Chap. XXXII. 
QUILIMANE AND ZAMBESI. 
667 
rains niucli stron 2 :er. The banks of the river, for the first 30 
miles, are generally thickly clothed with trees, with occasional 
open glades. There are many huts and villages on both sides, 
and a great deal of cultivation. At one village, about 17 miles 
up on the eastern bank, and distinguished by being surrounded 
by an immense number of bananas and plantain-trees, a great 
quantity of excellent peas are cultivated, also cabbages, tomatos, 
onions, &c. Above this there are not many inhabitants on the 
left or west bank, although it is much the finest country, being 
higher, and abounding in cocoa-nut palms; the eastern bank 
being sandy and barren. The reason is, that some years back 
the Landeens, or Caffres, ravaged all this country, killing the 
men and taking the women as slaves, but they have never 
crossed the river; hence the natives are afraid to settle on the 
west bank, and the Portuguese owners of the different prasos ” 
have virtually lost them. The banks of the river continue 
mostly sandy, with few trees, except some cocoa-nut palms, 
until the southern end of the large plantation of Nyangue, 
formed by the river about 20 miles from Maruru. Here the 
country is more populous and better cultivated, the natives a 
finer race, and the huts larger and better constructed. Maruru 
belongs to Sehor Asevedo, of Quilimane, well known to all 
English officers on the east coast for his hospitality. 
The climate here is much cooler than nearer the sea, and 
Asevedo has successfully cultivated most European as well as 
tropical vegetables. The sugar-cane thrives, as also coffee and 
cotton, and indigo is a weed. Cattle here are beautiful, and 
some of them might show with credit in England. The natives 
are intelligent, and under a good government this fine country 
might become very valuable. Three miles from Maruru is 
Mesan, a very pretty village among palm and mango trees. 
There is here a good house belonging to a Sehor Ferrao; close 
by is the canal (Mutu) of communication between the Quilimane 
and Zambesi rivers, which in the rainy season is navigable (?). 
I visited it in the month of October, which is about the dryest 
time of tlie year; it was then a dry canal, about 30 or 40 yards 
wide, overgrown with trees and grass, and, at the bottom, at 
least 16 or 17 feet above the level of the Zambesi, which was 
running beneath. In the rains, by the marks I saw, the entrance 
