the north, to Inhambane on the south, embracing an extent of thirteen degrees of coast. The most southern settlement on this line is at Cape Corrientes, where a small fort is established, which was taken possession of by the French in 1808; but the influence of the Portuguese with the surrounding natives soon compelled them to abandon it. There is another small fort at Inhambane, and both these establishments are annexed to Sofala, and kept up for the purpose of collecting ivory, which the neighbouring forests abundantly supply. Sofala itself is a miserable village; but the country around is extremely fertile, and furnishes considerable quantities of rice, oranges, and many exquisite fruits to the inhabitants of Mosambique. These establishments, and others of a smaller description at the mouth of the Luabo, on the Island of Fuogo, at Angoxo, and on the Querimbo islands, are all that now remain of what was once proudly termed the Sovereignty of Eastern Africa.[1]
It appears evident, from the preceding observations, that the consequence and value of this Colony has always been greatly over-rated. Still, during the prosperity of the Portuguese monarchy, it was of real importance to that nation. It furnished very large supplies of gold and ivory, and though it never returned much, if any immediate profit[2] to the crown, yet it served to enrich a great number of individuals, whose wealth ultimately reverted to the state. It afforded a valuable place for the Indian ships to touch at in the earlier stages of navigation, which was then absolutely requisite, and it supplied all the eastern, and some of the western dominions of the Portuguese with slaves.
There exists at present only the mere shadow of its former splendour, which without difficulty may be traced to the weak and disturbed state of the mother-country, the loss and decline of her eastern possessions, and the impolitic manner in which the Settlement itself has for a
