen by all the torrents tumbling down from the Nyassa highlands, the Lujenda flows without any abrupt meanderings in the direction of the north-east, then trends northwards, plunging over a series of falls and rapids down to its confluLiKc with the Rovuma. This river, which rises not far from the east side of Nyassa, descends from the uplands in a far more precipitous channel than the Lujenda. Above the confluence it pierces a deep gorge flanked by granite walls, while the current is strewn with huge boulders as destitute of vegetation as are the cliffs themselves that here confine the stream in its stony bed. The wild rocky landscape is here relieved only by a little brushwood clothing the fiswures of the escarpments, and although lying within the equatorial zone the riverain scenery presents rather the aspect of a gorge in some northern region scored by glacial striic and strewn with moraines. At the issue of these defiles begins the region of plains and lowlands. The confluence itself of both branches stands at an altitude of not more than 730 feet, at the foot of a hill with polished rocky slopes. Lower down, the united stream discharges during the floods a portion of its overflow into two reservoirs near its right bank. Lakes Lidedi and I^agandi, shich after the subsidence of the waters flow back to the Rovuma. The level of the stream is little more than 300 feet above the sea at the point where its winding ramifications over the lowlands again converge in a single channel, which is pent up between the escarp- ments of the two lateral i)lateaux skirting its lower course. Livingstone ascended to a distance of nearly 180 miles from its mouth, but the trip was made in the

mouth of October, that is, during the season of low water, so that the bo»t often

Royuma and Lujenda confluence.

grounded in mid-stream. During the periodical inundations there can be no doubt that steamers would everywhere find sufficient depth as far as the firet cataracts,

The Rovuma, which falls into a spacious bay just north of Cape Delgado, has no bar at its mouth; nevertheless, small craft run some risk in penetrating from the sea into the river, owing to the eddies caused by the conflict of the opposing fluvial and marine currents.

 

The Mozambique Seaboard.

The section of the seaboard, extending for a distance of about 300 miles nearly in a line with the meridian, from Mokambo Bay to the Rovuma estuary, presents

Fig. 84. — Mouth of the Rovuma.

a remarkable contrast to the section disposed in the direction from south-west to north-east, extending from Sofalu Bay to the Zambese delta and the Mozambique coast. Southwards the beach is everywhere low and destitute of harbours, whereas farther north the coast is deeply indented with creeks and inlets, while ramifying headlands, continued by islets, stretch far seawards. This striking contrast is explained by the action of the Mozambique current, combined with that of the coral-building polyps. The oceanic stream flows close in shore south of the Rovuma, eating away the foot of the cliffs, striking against the rocky promontories, and sweeping in rapid eddies round every inlet on the seaboard. The bays are thus scoured of all their sedimentary matter, and while the current is accomplishing this work the coralline animalcules are building up their structures in deep water off the coast, although even here a ceaseless struggle is maintained between these new formations and the waves of the sea. In one place the reefs are carved into islands, in another the current sweeps away the less compact coral Fig. 85. — Ports and reefs of north Mozambique. masses, or else hollow out channels and narrow passages through them, where ebb and flow alternate with the velocity of a mill-race.

But south of Mozambique the marine current, ceasing to follow the shore-line, sets far seawards, the consequence being that all the inlets along the coast are gradually choked with sand or mud. According to the observations of sailors navigating these waters, the stream follows its normal direction from north to south for nineteen days in twenty, but its course is at times checked and even arrested, while it has been observed on some rare occasions actually to set in the opposite direction, towards the north.

Between Quelimane and Mozambique the coral-builders have erected a continuous chain of reefs and islets, skirting the coast at a distance ranging from 12 to 18 or 20 miles, and enclosing a broad channel, which in many places affords good anchorage. Natural harbours of refuge follow in quick succession along this marine highway within the reefy Primeira and Angosha (Angoxa^[1]) islets. But at the point where the shove-line takes the direction from south to north, these outer roadsteads are replaced by harbours formed by erosive action on the coast itself, There the port of Mokambo develops an extensive basin where whole fleets might ride at anchor in depths ranging from 60 to 90 feet. Mozambique commands from its low islet a labyrinth of inner havens, followed northwards by Conducia Bay and the magnificent group of sheltered inlets presented by the Ferñao Vellozo or Masasima basin. Memba Bay, with those of Mwambi, Montepes, Ibo, Masimbwa, and Mayapa, not to speak of the many excellent anchorages formed by the islets off the coast, render this seaboard one of the most favourable for navigation in the whole world. At the same time the barrier reefs and the swift currents striking against them require great caution on the part of skippers frequenting these waters. Even 60 miles CLIMATE OF MOZAMBIQUE. off the coast, under the latitude of Ibo, there occurs the dangerous marine bank of St. Lazarus, where vessels have occasionally been wrecked, although it is covered mostly by depths of from 6 to 18 fathoms. Climate. On the Mozambique coast the south-east trade-winds have so little force that they are frequently deflected from their normal course by the centres of intense radiation, developed at one time on the mainland to the west, at another on the great island of Madagascar to the east. Moreover the broad Mozambique Channel, which is disposed in the direction from north-east to south-west, offers to the atmospheric currents an easy passage, which they usually follow, setting either northwards to the equator or southwards to the Antarctic seas. The trade winds prevail most frequently during the cooler months, that is, from April to Sep- tember, when the vertical solar rays strike the globe north of the equator. Nevertheless, even during this season the aerial currents are generally deflected towards the north. They sweep round the south coast of Madagascar, and on reaching the Mozambique Channel set steadily northwards in the direction of Zanzibar. But from October to March, when the sun has moved to the southern hemi- sphere, followed by the whole system of atmospheric currents, the prevailing winds on the Mozambique coast are those blowing from the north-east. They set parallel with the seaboard in the same direction as the marine current itself, which now acquires a mean velocity of from about 2 to 4 miles an hour. In these maritime regions hurricanes are extremely rare. Fully forty years have elapsed since one of these atmospheric disturbances has been witnessed, when in January, 1841, a terrific cyclone churned up the Mozambique waters, tearing the shipping from its anchorage and strewing the coast with the wreckage. During the two following years Mozambique was again visited by similar storms, and on each occasion at the same period. Flora and Fauna. The moisture precipitated in the basins of the Rovuma and the other coast streams north of the Zambese is not sufficiently copious to nourish a luxuriant vegetation. Great forest-trees matted into an impenetrable tangled mass by trailing or twining plants are met only on the banks of the running waters. But although the coastlands have no large growths except on the irrigated tracts, the thickets on the elevated terraces are none the less very difficult to traverse. Here the brushwood and small shrubs are often so inextricably interwoven that it might be possible to walk for hours without once touching the ground. Caravans that have to force their way through this underwood move very slowly. The porters have to cut themselves a passage beneath the overhanging branches, avoiding the sharp points of many a projecting root, and in some places even creeping on all 116— AF 290 SOUTH AND EAST AFBICA. fours over the interwoven network of foliage and lianas. West of these thickets clothing the terraces near the coast, the inland plains, enjoying a far less abun- dant rainfall, supj^rt few vegetable growths beyond grasses and thorny mimosas. Forests properly so-called occur only on the slopes of the mountains, which inter- cept the moisture-bearing clouds rolling up from the Indian Ocean. The plants yielding copal and caoutchouc do not thrive beyond the zone of brushwood. On the other hand, the Mozambique fauna is surprisingly rich. The region of the Upper Lujenda and the plains traversed by the Rovuma below the confluence of its great tributary from tlie south, are hunting-grounds such-as are now seldom elsewhere seen in Austial Africa. The various species of antelopes, as well as the gnu, buifalo, quagga, and zebra, herd together in thousands, and are preyed upon by large numbers of lions and leopards ; hyjcnas are also very numerous. But this multitude of wild animals is entirely duo to the rareness or absence of man. IXHABITAXTS. ThE MaGWANGWARAS. Witliin a comparatively recent period the Rovuma basin was still thickly peopled ; but at present scarc(>ly a village is met for tracts 60 miles in extent below the Lujenda. They have almost everywhere been replaced by numerous ruins surrounded by now abandoned banana groves. The land has been laid waste, and now that there remains nothing more to destroy, the wild beasts have resumed possession of thcur d )main. The only aborigines, whose rare camping- grounds are still met at long intervals on the plains, are the Matambwes (Ma- Tambwe), protected by the hranches of the river, which they place between them- selves and their enemies. During the dry season they occupy the islands in the Rovuma ; but with the return of the periodical floods, which inundate their huts and fields, they retire to the elevated cliffs on the right bank. A few Matambwe are also met either as guests or as slaves amongst the powerful tribes which have given them a home or a refuge. Some groups of Manyanjas (Ma-Nyanja), timid savages akin to the Matambwes, have a few obscure settlements in the recesses of the region about the confluence. The predatory tribes by whom the ^lozambique lands have been wasted are the Magwangwaras (Ma-Gwangwara, Ma-Conguara), who dwell to the north of the Rovuma, along the north-eastern shores of Lake Nyassa, and in the region where the Rufiji has its source. With these Magwangwaras have been associated some other marauders, who are known, like the Zulu-Kafirs beyond Nyassa, by the general designation of Maviti. But they are not entitled to the name, and these pretended Maviti are really Wanindis (Wa-Nindi), who seem proud of continuing the work of the conquerors by whom their own territory was formerly wasted with fire and sword. They have adopted the warlike garb, the arms, usages, tactics, and the very name of these terrible Zulus. But in their country the traveller Porter heard of two persons only who were really of Zulu blood. Setting out from their villages to the north of the Rovuma, they tiyned the THE MAKUAS. 201 whole of the Matambwo country into a howling wilderness, and for many years all the markets along the coast were furnished with hundreds and thousands of slaves from this source. So abundant was the supply, that at that time a man fetched a less price than a sheep or a gout. But things have greatly changed since then. The Wunindis have withdrawn to their camping-grounds, whore they have again begun to till the land. There was nothing left to plunder when the late Sultan of Zanzibar interfered to stop their depredations. The Makuas. The Makuas (Ma-Kua, Ma-Kwa) occupy a vast domain, wljich stretches from Mozambique Bay westwards to the Namuli highlands and the lakes where the Lujenda has its sources. They are divided into numerous groups, such as the Medos and Mihavanis, nearly all hostile to each other, although closely related in language and usages. Each tribe, however, is specially distinguished by its peculiar style of headdress, and methods of tattooing the face and filing the teeth. During the last few decades the race has been much reduced by their constant intertribal feuds. Ruined villages, abandoned fields and gardens, are met in many places, and considerable tracts have become solitudes. The naturally fertile Namuli uplands are almost uninhabited. Amongst these tribes spirit- worship is universal, and in certain villages, notably at Mpassu, on the route between Quelimane and Blantyre, every cabin has its trophy of offerings to the local genii. Before all the villages are piled up heaps of presents, such as food and merchandise, which are expected to secure the favour of tutelar deities. On the southern slope of the Namuli mountains and the banks of the Lukugu River there is a Makua tribe, recently visited by Last, whose warriors still eat human flesh. These are the Mawas (Ma-AVa), vho occasionally devour their own dead, as well as captives in war, and still more frequently slaves and people secretly condemned either for their magic arts or because they happen to be corpulent, that is, in " prime condition." The victim must be kept ignorant of his fate ; at some public feast he is made drunk with beer, and then his executioners suddenly fall upon him and club him. Like their Maganya and Maviha sisters, the Makua women wear the pelele, or lip-ornament. They consider themselves fully equal to the men, and in some respects even take the first rank. Their right to hold property is perfectly recog- nised; they keep "establishments," huts, and fields, and can dispose of themselves according to their own fancy. In case of divorce they also keep possession both of the children and the land. Nevertheless the wives of the chief kneel before him, and when ordered salute him by clapping of hands. One of them is also selected to accompany him as his swordbearer. The wives have often been buried alive in the same grave with distinguished members of the community. The customs, however, vary greatly from tribe to tribe, and certain practices, such as circumcision, held to be a point of vital importance amongst most of the natives, are left by the Makuas to the option of the individual. Each petty state is governed by a chief and a council of elders, who are seated for the greater part of the day in a public hall hung with leopard skins. The Makuas are very fluent orators, and at all the feasts, celebrated by the neighbouring peoples with music and the dance, they hold rhetorical tournaments. Each orator is accompanied by a second, who, like the flute-player in classic times, stands behind to regulate the movement of the voice by his modulated utterance of harmonious syllables, filling by his music the gaps in the flowing periods, lending more insinuating softness to the pathetic phrases, heightening the effect of the peroration by a low cadenced

Fig. 86. — Chief nations of Mozambique.

muttering, and terminating the discourse by a muffled sound which seems to die away like a distant echo.

 

The Lomwes, Yaos, ann Mavihas.

The Lomwes, who according to O'Neill belong to the same stock as the Makuas, dwell chiefly in the Lurio basin to the north of the Namuli highlands, and of the mountains continuing this system eastwards. They are usually looked on merely as an ordinary Makua tribe, although they are clearly distinguished by their peculiar idiom, and also regard themselves as a separate people. Before their territory was explored, the Lomwes had the reputation of being a most formidable nation. All strangers were supposed to require a special invitation

. from the council of chiefs before during to enter their territory, as to do so without this precaution was considered certain death. The depopulated borderlands on their frontiers were also stated to be carefully guarded by elephant-hunters, instructed to kill all intruders of other races or tribes. But all this was idle popular report. The Lomwes are, on the contrary, now known to be a peace-loving and even timid people, who are harassed by their Makua neighbours.

Fig. 87. — Landscape in Lujenda.

They are even threatened with extinction at no distant date, unless peace be restored to this distracted land under the influence of the European traders or missionaries.

For intelligence and industry the Yaos (Wa-Hiyao), called also Ajawas, certainly take the foremost rank among all the Mozambique populations. The upper and Ljeu Valley forms the chief domain of these aborigines, who were formerly a powerful nation, but who, like their neighbours, have suffered greatly from the 294 SOUTH AST) EAST AFEICA. incursions of the Maviti and other plundering hordes beiriug this name. The Yaos are ulsj raiH m )re or 1ms interuiiuglol with other tribas along the banks of Nyassa and the II )vu:n i, and wherever they have penetratad they have almost invariably acquired the pjlitical preponderance. They neither disfigure their features by tattooing, nor do their women wear the repulsive ])elele. Of cleanly habits both in their dress and dwellings, they readilv adapt themselves to foreign ways, aud are specially distinguished by their enterprising H rt, so much so that they might be called the Vuangamezi of Mozambique. Tlie Yaos are also excellent husbandmen, and those of the Lujenda Yallcv have convcrtetl the ^vhole land inlo a vast garden, where groundnuts, sweet potatoes. j)uiupkiiis, harico's, and here and there a little rice are cultivated, jointly with niai/e .md .sorglio, the cereals serving as the staple of food. In the upland vallevs draining to the Rovuma, they have founded settlements on the crests of the steep hills, where they defy the attacks of the Magwangwara raiders. The upper slopes of these natural strongholds are for the most part covered with Imts. Johnson estimates the number of cabins grouped in the large settlement of Unyanyo at certainly not less than nine thousand. The summits of the mountains swarm with children, who climb the terraces and spring from crag to crag with the agilitv of monkeys. Cliiicagnht, another rocky citadel, is almost as populous as Unyango. The Yaos are frequently visited by the Arab traders, but they have not accepted the Moslem faith, aud still remain pagans. Sanguinary funeral rites and banquets of human flesh are even still kept up by the chiefs, although for the most part secretly. Young women and slaves are buried alive in the graves of .the great chiefs, but it is said that should an intended victim have the good luck to snoe/c during the funeral prctjession he is at once liberated, the spirit of the departed having in this way expressed his unwillingness to be attended in the other world by such persons. Till recently the Yaos displayed great enterprise and aciivity, especially as slave-dealers They acted as a sort of middlemen in forwarding nearly all the convoys of captives to Kiloa and the other ports along the coast. Nor has this traffic been yet completely suppressed. Thomson estimated at about two thousand the number of slaves annually sold by the Yaos in the coast towns. Probably in no other part of Africa are the effects of the slave-trade seen under a more hideous aspect than in the liovuma basin, where cultivated tracts have been abandoned, villages burnt, and whole communities dispersed or carried into bondage. At the beginning of the present century ^lave8 were annually exported from this district to the number of from four to five thousand, and when the traffic was abolished by Portugal, the Mozambique slave-hunters and dealers were powerful enough to incite an insurrection again-t the Government. Th.inks to the inaccessible nature of their territory, the Mavihas or Mahibas (Mu-^ iha, Ma-Hiba), were able to escape from the attacks of the raiders. But although iluir villages, situated in the clearings of the coastlands, were strongly palisaded, and mortover protected by their almost impenetrable thicliets, their MOZAMBIQUE ISLAND. 295 immunity was pun^huscd at the cost of keeping far from the highways of com- merce, ami excluding the Arab traders from all their settlements. Now, however, the buyers of copal and caoutchouc have gained access to their hitherto secluded retreats, and they have thus been gradually drawn within the sphere of commercial activity centred in the Portuguese seaports. The Mavihas are rtniarkable for their symmetrical figures and graceful car- riage, but they disfigure themselves by incisions, while not only the women but even the men wear the pelele in the upper lip, giving to the mouth somewhat the appearance of a nozzle. This lip-ring is prepared by the husband himself for his wife, and the ornament thus becomes a symbol of love and fidelity, like the wedding-ring worn by married people in civilised countries. When the wife dies the husband religiously preserves her pelele, never forgetting to bring it with him when he visits her grave and pours libations to her memory. O'Neill is of opinion that the Mavihas belong to the same race as the Makondes, who dwell to the north of the Rovuma. They have the same customs, and the people of the coast apply the same collective name to both groups. As amongst the Makondes, the Maviha women enjoy the privilege of choosing their husbands. Topography. The seaports where European and Asiatic dealers have settled for the purpose of trading with the natives of the interior are not numerous on the Mozambique coast ; nor have any of them acquired the proportions of a large city. They are, however, supplemented by the missionary stations founded in the regions remote from the seaboard, for these stations have become so many little European colonies, where the indigenous populations are brought into contact with a new and superior civilisation. North-west of Quelimane, the first frequented port is that of Angonhn, formerly a busy centre of the slave-trade. But the point selected for connecting the submarine cable and for the regular mail service is the famous island of Mozam- bique, which was occupied by the Portuguese at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and a hundred years later made the capital of all their East African possessions. This island was already a great Arab market, trading with the East Indies, when Yasco de Guma discovered it in 1498. The Portuguese had merely to fortify the place in order to secure a station of vital importance on the highway between Lisbon and Goa. Mozambique Island, a coralline rock about two miles long and a few hundred yards broad, partly closes the entrance of the spacious Mossoril Bay, a perfectly sheltered haven from 25 to 60 feet deep, where vessels frequenting these waters find a safe anchorage during the prevalence of the south-east monsoons. But on the east side of the island there is also developed another haven well protected from the surf by some coral reefs, low islands, and Cape Cabeceira, a prominent headland lying to the north-east of Mozambique, and connected with the mainland by a wooded peninsiih). The town, where no traces are any longer seen of the Arab occupation, has some regular buildings in the Portuguese style, protected by the guns of Fort Saint Sebastian, at the northern extremity of the island. The huts of the "black town" are grouped in the southern part of Mozambique, near Fort Saint Lawrence.

On this arid islet the rainwater is carefully husbanded and sold at a high

Fig. 88. — Mozambique and its Ports.

price to passing vessels. Till recently reduced to a state of decay owing to the falling off of its trade, this Portuguese town has again recovered some of its former importance as capital of a province, destined one day to join hands with Angola across the continent. The movement of exchanges now exceeds £220,000 yearly, the staples of the export trade being gums and ivory. Caoutchouc first MOZAMBIQUE ISLAND. 297 began to be shipped at Mozambique in 1873, and in six yrarn the value of this article alone was about £00,000. But it then fell off almost more rapidly than it had increased, whole forests having been destroyed to supply the demand. In the same way the ivory trade has ceased with the almost total disappearance of the elephant from the whole region east of Nyassa. The foreign commerce, which is made almost exclusively with England and France, is in the hands of a ft w hundred whites. Portuguese of Goa, half-castes, and Banyan& As at Ibo and (^ueliinane, woven fabrics are imported almost entirely by the Bombay merchants. The bulk of the population consists of Mohammedan blacks, who are descended from various coast tribes, but who have abandoned their national customs and distinctive characteristics, and become gradually transformed to a proletariate class, such as is met in all European seaports. The current language amongst them is an extremely corrupt form of the Makua, one of the idioms of East Africa that has been most carefully studied by the missionaries. Mozambique, which has a population of over ten thousand, is one of the few places on the East African seaboard which possesses " learned societies," amongst others a geographical society. Here also are published some books and journals. On one of the neighbouring beaches is collected some salt, which people connected with this industry compare with that of Setubul, the best in Europe. * Natural deperdencics of Mozambique are the so-called Tvrraa Firmas, that is to say, the villages and settlements of the mainland situated on the shores of the bay. Amongst these is Mossoril, where the governor and European traders have their country seats, scattered with other houses to a distance of G miles to the north-west of the town towards the neck of the Cabeceira Peninsula, which pro- jects between Mossoril and Conducia Bays. The magnificent natural harbours of Mocamho to the south and Conducia to the north of Mozambique, lie completely idle, owing to the sparse population on the surrounding coastlands, and the absence of routes leuding to the inland regions. Even the group of splendid harbours lying to the north of Conducia Bay in the Gulf of Fernao Vellozo (Veloso), is, if not entirely neglected, at all events very little utilised by sea-going vessels. But the natives are well acquainted with its value, for they have given it the name of Maa^-^ima, that is to say " Perfect shelter." It penetrates some six miles into the interior of the land, and at its upper end branches off into two very deep inner havens protected from all winds. The north-western port, called Nihefjehe by the natives, and Bclmorc JIarOoiir by the English, has over 65 feet at the sill near the entrance. Nkala also, that is, the corresponding south-western basin, although shallower than the passage through which it communicates with the sea, is nevertheless deep and spacious enough to afford accommodation for whole fleets. The east side of this magnificent basin, which ramifies into several secondary inlets, is skirted by cliffs and headlands from 100 to 200 feet high, and this district appears to be sufliciently sulubrious to supply favourable sites for European colonisation. Several little watercourses fall into the basin on the west side, which is low and covered with a rich alluvial soil, where, with a little labour, heavy crops of rice, tobacco and sugar, might be ruised. This region, which in 1870 was inhabited, is now completely deserted, the native populations having taken refuge in the Mwamhakoma peninsula lying to the north-east, in order to escape from the oppression of a neighbouring Makua chief.

North of the Portuguese capital the nearest frequented harbour on this coast is

Fig. 89. — Ports or Fernão Vellozo.

that of Ibo or Uibo, which is fully 180 miles distant from Mozambique. The island on which is situated the town, capital of the coast district of Cabo Delgado, is larger than that of Mozambique, and at low water is connected southwards with another islet culled Querimba. But the harbour, although perfectly sheltered, is ADMINISTRATION OF MOZAMBIQUE. 299 much sh'.iUowcr than cither of the Mozambiciuo havens. In the year 1754 the Portuguese, who hid already been long o-stablished at (iuerimba, occupied the island of Ibo, which could bo much more easily fortified against the attacks of corsairs, liut trade and population have made little progress in these waters, whore th » coral banks oil' the coast are barren reefs, while a regular traffic could scarcely be developed with the neighbouring Mabiha (Ma-Iiiha) territory, sparsely peopled by a few wild tribes. Speculators have often en^ged native c(X)lie8 on the Ibo coast for the plantations on the French island of Nossi-be. The total annual trade of this port averages little over £25,000. Amongst the numerous islands which follow northwards as far as Cape Dclgado, several, such as Matemo, have sm.dl groups of civilised communities, while some of the villages on the neighbouring coastlands are also under the direct jurisdiction of Portuguese officials. Such is Jlmi/tifjica {Mxcimha), situated on the bay of like name about 60 miles south of the Rovuma estuary. Recently also the Portuguese have by force of arms vindicated their claim to the possession of Tunge Bay, an iidet on the coast contiguous to Cape Delgado. This place had already been ceded to them by previous treaties, as well as by the convention concluded with Germany in 1886 But an attempt was male to dispute their right by the late Sultan of Zanzibar, who based his claims on the nationality of the Arab traders by whom the district was administered, and on the geographical explorations undertaken by his command in the interior of the country. The question has now been settled by the Portuguese gunboats in favour of the European power. But if Portugal has thus become mistress of the whole seaboard, she is still represented in this region by a mere handful of her p]uropean subjects. In 1857 a batch of emigrants was sent direct from Portugal to form permanent settlements on the shores of Pemha or Mwambi Bay, south of Ibo, one of the best harbours on the coast. They received free grants of land, cattle, rations, and arms; but on the other hand they were 8uJ>jected to a rigorous administration, including personal supervision and the regular observance of public worship. The result was that despite the relatively salubrious climate of the district, the colony made no head, but rapidly fell into utter decay. On the mainland over against Ibo stands the village of Ki^angn, a small port on Montepes Bay, where the Mtepwesi (Montepes) River reaches the coast. Administration of Mozambique. Being formeily considered as a simple port of call on the route to India, Mozambique dependel administratively fmm Goa to the middle of the eighteenth century; but since the year 1752 it has b.en governed directly from Portugal. Like the province of Angola on the west coast, it is now administered by a governor- general assisted by a council of high functionaries. A provincial council has also been instituted for the purpose of examining and sanctioning the local budgets and generally superintending all affairs of secondary imjwrtance. S[)ecial commit800 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA. tees take charge of the finances, public works, and sanitary matters. The province is unrepresented by any delegates to these boards and committees ; but it elects two deputies, who have scats in the Lisbon Cortes. The Mozambique budget, which shows a heavy yearly deficit, amounting in 1886 to nearly £51,000, is fixed by the central Government. The revenue is derive<l chiefly from the customs and a poll-tax of seven shillings levied on every head of native families. Public instruction is but slightly developed in the province, the few schools for both sexes showing a total attendance of less than four hundred pupils. The bishopric of ^lozambique, which is still subordinate to the archiepiscopal see of Goa, enjoys scarcely any ecclesiastical jurisdiction except over the Portu- guese and men of colour connected with the trading establishments. None of the numerous tribes of the interior have- yet accepted the Roman Catholic form of Christianity, although a first Jesuit mission was sent from Goa so early as loGO to the '* Monomotapa " empire for the purpose of "enlightening" the unbelievers, " as black of soul as of body ;" and although subsequently all the military expedi- tions were accompanied by missionaries who were charged " to reduce the indigenous jKipulations by their teachings as the military reduced them by the sword," the wranglings of the Jesuits and Dominican friars, the spiritual administration of priests banished from the home country for civil crimes or for simony, and above all, the trafiic in slaves, both pagan and Christian, Tesulted in the disappearance of most of the parishes founded at any distance from the settlements on the coast. The churches crumbled to ruins, laid in many places these melancholy remains of misapplied zeal are still seen, surrounded by the superstitious respect or awe of the aborigines. Even so recently as 18G'2 the slave-trade was still actively carried on between Mozambique and the island of Cuba, but in that year the traffic was at last abolished in the great Spanish West Indian colony. The slaves imported from the Afi-ican seaboard to Madagascar had also become so numerous that they were long familiarly known to the .Sakalava and IFova inhabitants of that island by the name of *' ^lozambiques." After a long period of gradual transition the last traces of legal slavery finally disappeared in the year 1878 throughout the Portuguese possessions. The province of Mozambique is divided into districts, each administered by a governor, who delegates his authority in the villages or in the tribes either to the native chiefs or else to capitaeii mors, or " captains-major." In the Appendix is given a list of the ten districts into which the province is at present divided, together with the names, and where possible the population, of their chief towns. J

 

1. The Portuguese x answers exactly to the English sh, which should be substituted for it every where except in strictly Portuguese words. — Ed.