IMPRESSIONS AND SCENES OF MOZAMBIQUE 



821 



THE "marimba" of the: m'chOPI tribe in the state OE INHAMBANE, PORTUGUESE 



EAST AFRICA 



The resonators are made from a kind of wild gourd attached beneath the xylophone 

 keys. One or two apertures in the side are covered with the membrane from a bat's wing, 

 fixed with gum, so that a "snarling rattle" is produced, even continuing several seconds after 

 the sound within has ceased. These gourds vary in size from 6 to 40 centimeters in diameter. 

 All the notes are in the minor key. 



learn that two or three cuffs will make 

 a big hole in the side of an ordinary 

 hut, the poor native must roost high or 

 die. 



Even Major Kirby, the famous lion 

 hunter, has not been able, he tells me, 

 to average one lion per month during his 

 stay in the Boror Company's estates, 

 where over 100 people were devoured 

 last year. 



In the Zambezia district there has been 

 spent a large amount of money in agri- 

 cultural experiments, and, though the re- 

 sults are not encouraging thus far, it is 

 no fault of the land. I have never seen 

 any soils quite so rich, apparently, in 

 either temperate or tropical America as 

 are to be found in the Zambesi, Limpopo, 

 and Inkomati alluvial plains. The colo- 



nization laws are pronounced excellent,, 

 even by English colonials. They are 

 automatic — just to the government, to the 

 colonist, and to the natives. And here 

 I may say that it seem.s to be agreed by 

 men who know that nowhere else in 

 Africa is the native question so well man- 

 aged as in Mozambique. But it is a very 

 big and deep and difficult question. 



During our trips, covering some 250 

 miles on mules, 125 with hammocks, and 

 1,000 in boats, we came into touch with 

 at least 500 natives as bearers and quasi- 

 police guides ; but not one thing was 

 stolen during the ten weeks' travel, and 

 never was it necessary to punish a "boy" 

 for any misdeed. The 50 to 75 loads, 

 30 to 50 pounds each, were mostly pack- 



