190 REPORT 1859. 



In these vast regions are mines almost innumerable, still productive, but requiring 

 the stimulus of demand, which it is not the interest of the Portuguese officials to 

 create while they can become rich by the slave-trade. 



Ruins of cities, once the dwelling-places of nations mighty in their industry, are to 

 be seen in this region, perhaps telling the history of those who provided gold for the 

 Temple of Solomon. 



Whether these cities were founded by the Arabs, the Hebrews, or the Phoenicians, 

 who all obtained their supplies of gold from Sofala, or were inhabited by people 

 belonging to Africa, they are existing monuments of nations who, at a very remote 

 date, must have reached a high state of civilization. 



Feeling deeply interested in this matter, I did all in my power when at Mozambique 

 to obtain information about the kingdom of Sofala, which resulted in the Governor 

 General of Mozambique publishing an official account of the mines known to the 

 Portuguese in that neglected district. This account gives a long list of gold, silver, 

 copper, and iron mines, which have been worked, but are now entirely neglected, as 

 the country is destitute of labour, the Portuguese having drained it to supply the 

 slave-trade of the Brazils, Cuba, and America. Previous to the Portuguese appearing 

 on the east coast of Africa, the kingdom of Sofala was greatly depopulated by the 

 invasion of the Lindens, and I am under the impression that it was during that 

 invasion that the cities referred to were destroyed. 



The mines in Sofala still have attached to ihem, in the legends of the country, the 

 names of the discoverers, and these names are supposed to be those of the kings who 

 reigned there when the mines were first opened. 



In this report it is stated that 500 leagues from Sena there are the remains of large 

 edifices which indicate that they were once inhabited, but by whom is not known*. 



This confirms the statement of Barros in his description of the ruins of the City of 

 Zimboe, who states that there are the remains of a fort built of well-cut stones, having 

 a surface of twenty-five palms in length, and a little less in height, in the joining of 

 which there appears to have been no lime used. Over the door or entrance of this 

 fort is an inscription, which some Moors, well-versed in Arabic, could not decipher ; 

 nor were they acquainted with the character of the writing. 



Around this edifice there are other erections similar to i(, having bastions of stone 

 uncemented by lime, and in the middle of them there is a tower at least seventy feet 

 in height. These edifices are called in the language of the country Zimboe, which 

 signifies a royal residence. 



I was always told at Mozambique that the Arabs could not decipher the inscrip- 

 tions to be found on these ruins. 



Barros thinks that this country of Sofala ought to be that designated by Ptolemy 

 Agyzimba. Zimboe, the name given by the natives to these ruins, certainly offers 

 some affinity to that of Agyzimba. It may be that the inscriptions to be found there, 

 seen only, as yet, in modern times, by the Moor and the unlettered savage, may 

 record truths as interesting as those conveyed in the Adite inscription, engraven on 

 the rock at Hisn Ghor&b. 



Proceeding northward, we arrive at the mouths of the river Zambesi, the great 

 commercial highway of East Africa. 



This river is navigable for river-steamers of a large burden and light draft of water 

 for at least eight months out of the year; in those parts where it is of great breadth, 

 and consequently shallow, it offers some slight impediment to navigation, from the 

 uncertainty of the positions of the banks, which change their appearance and dimen- 

 sions during the annual inundations of the low districts. By taking advantage of the 

 dry season, when the body of water in the river is comparatively small, and staking 

 the river, so as to confine the water in a narrower channel, the obstruction to easy 

 navigation may be overcome, and access obtained for at least eight months of the year 

 to Tete, opposite to which town coal may be obtained in abundance. At the same 

 town on the Karuera mountain, 2000 feet in height, which almost overhangs the town 

 of Tete, enough corn may be grown to supply the whole of Southern Africa, and even 

 at this time 0000 Portuguese bushels of corn are exported from Tete. 



Along the banks of the Zambesi the gutta-percha and india-rubber trees are found 

 in great plenty, and also the poppy yielding opium. 



* Boletiin do Governo General de Mocambique, Dec. 12, 1857. 



