192 REPORT— 1859. 



Tngo, placed in an inlet of the Indian Ocean, form, with the mainland, a secure 

 harbour five miles deep and five miles and a half broad; and, with the neighbouring 

 harbour of Mocambo, in which three rivers discharge themselves, is, perhaps, the 

 most eligible spot to establish an immense trade with the interior, and an emporium 

 for European merchandise. 



The natives from the far interior bring down to Messuril on the mainland, opposite 

 the city of Mozambique, every year, gold, silver, ivory, wax, skins, and malachite, 

 the latter in considerable quantities; showing that there are mines of copper in the 

 Monomoises' country. 



In 18jd" many of these natives, who came down to trade, were seized by the Portu- 

 guese, to supply the (so-called) French free-labour emigration ; since which occur- 

 rence they have not made their appearance at Messuril. 



When Mozambique was in the hands of the Arabs, an important trade was carried 

 on between it, Arabia, and India; but for the last two hundred years, under its 

 present rulers, the trade, principally carried on by banyans to ditch and Goa, has 

 been gradually decreasing, 



At present it exports ivory, annually 250,000lbs., bees-wax, sesame-seed, orchella, 

 rhinoceros-horns, cocoanut oil, castor oil, ground-nut oil, coir, arrowroot, sago, coffee, 

 tortoiseshell, indigo of an inferior quantity (from ignorance in manufacturing it), and 

 a spirit made from the cachu. 



There are large plantations of cocoanut trees, which for the last three years have 

 been much neglected ; coffee plantations, likewise in the same position ; and a coir- 

 manufactory has for the same period of time ceased to work : — all this caused by the 

 new impetus given to the slave-trade under the denomination of French free-labour 

 emigration, which was established in 18.54. 



Some few of the residents at Mozambique I induced to clear away and cultivate 

 the cotton shrub; and, with the intention of encouraging legitimate commerce, I 

 wrote to Her Majesty's Ambassador in the United States, and also to the Chamber of 

 Commerce of Manchester, asking for the three descriptions of cotton seeds; viz., the 

 nankin, green seed, and sea-island; intending to send the two former into the interior, 

 and to plant the sea-island on the coast where the saline breezes from the ocean, and 

 humid atmosphere from the warm gulf stream, running along the whole of the east 

 coast of Africa, would favour its growth. 



Having discovered the mulberry- tree, and that it was indigenous to the soil, I wrote 

 to England for eggs of the silkworm, and addressed a letter to His Excellency the 

 Governor of Bombay, praying his Lordship to send ine some eggs of the Tussah and 

 other moths indicated in my letter. 



Similarly, I drew the attention of His Excellency the Governor-General of 

 Mozambique to a very important discovery which I had made, and of which the 

 Portuguese were entirely ignorant, viz., that both the gutta-percha tree and also a 

 tree yielding india-rubber were to be found in large numbers on the banks of the 

 Zambesi ; and, after having pointed out to him the commercial value of these trees, 

 I begged him to issue an order forbidding any gutta-percha trees to be cut down, but 

 instead, pointing out that they should be tapped longitudinally, by which the supply 

 would indeed be less, but permanent; whereas, if cut down for the purpose of ex- 

 tracting the juice, these trees, as at Singapore, would, in the course of a few years, 

 disappear. 



Ibo, in latitude 12° 20' S. and longitude 40° 38' E., is admirably situated for trade. 

 At present it is the great warehouse for slaves. 



Zanzibar, in latitude C° 28' S. and longitude 39° 33' E., exports gold, ivory, drugs, 

 coir, cocoanut, gums, bees-wax, tortoiseshell, spice, rice from Pemba, sesame-seed 

 from Angoxa, and a great quantity of timber annually to the Red Sea and Persian 

 Gulf. 



In 1818 cloves were introduced into Zanzibar from Mauritius : they thrive so well, 

 that the cultivation of them has in a great measure superseded that of the sugar-cane, 

 and even the cocoanut. 



Mombas and Melinda are both well adapted for trade, which at one time was of 

 considerable importance between these places and India and Arabia, but Melinda, 

 in less than a century after it had been conquered by the Portuguese, ceased to be 

 a place of any importance. 



