BOAT-BUILDING. 707 



Sofala, its nearest port, pieces of wrought gold have been dug up 

 near the fort and in the gardens. They also report the existence 

 of hewn stones in the neighborhood, but these can not have been 

 abundant, for all the stones of the fort of Sofala are said to have 

 been brought from Portugal. Natives whom I met in the country 

 of Sekeletu, from Manica, or Manoa, as they call it, state that there 

 are several caves in the country, and walls of hewn stones, which 

 they believe to have been made by their ancestors ; and there is, 

 according to the Portuguese, a small tribe of Arabs there, who 

 have become completely like the other natives. Two rivers, the 

 Motirikwe and Sabia, or Sabe, run through their country into the 

 sea. The Portuguese were driven out of the country by the Lan- 

 deens, but now talk of reoccupying Manica. 



The most pleasant sight I witnessed at Senna was the negroes 

 of Senhor Isidore building boats after the European model, with- 

 out any one to superintend their. operations. They had been in- 

 structed by a European master, but now go into the forest and 

 cut down the motondo-trees, lay down the keel, fit in the ribs, 

 and make very neat boats and launches, valued at from £20 to 

 £100. Senhor Isidore had some of them instructed also in car- 

 pentry at Eio Janeiro, and they constructed for him the hand- 

 somest house in Kilimane, the woodwork being all of country 

 trees, some of which are capable of a fine polish, and very dur- 

 able. A medical opinion having been asked by the commandant 

 respecting a better site for the village, which, lying on the low 

 bank of the Zambesi, is very unhealthy, I recommended imitation 

 of the Jesuits, who had chosen the high, healthy mountain of Go- 

 rongozo, and to select a new site on Morumbala, which is perfectly 

 healthy, well watered, and where the Shire is deep enough for the 

 purpose of navigation at its base. As the next resource, I pro- 

 posed removal to the harbor of Mitilone, which is at one of 

 the mouths of the Zambesi, a much better port than Kilimane, 

 and where, if they must have the fever, they would be in the 

 way of doing more good to themselves and the country than 

 they can do in their present situation. Had the Portuguese pos- 

 sessed this territory as a real colony, this important point would 

 not have been left unoccupied ; as it is, there is not even a na- 

 tive village placed at the entrance of this splendid river to show 

 the way in. 



