Chap. XXXI. 
SEAMS OF COAL. 
633 
the spot. We heard of him among the Banyai as a man with 
whom they would never fight, because “he had a good heart.” 
Had I come down to this coast instead of going to Loanda in 
1853, I should have come among the belligerents wliile the war 
was still raging, and should probably have been cut off My 
present approach was just at the conclusion of the peace; and 
when the Portuguese authorities here were informed, through the 
kind offices of Lord Clarendon and Count de Lavradio, that I was 
expected to come this way, they all declared that such was the 
existing state of afiairs that no European could possibly pass 
through the tribes. Some natives at last came down the river to 
Tete and said, aUuding to the sextant and artificial horizon, that 
“ the Son of God had come,” and that he was “ able to take the 
sun down from the heavens and place it under his arm! ” 
Major Sicard then felt sure that tliis was the man mentioned in 
Lord Clarendon’s despatch. 
On mentioning to the Commandant that I had discovered 
a small seam of coal, he stated that the Portuguese were 
already aware of nine such seams, and that five of them were 
on the opposite bank of the river. As soon as I had recovered 
from my fatigue I went to examine them. We proceeded in 
a boat to the mouth of the Lofubu or Eevubu, winch is about 
two miles below Tete, and on the opposite or northern bank. 
Ascending this about fom^ miles against a strong current of 
beautifully clear water, we landed near a small cataract, and 
walked about two miles through very fertile gardens to the seam, 
wliich we fomid to be in one of the feeders of the Lofubu, called 
Muatize or Motize. The seam is in the perpendicular banl^, and 
dips into the rivulet, or in a northerly direction. There is first of 
all, a seam 10 inches in diameter, then some shale, below which 
there is another seam, 58 inches of which are seen, and, as the 
bottom touches the water of the Muatize, it may be more. Tliis 
part of the seam is about 30 yards long. There is then a fault. 
About 100 yards higher up the stream, black vesicular trap is 
seen, penetrating in thin veins the clay shale of the country, 
converting it into porcellanite, and partially crystallizing the coal 
with which it came into contact. On the right bank of the Lo¬ 
fubu there is another feeder entering that river near its con- 
fiuence with the Muatize, which is called the Morongozi, in which 
