MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS 



523 



factor in civilisation, as they constitute the most stable 

 element in the permanent exercise of the right of 

 ownership of the soil. The proprietors esteem and 

 defend them before everything. With the increasing de- 

 mand for copra the cultivation of coconut palms has 

 appreciably developed in the Territories for several years 

 past, not only by the native and half-caste proprietors 

 but also by Europeans. The sub-concessions granted 

 on the coast are almost exclusively used for the plan- 

 tation and cultivation of coconuts, which is done by 

 more approved methods than those adopted by the 

 natives. The company now called Nyassa Plantations, 

 Limited, has already planted on its concession at 

 Ngochi, near Palma, 120,000 coconuts, whose ages vary 

 from ij to 3 years. The soil of the palm groves is light 

 sand. The rainfall during the year is about 45 in., prin- 

 cipally from October to April. 



The following table shows the exports of the three 

 principal products of the coconut in recent years: 



Other Agricultural Products. 



Amendoim is largely cultivated by the natives in 

 almost all parts of the Territories, but chiefly in the 

 Palma and Lurio Concelhos. It is cultivated at the 

 beginning of the rainy season. The seed is exported 

 in the husks because the oil soon becomes rancid when 

 the ^ seed is exposed to the air for any length of time. 

 (Governor Vilhena : Reports and Memoirs, page 358). 



Sesame, another plant producing an oil seed, which 

 also serves as food for the natives, is equally cultivated 

 by them on a large scale, and its oil is considered superior 

 to that of amendoim. 



The following statement shows the quantities of these 

 two products exported during the last six years : 



