GOI,D PRODUCTION. 597 



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 Mushinga 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 towards the westward, the old Portuguese indicate 

 a station which was near to Zumbo on the river Panyame, 

 and called Dambarari, near which much gold was found. 

 Further west, lay the now unknown kingdom of Abutua, 

 which was formerly famous for the metal ; and then, 

 coming round towards the east, we have the gold-washings 

 of the Mashdna, or Bazizulu, and further 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 Opnir 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 coalfield, being in very minute 

 scales. If we place one leg of the compasses at Tete, and 

 extend the other three and a half degrees, bringing it 

 round from the north-east of Tete, by west, and then to 

 the south-east, we nearly touch or include all the known 

 gold-producing country. As the gold on this circum- 

 ference is found in coarser grains than in the streams 

 running towards the centre, or Tete, I imagine that the 

 real gold-field lies round about the coalfield ; and, if I 

 am right in the conjecture, then we have coal encircled by 

 a gold-field, and abundance of wood, water, and pro- 

 visions — a combination not often met with in the world. 

 The inhabitants are not unfavourable to washings, con- 

 ducted 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^t 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 super- 

 stitious 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 



