Chap. XXXII. DEVELOPING RESOURCES OF INTERIOR. 
G73 
there are vast numbers of good people in the world, and I do 
most devoutly tender my unfeigned thanks to that Gracious One 
who mercifully watched over me in every position, and influenced 
the hearts of both black and white to regard me with favour. 
With the united testimony of Captain Parker and Lieutenant 
Hoskins, added to my own observation, there can be no reason¬ 
able doubt but that the real mouth of the Zambesi is available 
for the purposes of commerce. The delta is claimed by the 
Portuguese, and the southern bank of the Luabo, or Cuama, as 
this part of the Zambesi is sometimes called, is owned by inde- ' 
pendent natives of the Caffre family. The Portuguese are thus 
near the main entrance to the new central region ; and, as they 
have of late years shown, in an enlightened and liberal spirit, 
their desire to develop the resources of Eastern Africa by pro¬ 
claiming Mozambique a free port, it is to be hoped that the 
same spirit will lead them to invite mercantile enterprise up the 
Zambesi, by offering facilities to those who may be led to push 
commerce into the regions lying far beyond their territory. 
Their wish to co-operate in the noble w^ork of developing the * 
resources of the rich country beyond, could not be shown better 
than by placing a village with Zambesian pilots at the harbour 
of Mitilone, and erecting a lighthouse for the guidance of sea¬ 
faring men. If this were done, no nation would be a greater 
gainer by it than the Portuguese themselves, and assuredly no 
other needs a resuscitation of its commerce more. Their kind¬ 
ness to me personally makes me wish for a return of their 
ancient prosperity; and the most liberal and generous act of 
the enlightened young king H. M. Don Pedro, in sending out 
orders to support my late companions at the public expense of 
the province of Mozambique until my return to claim them, 
leads me to hope for encouragement in every measure for either 
the development of commerce, the elevation of the natives, or 
abolition of the trade in slaves. 
As far as I am myself concerned, the opening of the new 
central country is a matter for congratulation only in so far as it 
opens up a prospect for the elevation of the inhabitants. As I 
have elsewhere remarked, I view the end of the geographical 
feat as the beginning of the missionary enterprise. I take the 
latter term in its most extended signification, and include every 
2 X 
