712 CAPTAIN HYDE PAKKER ON THE 



rains much stronger. The banks of the river, for the first 30 

 miles, are generally thickly clothed with trees, with occasional 

 open glades. There are many huts and villages on both sides, 

 and a great deal of cultivation. At one village, about 17 miles 

 up on the eastern bank, and distinguished by being surrounded 

 by an immense number of bananas and plantain-trees, a great 

 quantity of excellent peas are cultivated ; also cabbages, tomatoes, 

 onions, etc. Above this there are not many inhabitants on the 

 left or west bank, although it is much the finest country, being 

 higher, and abounding in cocoanut palms, the eastern bank be- 

 ing sandy and barren. The reason is, that some years back the 

 Landeens, or Caffres, ravaged all this country, killing the men 

 and taking the women as slaves, but they have never crossed the 

 river; hence the natives are afraid to settle on the west bank, 

 and the Portuguese owners of the different 'prasos' have virtu- 

 ally lost them. The banks of the river continue mostly sandy, 

 with few trees, except some cocoanut palms, until the southern 

 end of the large plantation of Nyangue, formed by the river about 

 20 miles from Maruru. Here the country is more populous and 

 better cultivated, the natives a finer race, and the huts larger and 

 better constructed. Maruru belongs to Sefior Asev6do, of Quil- 

 imane, well known to all English officers on the east coast for his 

 hospitality. 



" The climate here is much cooler than nearer the sea, and 

 Asevedo has successfully cultivated most European as well as 

 tropical vegetables. The sugar-cane thrives, as also coffee and 

 cotton, and indigo is a weed. Cattle here are beautiful, and 

 some of them might show with credit in England. The natives 

 are intelligent, and under a good government this fine country 

 might become very valuable. Three miles from Maruru is Me- 

 san, a very pretty village among palm and mango trees. There 

 is here a good house belonging to a Seiior Ferrao ; close by is 

 the canal (Mutu) of communication between the Quilimane and 

 Zambesi rivers, which in the rainy season is navigable (?). I 

 visited it in the month of October, which is about the dryest time 

 of the year ; it was then a dry canal, about 30 or 40 yards wide, 

 overgrown with trees and grass, and, at the bottom, at least 16 

 or 17 feet above the level of the Zambesi, which was running be- 

 neath. In the rains, by the marks I saw, the entrance rise of the 



