PRACTICE WITH FLAKE-GOLD. 683 



of the compasses at Tete, and extend the other three and a half 

 degrees, bringing it round from the northeast of Tete by west, 

 and then to the southeast, we nearly touch or include all the 

 known gold-producing country. As the gold on this circumference 

 is found in coarser grains than in the streams running toward the 

 centre, or Tete, I imagine that the real gold-field lies round about 

 the coal-field ; and, if I am right in the conjecture, then we have 

 coal encircled by a gold-field, and abundance of wood, water, and 

 provisions — a combination not often met with in the world. The 

 inhabitants are not unfavorable to washings, conducted on the 

 principle formerly mentioned. At present they wash only when 

 in want of a little calico. They know the value of gold perfectly 

 well, for they bring it for sale in goose-quills, and demand 24 

 yards of calico for one penful. When the rivers in the district 

 of Manica and other gold-washing places have been flooded, they 

 leave a coating of mud on the banks. The natives observe the 

 spots which dry soonest, and commence digging there, in firm 

 belief that gold lies beneath. They are said not to dig deeper 

 than their chins, believing that if they did so the ground would 

 fall in and kill them. When they find a piece or flake of gold, 

 they bury it again, from the superstitious idea that this is the seed 

 of the gold, and, though they know the value of it well, they prefer 

 losing it rather than the whole future crop. This conduct seemed 

 to me so very unlikely in men who bring the dust in quills, and 

 even put in a few seeds of a certain plant as a charm to prevent 

 their losing any of it on the way, that I doubted the authority of 

 my informant ; but I found the report verified by all the Portu- 

 guese who knew the native language and mode of thinking, and 

 give the statement for what it is worth. If it is really practiced, 

 the custom may have been introduced by some knowing one who 

 wished to defraud the chiefs of their due ; for we are informed in 

 Portuguese history that in former times these pieces or flakes of 

 gold were considered the perquisites of the chiefs. 



Major Sicard, the commandant, whose kindness to me and my 

 people was unbounded, presented a rosary made of the gold of 

 the country, the workmanship of a native of Tete, to my little 

 daughter ; also specimens of the gold-dust of three different places, 

 which, with the coal of Muatize and Morongoze, are deposited 

 in the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street, London. 



