MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS 521 



consumed in the Territories is of local production. 

 That which is exported and known as Ibo coffee is 

 grown on the coast and on the island of Ibo itself, but 

 it appears that districts better suited for the cultivation 

 of coffee are the valleys of the Ajaus mountains and the 

 Upper Lugenda. Ibo coffee is similar to Mocca in 

 appearance, but has a peculiar flavour, very agreeable 

 to some palates. 



" The coffee plant is born, grows, produces, and dies 

 without anyone thinking of tending the soil, without 

 its being cleaned or care taken that the plant may renew 

 itself at the proper time. Not only is it not cultivated, 

 but those that exist are not pulled up and the greater 

 portion spring spontaneously from the soils suitable for 

 their growth. When the berries are quite green and 

 only just formed, the proprietor gathers them by shaking 

 the trees or beating the branches with rods, and dries 

 them, paying little attention to the quality they might 

 possess if allowed to mature and become full grown. 

 This is done in order to prevent theft by the natives. 

 In the island of Ibo, where the property is easy to watch, 

 the berry is only collected at the proper time, and is 

 dried and roasted by proper methods; as a consequence 

 the product is more savoury and superior in quality to 

 any other in the Territories. Under these circum- 

 stances, in proper ground, between high coconut trees 

 which give them very little shelter, or between acacias 

 and wild apple trees that rob them of space, the coffee 

 plants are found in almost all districts of the Territories 

 on this side of the Lugenda. Its price varies according 

 to the need the native has of money, and thus it is not 

 difficult to meet negroes in the streets of Ibo, in Quis- 

 sanga or on the coast offering it for sale at 150 or 200 

 reis per kilogram. Its ordinary price, however, is 300 

 reis when it is cleaned and well dried. The coffee ' Vista 

 Alegre ' of Ibo is the best in the Territories, and has 

 been sold at 500 reis in years of poor crop." (Governor 

 Fires Viegas : Bulletin No. 104.) 



At the Exhibition of the Geographical Society of 

 Lisbon of 1906, the Companhia do Nyassa exhibited n 

 samples, which were awarded the Gold Medal Diploma. 

 These samples all came from the Coast. 



