128 MOZAMBIQUE 



little value for the planter. Indian seed has 

 been introduced, and it is sown in rows 9 inches 

 apart, one bushel to the acre, the planting season 

 being December. Transplanting to gaps and new 

 fields takes place in wet weather ; transplanted 

 always growing better than sown rice. The yield 

 is one to one and a-half ton of paddy per acre. 

 The only point that can be urged in favour 

 of rice cultivation is that the work of trans- 

 planting can proceed in wet weather when other 

 work is held up. Natives who would decline 

 other work in the rain will come and volunteer 

 for rice transplanting, a remarkable example of 

 the influence of instinct. 



Black wattle is as yet an untried product, and 

 hopes are entertained that on the Little 

 Lebombos and the low hills that intervene 

 between them and the coast it will prosper. I 

 do not feel very sanguine about it, as this is 

 rather a dry belt of country, the rainfall being 

 possibly not more than 20 inches. I am inclined 

 to think that black wattle would thrive, if any- 

 where, at Namahacha on the Great Lebombos, 

 where the elevation is greater, the rainfall 

 probably 10 inches higher and the soil richer. 



On the alluvial plains of the southern part of 



