368 
THE EASTERN COAST* 
cloths, beads, coarse silks, and iron. The country 
is mountainous and fertile ; but it is in the power 
of native chiefs, whom the Portuguese are obliged 
to conciliate by presents, as well as to pay a regular 
tribute to the Quiteve. About sixty leagues above 
Sena is Tete, a well regulated settlement, where 
there is also a depot for merchandize. Beyond 
Tete the Portuguese are permitted to maintain a 
small factory at Zumbo, a place which can be 
reached only by a difficult and circuitous route, 
requiring nearly a month to accomplish. 
The jurisdiction of the Portuguese extends now 
from Cape Delgado on the north, to Cape Corri- 
entes on the south. Sofala is reduced to a miser- 
able village, but the country round is extremely 
fertile, and supplies rice and fruits to the inhabit 
tants of Mosambique. 
The principal native race, immediately behind 
Mosambique, is the Makooa, or Makooana, whose 
tribes extend from the neighbourhood of Me- 
linda to the mouth of the Zambese. They are a 
strong athletic race of people ; their aspect de- 
formed and ferocious. They ornament their skins 
by tattowing, an operation often executed so rude- 
ly, that the marks rise to the eighth part of an inch 
above the surface. They file their teeth to a point 
so as to give to the whole set the appearance of a 
coarse saw. They wear their hair in various fan- 
tastic shapes ; sometimes shaving one side, some* 
times both sides, with a crest extending across 
