(382 GOLD-WASHING. 



the Portuguese are a mere remnant of what they formerly 

 owned. 



When visiting the hot fountain, I examined what were for- 

 merly the gold-washings in the rivulet Mokoroze, which is nearly 

 on the 16th parallel of latitude. The banks are covered with large 

 groves of fine mango-trees, among which the Portuguese lived while 

 superintending the washing for the precious metal. The process 

 of washing is very laborious and tedious. A quantity of sand is 

 put into a wooden bowl with water; a half rotatory motion is given 

 to the dish, which causes the coarser particles of sand to collect 

 on one side of the bottom. These are carefully removed with the 

 hand, and the process of rotation renewed until the whole of the 

 sand is taken away, and the gold alone remains. It is found in 

 very minute scales, and, unless I had been assured to the contrary, 

 I should have taken it to be mica, for, knowing the gold to be of 

 greater specific gravity than the sand, I imagined that a stream 

 of water would remove the latter and leave the former ; but here 

 the practice is to remove the whole of the sand by the hand. 

 This process was, no doubt, a profitable one to the Portuguese, and 

 it is probable that, with the improved plan by means of mercury, 

 the sands would be lucrative. I had an opportunity of examining 

 the gold-dust from different parts to the east and northeast of Tete. 

 There are six well-known washing-places. These are called Ma- 

 shinga, Shindundo, Missala, Kapata, Mano, and Jawa. From the 

 description of the rock I received, I suppose gold is found both in 

 clay shale and quartz. At the range Musliinga to the N.N-.-W. 

 the rock is said to be so soft that the women pound it into powder 

 in wooden mortars previous to washing. 



Round toward the westward, the old Portuguese indicate a sta- 

 tion which was near to Zumbo on the River Panyame, and called 

 Dambarari, near which much gold was found. Farther west lay 

 the now unknown kingdom of Abutua, which was formerly famous 

 for the metal ; and then, coming round toward the east, we have 

 the gold-washings of the Mashona, or Bazizulu, and, farther east, 

 that of Manica, where gold is found much more abundantly than 

 in any other part, and which has been supposed by some to be 

 the Ophir of King Solomon. I saw the gold from this quarter as 

 large as grains of wheat, that found in the rivers which run into 

 the coal-field being in very minute scales. If we place one leg 



