August  i,  1892.J 
fHE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST.  Hi 
THE  MOZAMBIQUE  TRADE. 
The  Annual  Report  of  Mr.  Vice-Consul  Ross  on 
Quilimace,  already  extracted  from,  has  now  reached 
us  in  full.  Mr.  Ross,  it  may  be  remembered,  paid 
a visit  to  Ceylon  some  time  ago,  being  a son-in- 
law  of  the  late  Mr.  Tyller.  He  affords  a great 
deal  of  information  in  a clear  fashion  on  his  part. 
We  quote  as  follows  : — 
No  detailed  statistics  have  been  published  of  the 
trade  of  Qui'.imane  since  1887,  but  the  following 
figures  show  values  of  the  past  two  years  : — 
Year.  Exporfs.  Imports.  Exports  Duties. 
hom  bond. 
£ 
£ 
£ 
£ 
1890 
...  81.633 
116,763 
58 
22,044 
1891 
...  112,708 
156,832 
9,830 
25,046 
Increase 
...  28,075 
40,069 
9,772 
3,002 
The  exports  consist—  1st,  of  Ihe  following  oil-produc- 
ing seeds:  groundnuts,  sesame  seed,  and  coprah  ; 
2nd  of  beeswax,  india-rubber,  ivory,  gold-dust,  a small 
quantity  of  hides,  and  orchilla-weed  ; and  when  the 
crops  have  been  good  rice  and  grain  of  various  sorts 
are  sent  to  other  pans  of  the  province,and  even  to  India 
as  ballast  cf  returning  dhows.  No  timber  is  exported 
though  there  ere  in  many  parts  cf  the  couttry  great 
tracts  of  timber-produeh  g (orest. 
The  ivory  export  this  year  has  fallen-off  very  much 
practically  none  bavirg’  t een  brought  by  caravans 
from  the  interior.  This  las  eitter  been  bought  by 
the  African  Lakes Ocmpaiiy  before  reaching  the  coast, 
or  lias  gone  to  places  furtl  er  north  in  the  German 
territory,  seeking  a better  markoh  Ivory  is  always 
sent  by  steamers.  It  is  the  custom  to  pack  for 
shipment  in  bags  only  the  smaller  tusks  : the  larger 
ones  go  uncovered.  About  30,000  lb.  weight  of  ivory 
has  been  exported  by  Chinde  free  of  duty.  The 
amount  of  oil-seeds  and  rubber  and  ivory  exported, 
and  the  destinations  of  the  shipments,  is  Grown  in 
the  annexed  fable  : — 
Analysis  of  Destinations  of  Produce 
Exported  in  1891. 
Marseilles 
2,875 
122  660 
5,000  1,045 
Lisbon,  to  older 
275 
60 
Rotterdam 
1,431 
29  6,000 
14£00  "20 
London 
...  1,800 
Bombay 
Lisbon 
" 56 
... 
Hamburg 
580 
...  38,000 
35,000  115 
ii 
10 
Theorophae  been  an  average  one.  The  rice  and 
grain  crops  have  been  rather  below  the  average  and 
at  the  present  timo  native  food  is  s rmewl  at  scarce  and 
dear.  A good  deal  of  rice  will  be  imported  from 
India  to  make  up  the  deficiency  in  the  local  crops. 
Oouee  has  crated  to  be  an  article  of  export. 
None  is  grown  in  the  district,  and  that  from  tho 
Shiie  Highlands  is  now  exported  from  Chinde. 
The  native  industries  are  very  few,  and  the 
articles  made  only  suffice  for  local  demaLd. 
Under  European  supervision  bricks  are  made  and 
fold  at  from  1 1 to  21  per  1,000.  The  qua  ity  and  shape 
are  very  indifferent. 
Boats  of  native  wood  aro  built  by  native  workmen 
under  European  supervision. 
The  native  industries  pure  and  simple  are  confined 
to  the  making  of  mats,  native  earthenware  pots,  canoes 
an  l fishing  nets.  The  principal  woods  are  called 
luabc,  p?ngira,m>oss8,  kossa  umbila.aud  pan-fen o (irou 
wood.)  They  ere  chiefly  heavy  hard  woods,  and  are 
used  in  the  ccnstruction  of  buildings,  white  wood 
giving  way  so  soon  before  the  ravages  of  white 
ants. 
•Shipping  and  Navigation — There  has  bren  a re- 
gular monthly  te.ivice  maintained  1 y Deutsche?  <>='.- 
•A  Irik*  Li  Die  via  the  Omul.  The  Main  Real  (Por- 
tuguese) has  maintained  f.  monthly  service  more 
or  less  irregular.  This  company  publishes  no  time- 
table. I append  a note  of  the  rate  of  freight  by  the 
German  and  British  lines. 
Description.  German.  British. 
£ s.  d.  £ s,  d. 
Coprah  Per  ton  ...  3 15  0 2 16  0 
Sesame  seed  ,,  ...  3 15  0 2 16  0 
Groundnuts  ,,  ...  3 0 0 2 6 10 
Rui  her ...  4 10  0 4 10  0 
OrcLilaweed  Per  40  cubic  feet  2 15  0 2 10  0 
Wax  ,,  10  cwt.,  40 
cubic  feet...  ...  3 10  0 
Ivory  Per  lb,  ...  0 OH  2 V cent 
ad  valorem 
In  addition  to  these  lines,  the  Castle  and  Union 
lines  have  occasionally  run  steamers  from  Natal, 
and  intend  to  do  so  in  the  future  every  three 
weeks.  Messrs.  Bullard,  King  and  Company,  of 
Durban,  have  iud  a steamer  monthly  between  Port 
Eat«l  and  Mozambique,  and  announce  their 
intention  of  sending  one  of  their  Indian  steamers  along 
the  coast  each  mouth.  Steamers  of  the  British 
India  and  Clan  lines  have  called  here  when  suffi- 
cient inducement  offered.  Besides  steamers,  three  sail- 
ing vessels  have  loaded  at  this  port,  two  for 
Marseilles  and  one  for  Rotterdam.  Some 
balf-dczen  dhows  come  here  every  year  from  Bombay, 
laden  with  sundry  goods.  They  trade  along  the 
coast  till  about  August,  when  with  the  end  of  the 
monsoon  they  returned  to  India.  The  British  steamers 
have  on  several  occasions  called  at  Chinde,  and 
landed  cargo  and  passengers  there.  The  crossing  of 
the  bar  at  that  place  has  been  accomplished  without 
difficulty  by  steamers  of  900  tons.  During  most  of 
the  year  as  steamers  did  not  call  regularly  at 
Chinde  dhows  were  employed  in  taking  cargo  to 
Chim’d.  The  freight  by  steamer  is  11.  per  toD,  and 
by  dhow  13?.  6d.  The  dhows  brought  return  cargoes 
of  Zimbesi  produce.  The  duration  of  voyage  from 
bur  to  bar  is  almost  the  same  for  a dhow  as  for  a 
steamer,  about  10  hours; 
Sailing  ships  never  visit  this  port  except  when 
chartered. 
Sailing  Vessels. —The  pilot  never  oro6ses  the 
bar  to  bring  a ve  ssel  in.  His  work  consists  in  pilot- 
ing the  vessel  between  the  inside  of  the  bar  and 
the  town.  The  fee  is  10L  cut  and  in,  payable 
whether  the  pilot  comes  on  board  or  not,  but  one 
quaiter  of  this  is  often  remitted  when  l1  is  services 
are  made  use  of  only  one  way.  The  channel  from 
the  bar  to  the  town  has  recently  been  well  buoyed, 
and  it  is  intended  to  erect  leading  lights  to  admit 
of  vessels  crossing  the  bar  at  night. 
Landing  and  Loading.— The  landing  and  loading 
is  performed  by  lighters  cf  from  5 tons  to  20  tons, 
propelled  by  oars.  There  are  jetties  at  which  cargo  can 
be  landed  except  at  low  water  spring  tide.  The 
anchorage  being  in  the  river  12  miles  from  the  bar, 
shipping  operations  are  seldom  interruyted  by  rough 
water.  The  current  at.  spring  tides  runs  very  strongly 
up  and  down  and  hinders  lighterage  considerably. 
A lighter  with  crew  cost  about  21.  per  day.  The  charge 
for  landing  cargo  is  7s  (id  per  ton,  ; ud  for  loading 
produce  5s. 
On  the  Zambesi  there  are  at  present  two  Britisli 
cargo  steamers,  and  or  e Dutch  ; two  British  gun- 
boa's,  and  four  Portuguese.  The  British  cargo 
steamers  run  between  Chinde  and  Ohilomo,  and 
sometimes  Port  Blautyre.  The  fuel  used  is  wood; 
coal  only  is  taken  from  the  Chicdd  when  wood  is 
fcarce.  Welsh  coal  costs  3 1.  10s,  and  Natal  21.  10a 
per  ton.  They  carry  up  general  oargo  an<l  passengers, 
and  bring  down  coffee  end  ivory  from  the  shite 
Highlands  and  Lake  Njasta,  and  oil  seeds  from  the 
Zambesi,  They  are  quite  insufficient  to  cope  with  the 
trade. 
Tie nf port  by  the  Zambesi  to  Senna  and  Tete  is  by 
means  of  lighters,  boats,  and  canoes,  all  of  which  run 
the  risk  of  being  cans'zed  by  wind  and  hippopotami. 
| This  year  one  meichaut  lost  ICC/,  worth  of  ivory 
•;  through  & lighter  bring  cspiV.d  and  sunk  by  one  ot 
1 these  enima!s,  Dining  the  past  year  ’he  British  Spu'h 
