THE COPAL OE EASTERN AFRICA. 309 



crossing three miles of alluvial and maritime plain, covered with a rank 

 vegetation of spear-grass and low thorns, with occasional mimosas and tall 

 hyphsenas, which have supplanted the coco, the traveller finds a few scat- 

 tered specimens of the living tree, and pits dotting the ground. The diggers, 

 however, generally advance another mile to a distinctly-formed sea-beach 

 marked with lateral bands of quartzose and water-rolled pebbles, and 

 swelling gradually to 150 feet from the alluvial plain. The thin but rich 

 vegetable covering supports a luxuriant thicket ; the subsoil is red and 

 sandy, and the colour darkens as the excavation deepens. After three feet, 

 fibrous matter appears ; and below this, copal, dusty and comminuted, is 

 blended with the red ochreish earth. The guides assert that they have 

 never hit upon the subsoil of blue clay ; but they do not dig lower than a 

 man's waist, and the pits are seldom more than two feet in depth. Though 

 the soil is red, the copal of Saadani is not highly prized, being of a dull- 

 white colour ; it is usually designated as " chakazi." On the line inland 

 from Bagamoyo and Kaole, the copal tree was observed at rare intervals in 

 the forests, and the pits extended as far as Muhonyera, about forty miles in 

 direct distance from the coast. The produce of this country, though not 

 first-rate, is considered far superior to that about Saadani. Good copal is 

 dug in the vicinity of Mbuamaji, and the diggings are said to extend to six 

 marches inland. The Wadenkereko, a wild tribe mixed with and stretching 

 southwards of the Wazaramo, at a distance of two days' journey from the 

 sea, supply a mixed quality, more often white than red. The best resin is 

 procured from Hunda and its adjacent districts. Frequent feuds with the 

 citizens deter the wild people from venturing out of their jungles, and thus 

 the Banyans of Mbuamaji find two small dows sufficient for the carriage of 

 their stores. At that port the price of copal varies from two and a half to 

 three dollars per frasilah. 



The banks of the Rufiji River, especially the northern district of Wande, 

 supply the finest and best copal ; it is dug by the Wawande tribe, who 

 either carry it to Kokunya and other port s, or sell it to travelling huck- 

 sters. The price in loco is from one and a half to two dollars per frasilah ; 

 on the coast it rises to three and a half dollars. At all these places the 

 tariff varies with the Bombay market ; and in 1858 little was exported, 

 owing to the enlistment of " free labourers." 



In the vicinity of Kilwa, for four marches inland, copal is dug up by 

 the Mandandu and other tribes : owing to the facility of carriage and 

 the comparative safety of the country, it is somewhat dearer than that 

 purchased on the banks of the Rufiji. The copal of Ngao (Monghou) 

 and the Lindi Creek is much cheaper than at Kilwa : the produce, however, 

 is variable in quality, being mostly a dull-white chakazi. 



Like that of East African produce generally, the exploitation of copal 

 is careless and desultory. The diggers are of the lowest classes, and hands 

 are much wanted. Near the seaboard it is worked by the fringe of Moslem 

 negroids called the Wamrima, or Coast clans ; each gang has its own mtu- 



