186 MOZAMBIQUE 



concessioner who pays for the labour and is the 

 principal loser if the labourers waste his bark. 

 The bark is his property, and, therefore, it is a 

 matter in which a Government cannot, I think, 

 properly interfere. 



One species of mangrove yields the bark of 

 commerce, viz., Mtulu (Infise) {BhizojjJiore mucro- 

 nata). This is known as Mzinii in Zanzibar, and 

 by other names in Oerman and British East 

 Africa. Whether or not this is the only species 

 I cannot say, and do not think that it very much 

 matters. I have devoted a considerable amount 

 of study to the source of commercial mangrove 

 barks, and my experience is that reliable informa- 

 tion is most difficult, if not impossible, to obtain. 

 Only prolonged personal study in different parts of 

 the coast could satisfactorily clear up the matter, 

 but mangrove forests being hot, unhealthy regions 

 of deep mud usually infested with mosquitoes, 

 Europeans can only investigate them thoroughly 

 at the expenditure of much time, not unattended 

 with considerable risk, which is not often avail- 

 able. We are compelled to trust largely to native 

 accounts, which are never wholly to be relied 

 upon. The species known as Mikandaa {Mucan- 

 dara), a native name common all up the coast, is 

 Ceriops candolleana. It yields a fibrous bark of no 

 commercial value, yet it is a valuable timber for 



