59$ OI,D GOI.D- WASHINGS. 



sidered very dear, because, before the war, the same 

 quantity of calico was worth 24 fowls. Grain is sold in 

 little bags made from the leaves of the palmyra, like those in 

 which we receive sugar. They are called pan j as, and each 

 panja weighs between 30 and 40 lbs. The panja of wheat 

 at Tete is worth a dollar, or 55. ; but the native grain 

 may be obtained among the islands below IyUpata, at the 

 rate of three pan j as for two yards of calico. The highest 

 articles of consumption are tea and coffee — the tea being 

 often as high as 155. a pound. Food is cheaper down the 

 river below Lupata, and, previous to the war, the islands 

 which stud the Zambesi were all inhabited, and, the soil 

 being exceedingly fertile, grain and fowls could be got to 

 any amount. The inhabitants disappeared before their 

 enemies the Landeens, but are beginning to return since 

 the peace. They have no cattle, the only place where we 

 found no tsetse being the district of Tete itself ; and the 

 cattle in the possession of the Portuguese are a mere 

 remnant of what they formerly owned. 



When visiting the hot fountain, I examined what were 

 formerly 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 north- 

 east of Tete. There are six well-known washing-places. 

 These are called Mashinga, Shindundo, Missala, Kapdta, 



