Henry Salt

“ At Cabaçeiro stands an excellent house, belonging to a Signor Aranjo, who at this time was very prudently engaged in surrounding it with a high wall, as a protection against the Makooa. The shore on the side of the bay is flat, and intersected by a great number of sandy creeks and inlets, which are left dry at low water: these I repeatedly visited in search of sea productions, and I never met with so great a variety on any other coast. The star-fish and sea-flowers were particularly beautiful, and of many exquisite colours. ”

“ The village of Mesuril, from its vicinity to the Government-house, and the security which the fort was supposed to afford, has been the favourite spot for building among the settlers, and many good houses are erected there, which, however, must necessarily be unhealthy, from being situated in the midst of a cocoa-nut wood, where nature is suffered to lavish her bounty in all the wild luxuriance of primitive vegetation. ”

“ We saw only a few of their women, and, if those few may be considered as a fair sample of the ladies of the Settlement, I am afraid they do not possess many charms to suit an Englishman's taste, being in general thin, sallow, and much relaxed by the climate, with no small share of that inertness usually attendant upon a long residence, in countries situated under the tropics. They are very negligent in their persons, excepting on public occasions, and go without stockings, like the Dutch planters' wives in the interior of the Cape. ”

“ Running in for the shore, we got into a bay skirted by moderately steep light-coloured cliffs, curiously interspersed with patches of black, and occasional inlets having a sandy beach. As we saw several natives on the shore, and thought we could distinguish canoes, Captain Fisher sent his boat to procure a pilot, and some information respecting the site of the town. The coast in this part must be very steep, for at the distance of only one mile and a half we could get no soundings. ”

“ The Makooa, or Makooana, as they are often called, comprise a people consisting of a number of very powerful tribes, lying behind Mosambique, which extend northward as far as Melinda, and southward to the mouth of the river Zambezi, while hordes of the same nation are to be found in a south-west direction, perhaps almost to the neighbourhood of the Kaffers, bordering on the Cape of Good Hope. A late traveller in that settlement, mentions them as a tribe of Kaffers, and says the name is derived from the Arabic language, signifying "workers in iron." ”

“ Conforming, as I have generally done, to most of these customs, I confess that I have felt almost as much repugnance to return to the tedious forms of an English entertainment, as I did to descend to the simple informality of these homely repasts; and possibly the irksome restraint of sitting in a constrained position for three hours, pampering the appetite with an accumulated succession of viands, may, with equal justice, appear to a savage quite as irrational, as his rude and unceremonious habits, to our more refined taste. ”

“ On this day, seven Portuguese vessels left the harbour of Mosambique for Goa, having on board, besides a large quantity of gold and ivory, about five hundred slaves, who were bought at this place at the price of ten, fifteen and twenty dollars a head, that is, women and children at about the rate of three and four pounds a piece, and able bodied men at the price of five pounds!! ”

“ The women of the Cape are most of them pretty, and very pleasing in their manners; and there is a freedom of intercourse allowed them in society, which renders their company peculiarly attractive. In no part of the world are country excursions better conducted than in this colony. The climate, during a great part of the year, from the mildness of its temperature, is particularly adapted to parties of this description: and the lively spirit which characterizes the younger females, is on no occasion shewn to greater advantage. ”

“ To a person possessing a taste for the sublime, the scenery here could not fail to interest; if fond of plants, the infinite variety of species found close even to the town, would afford him endless amusement; and if inclined to the charms of social intercourse, he might at this time have been gratified, by mixing in a society, perhaps equal to any in England ”

“ The form of the females approximates to that of the Hottentot women, the spine being curved, and the hinder parts protruding; and indeed, to say the truth, it is scarcely possible to conceive a more disagreeable object to look at, than a middle-aged woman belonging to a tribe of the Makooa.
Wild as the Makooa are in their savage state, it is astonishing to observe how docile and serviceable they become as slaves, and when partially admitted to freedom, by being enrolled as soldiers, how quiokly their improvement advances, and how thoroughly their fidelity may be relied on. ”

“ The shoals appear by the old charts to have perceptibly increased, and it is probable, like the sands at the mouth of the Ganges, which they much resemble, that they are liable to shift, so that too much caution cannot be used in sailing up the coast. No ship should venture into less than twelve fathoms, in which depth she may traverse the Bank in perfect safety. [1] The Portuguese are so well aware of the dangers of approaching nearer, that they never let their ships attempt it, but carry on the whole intercourse with Sofala by small coasting vessels from Mosambique. ”

“ Similar to Mesuril, though on a smaller scale, are built the villages of Mapeita, Cabaçeiro, and Soué Souâh, in the neighhour-hood of which plantations are laid out, like those I have before described belonging to Signor Montéro. A great part of the land still remains uncultivated, but it affords grazing to numerous herds of cattle, and sustenance to vast droves of swine, the breeding of which, from their being reared with little trouble, has been greatly encouraged by the inhabitants. ”

“ On our return we passed through a fine estate belonging to Signior Guédez, one of the most respectable merchants in the Settlement, which appeared to be in better order than any of the others we saw on the peninsula.
In the afternoon we walked to the house of one of the planters, about a mile distant, in the village of Mesuril, for the purpose of seeing some native traders from the interior, of a nation called Monjou, who had come down with a cafila of slaves, (chiefly female) together with gold and elephants' teeth for sale. ”

“ Green the first Lieutenant, and myself set out at day light, to look for the harbour and town of Sofala. After leaving the vessel we sailed straight for the point, which we conceived to be Inancata, having regular soundings decreasing as we advanced. On approaching the point we found breakers extending a considerable way from it, which we rounded in one and a half fathom, when the water became deeper, and a second point opened beyond, to which we directed our course. On reaching it the sea was perfectly smooth, to the beach, and we determined, in consequence, to land. ”

“ As to the importance attached to the mode of taking our meals, it may be said altogether to arise from prejudice. The Hindoos with their solitary repast, the Arabs with their single dish, out of which they may be said to feed gregariously, and the Abyssinians with a joint of raw meat, all feel the same kind of satisfaction and pride in their respective methods, as the European does from the fancied superiority of his own. ”

“ I must however remark, in this instance, to the honour of the Portuguese, that the situation of this class of men is generally comfortable; their pay, though not large, is amply sufficient for all their wants, and the duty which they have to perform is never laborious. The greater part of them were by birth Makooa, who had been made slaves in early youth. ”

“ On the 7th of September, the Governor came over to Mesuril, for the purpose of examining into the state of the peninsula of Cabaçeiro, and in the excursions which he made for this purpose, he, with great politeness, permitted me to accompany him. The settlement of Mosambique depends almost entirely on this tract of land for its supplies, excepting those which it draws from a few isolated spots cultivated by the Moors, at Loomb, on the opposite side of the bay. ”

“ The articles displayed to tempt these simple savages, were very trifling, such as salt, shells, beads, tobacco, coloured handkerchiefs, and coarse cloths from Surat; a circumstance that strongly proves how artfully the Portuguese have carried on this species of traffic, otherwise they could not for so long a period have kept the natives in an ignorance thus suitable to their purposes. I was informed that, in the interior, the traders are still able to purchase for about the value of two dollars, in the above articles, either a slave, or an elephant's tooth from sixty to eighty pounds weight. ”

“ On the 11th, we left Mesuril, and returned to Mosambique by the way of Cabaçeiro. On our road we observed several trees of a curious species, called Malumpava, (a species of Adansonia,) which seems to expend its powers of vegetation in the trunk, and might, from its bulk, not unaptly be called the Elephant tree, as it sometimes measures full seventy feet in circumference, though it bears few leaves or branches in proportion. ”

“ Nothing indeed appears to be wanting to the welfare of the colony, except an increase of population, which an extraordinary fatality, prevailing among children, seems to render hopeless without some external assistance; but every attempt of this nature has not been attended hitherto with the expected advantages. It is a curious fact, that the male population exceeds the female in every class of inhabitants in this settlement ”

“ The Dutch seem desirous, generally, to associate with the English, and when they find a person willing to do justice to their character, and to conform to their manners, they seldom fail to cherish his acquaintance, and to treat him with distinguished attention. The best informed are perfectly sensible of the great improvements made in the colony by the English, since they have had possession of it ”

“ The food on which the planters live is gross in the extreme, and to this in a great measure may be attributed the diseases which prevail. Great profusion of boiled meats, chiefly pork and beef, are laid on the table, and rude mis-shapen lumps of these are mixed together with vegetables on the same plate, without any of that attention to nicety, observable at the table even of the poorer classes in England; while all the other dishes are dressed with a great quantity of oil, by no means remarkable for its purity. ”

“ These were conquered by the Portuguese, soon after the settlement of the colony, and were bound to render military service, besides the payment of a tribute in kind, which is now often commuted by the trifling present of a few limes. These tribes are ruled by chiefs, styled Sheiks, whose appointment depends on the Governor of Mosambique. Several of them are very powerful, and have extensive jurisdiction, but their support is not much to be relied upon, from their rarely acting in unison. ”

“ The Makooa are a strong athletic race of people, very formidable, and constantly in the habit of making incursions into the small tract of territory which the Portuguese possess on the coast. Their enmity is inveterate, and is confessed to have arisen from the shameful practices of the traders, who have gone among them to purchase slaves. They fight chiefly with spears, darts, and poisoned arrows ”

“ The latter was at this time a queen, and much attached to the Portuguese, being then on a visit at Mosambique: she commands a large district, and can bring fifteen hundred men into the field. The Sheik of Quintangone is still more powerful; his district lies north of Mosambique, and he is said to command four or five thousand men, capable of bearing arms. His predecessor was for a long time at enmity with the Portuguese, and frequently committed great ravages in the peninsula of Cabaçeiro, which he entered by way of Soué Souâh. ”

“ The vessels appointed for this service were the Racehorse, and Staunch brigs of war, commanded by Captains Fisher and Street. The former obligingly offered me a passage on board his vessel, as far as Mosambique: which I gladly accepted, and on the 27th of July the three ships left Simon's Bay, on their destination. I shall pass over the first part of our voyage; as nothing particular occurred worthy of notice, except a violent storm of thunder and lightning on the 5th of August, in latitude 33° 38′, which was tremendously awful. ”

“ The native bearers are very good, and for a short distance run as fast as the best in India, that is, at about the rate of five miles an hour. They are also particularly expert in changing their burthen from one shoulder to the other. ”

“ To defend this, a fort is built on a projecting point, near the village of Mesuril, which occupies a considerable space of ground, and contains a chapel dedicated to St. John, above which rises an embattled tower with a gun upon it, commanding the works below. The whole of these are in a state of dilapidation, and are defended by a few rusty cannon only, which, to do any service, stand greatly in need of their patron saint's assistance. ”

“ Sponges too, of several curious sorts, were common, and the sand was besides loaded with muscles, crabs, and other shell fish; while in the shallow water various species of sea priapi were found, and different sorts of molluscæ, some of which, though beautiful to the eye, could not be preserved, as they soon dissolved on being exposed to the sun, or when immersed in spirits. A great number of slaves, men, women, and children, were always seen at low water, engaged in collecting shell fish, and the produce of their labour constitutes their chief means of subsistence. ”