36 MOZAMBIQUE 



through at intervals, giving the landscape a weird, 

 primeval appearance. The forest is broken here 

 and there by native clearings, some of them 

 abandoned, others supporting a fairly large 

 population. Most of the ordinary tropical pro- 

 ducts, such as manioc, pigeon peas, groundnuts, 

 sweet potatoes, yams of enormous size, citrus, 

 cashew, bananas, tobacco, turmeric, tanniers, 

 castor-oil, and sesame, are cultivated in these 

 gardens. The soil in some places is a black 

 organic wash, in others a brown or chocolate 

 loam, and in others a light sandy loam. The 

 proportion of clay is sufficient to make it reten- 

 tive of moisture, but not enough to render it 

 impervious or waterlogged. Now and then one 

 meets with gravel or stone, though not in any 

 great quantity. 



Three plantations of Ceara rubber aggregating 

 a million trees or more, have been planted in 

 different parts of this zone. At the time of 

 writing none of them has been worked, and 

 therefore we cannot yet definitely state whether 

 Ceara rubber will pay to cultivate on this land; 

 but the appearance of the trees is such as to 

 encourage the belief that it will. Experimental 

 tappings have been made and the results recorded 

 compare favourably with results obtained in 

 German East Africa. If, as is to be hoped, the 



