520 



MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS 



Tobacco. 



Tobacco plants are found in a natural state, and are 

 cultivated by the natives in almost all parts of the 

 Territories, of which we might mention the Mahua 

 district and the banks and islets in the river Lugenda, 

 where the natives exercise a certain amount of care 

 upon its cultivation, since it is a valuable article of 

 barter. (Governor Vilhena : Reports and Memoirs, 

 page 371.) 



Judging from the extensive use of tobacco by the 

 natives and its relatively important exportation, it can 

 be estimated that its production is very large. " Native 

 methods of preparing tobacco are of course very primi- 

 tive, and might be much improved on. For this, the 

 growing of good qualities of tobacco requires consider- 

 able skill to ascertain the varieties best suited to local 

 conditions." (Mr. Stocks: Report to Search Syndicate, 

 1907.) 



The general opinion is that African tobacco will never 

 "be able to compete with the more appreciated qualities 

 from America and other parts of the world, and there- 

 fore efforts have not been exerted to introduce African 

 tobaccos into Europe. It is possible that this point of 

 view may not be absolutely correct, at least as far as 

 tobaccos destined for employment in cheap products is 

 concerned. In the meantime, in the Lake Concelho 

 tobacco is already prepared by European processes, and 

 is sent to England. 



The following are the statistics of native tobacco 

 exported from the Territories during the last six years : 



Kilos 



1907 . . .. . .. .. 18,216 



1908 

 1909 

 1910 

 1911 

 1912 



46,849 

 50,986 

 42,239 

 91,306 

 117,230 



Coffee. 



The coffee plant grows spontaneously in very diverse 

 districts in the Territories of the Companhia do Nyassa, 

 which has led an explorer to write that " The whole 

 country might be a coffee plantation." All the coffee 



