Mozambique

“ We first made sail for Mozambique, where Captain Armstrong had to communicate with the governor to arrange a plan for the suppression of the slave-trade. Mozambique belongs to the Portuguese. It is the chief of their settlements on the east coast of Africa. They claim the whole coast from Cape Delgado in the north, situated in about eleven degrees south latitude, to Delagoa Bay, which will be found at about the twenty-sixth degree south latitude ”

“ The Zambezi is the principal river, and forms the southern boundary of Mozambique proper, its inland border extending to Lake Nyasa. The coast is low and swampy, but the interior has well-wooded plains with valuable timber. The soil is fertile and produces corn, rice, cotton, cocoanut and india-rubber. The country is rich in minerals, but mining has not been extensive. The capital is Mozambique, built on a coral island near the mainland. The Mozambique Company administers, besides Mozambique, the Manica and Sofala region. ”

“ Although the Portuguese have had possessions of immense territorial extent, both on the West and East Coasts of Africa, for more than three centuries, in regions where this weed of the most superior quality abounds, it is only within the last twenty or thirty years that they have brought it into the European market; and, from what I could learn at Mozambique, it is only since the Slave Trade was partially checked in that Province, that the Mozambique people began to export this valuable commodity, viz., subsequent to 1850. ”

“ If found stealing cocoa-nuts from the trees, the custom of Mozambique is to allow the captain or guardian of the palm trees to shoot them. No question is asked as to how a slave comes by his death—and the body is thrown into the sea. ”

“ At Mozambique I obtained her release; and the same sense of duty to my country induces me to make the affair known in England, in order that the merchants of Great Britain may urge upon the British government that redress to which the mercantile community of this country are entitled. Be it remembered that these dhows frequenting Mozambique from Bombay, and other places in India, are laden with British goods sent to supply the Indian markets, and thence exported to East Africa. ”

“ Mozambique commands from its low islet a labyrinth of inner havens, followed northwards by Conducia Bay and the magnificent group of sheltered inlets presented by the Ferñao Vellozo or Masasima basin. Memba Bay, with those of Mwambi, Montepes, Ibo, Masimbwa, and Mayapa, not to speak of the many excellent anchorages formed by the islets off the coast, render this seaboard one of the most favourable for navigation in the whole world. At the same time the barrier reefs and the swift currents striking against them require great caution on the part of skippers frequenting these waters. ”

“ It is rich in produce, which is fully described in the chapter on the “Resources of Eastern Africa.”
Soon after my arrival at Mozambique, my attention was called to the very arbitrary measures which the Portuguese authorities can adopt when it suits their purpose, showing [37] that it is not want of power, but want of inclination, which prevents them stopping the slave-trade, and encouraging legitimate commerce. A merchant at Mozambique had a serious difference with the Governor-general, the subject of their quarrel being the French Free Labour Emigration. ”

“ Mozambique is a kingdom situated on the eastern coasts of Africa, inhabited by negroes; a barbarous people, but less savage than their neighbours the Cafres, by reason of the trade which they continually maintain with the Ethiopians and Arabs. There is no port on all the shore to secure shipping from the winds; only one little island is shaped into a haven, both convenient and safe.
This isle, which is but a mile distant from the main land, bears the name of Mozambique, together with the whole kingdom. It was formerly subject to the Saracens, and a Xeriffe Moor commanded it ”

“ The future is unknown to us; but if it should be in my destiny ever to go to Mozambique again, I hope to be able to erect a monument over the remains of Duncan, the pioneer of British commercial enterprise in Eastern Africa, which will at once attest the admiration of his countrymen and their abhorrence of his persecutors, who would attempt to carry their contemptible hatred even beyond the tomb. ”

“ Mozambique
Introduction Mozambique Background: Almost five centuries as a Portuguese colony came to a close with independence in 1975. Large-scale emigration by whites, economic dependence on South Africa, a severe drought, and a prolonged civil war hindered the country's development. The ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) party formally abandoned Marxism in 1989, and a new constitution the following year provided for multiparty elections and a free market economy. ”

“ Southwards the beach is everywhere low and destitute of harbours, whereas farther north the coast is deeply indented with creeks and inlets, while ramifying headlands, continued by islets, stretch far seawards. This striking contrast is explained by the action of the Mozambique current, combined with that of the coral-building polyps. The oceanic stream flows close in shore south of the Rovuma, eating away the foot of the cliffs, striking against the rocky promontories, and sweeping in rapid eddies round every inlet on the seaboard. ”

“ It will be asserted, on the other hand, that this would be a dangerous step to take, as these well-known persons have great influence at Mozambique, where their long residence has given them great influence over the natives, and where they form a local party, which, aided by the climate, the poverty of the Portuguese government, and the treachery of the officials and officers, renders them all-powerful. To this I simply reply, that the Portuguese government, to my certain knowledge, holds in its possession undisputed proofs of the guilt of these slave-dealers ”

“ Being of such a height it was visible to us from a distance of fifty miles, when nothing was to be seen of the coast itself or of the intervening lowlands. Shortly before dusk we steamed up to the north side of Mozambique Island, and anchored for the night in an open roadstead, whence, on the following morning, we moved into the inner anchorage.
Mozambique Island has been in the possession of the Portuguese since the middle of the fifteenth century. About the year 1505 they commenced to build a large fort on the northern extremity of the island. ”

“ It is not our intention, in the present work, to trace the history of Mozambique from its being made known to Europe by the great discovery of [288] De Gama, through all the changes which have taken place on that coast since the Portuguese era of conquest—nor to show how its position, with that of all the Portuguese settlements in these seas, became affected by the union of Spain and Portugal into one kingdom, and the appearance of the Dutch and English in these seas. ”

“ Some of the houses have the appearance of comfort, and in former times, when the slave-trade was extensively carried on between Mozambique and Brazil, they were luxuriously furnished, having every comfort which affluence could supply, and the debilitating nature of the climate called for. Since the people of Mozambique have been obliged to abandon slavery, nearly all the former occupants have left, and the remainder, tied to the country by compulsory means, lead a miserable existence engendered by their own vices. ”

“ The harbour of Mozambique has seldom less than eight or ten fathom water, which is so clear, that every bank, rock, or shallow can be easily seen.
"The Moors, so often mentioned, are supposed by Bruce to have been merchants expelled from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella, who first fixed their residence on the western coast of Africa, and extending themselves eastwards, formed settlements in Arabia and Egypt, till the oppressions of Selim and Soliman, the Turkish emperors, interrupted their commerce, and obliged them to disperse along the coast of Abyssinia and eastern Africa. ”

“ PORTUGUESE TERRITORY—TRANSVAAL LOW VELDT—MALARIA—HORSE SICKNESS
Between the north-eastern borders of the Transvaal and the coast lies the Portuguese colony Mozambique. Its frontier railway station, Ressario Garcia, is near that of the Transvaal, viz., Komati poort, which is 53 miles from Delagoa Bay. A low-lying country extends from the coast about 100 to 200 miles inland, and is tropical. Except some elevated spots, the whole of it is almost uninhabitable in summer by whites on account of malaria. During some specially bad seasons natives even succumb to that malady. ”

“ The blight of slavery has poisoned everything on which it rested.
Nevertheless, as a place of call for refreshment, for ships passing through the Channel, Mozambique has some claims to attention. Abundance of vegetables and fruit are to be obtained there; pigs and goats are readily to be purchased, as well as poultry, and, were the demand for bullocks larger, they would soon be brought to market in numbers. ”

“ Of these structures there are about one hundred and fifty, containing in all about seven hundred persons, including Portuguese, Canareens, Moors, and free blacks.
The governor is appointed by the King of Portugal or the Governor-general of Mozambique, for the time being, and is supposed to have a company of soldiers, numbering sixty, but he has seldom half that number for his protection. The soldiers are picked out of those who misbehave themselves at Mozambique ”

“ There was for long a slave trade from the Portuguese possessions on the East African coast. The stream of supply came mainly from the southern Nyasa districts by three or four routes to lbo, Mozambique, Angoche and Quilimane. Madagascar and the Comoro Islands obtained most of their slaves from the Mozambique coast. It was believed in 1862 that about 19,000 passed every year from the Nyasa regions to Zanzibar, whence large supplies were drawn for the markets of Arabia and Persia up to 1873. ”

“ As Mohammet Ali restored Alexandria to its former position, so it is in the power of the King of Portugal, Don Pedro V., to again make Mozambique what it was when first visited by Vasco de Gama, in 1497, namely, a rendezvous for all the commerce of the Indian Ocean. The introduction and fostering of the slave-trade has destroyed legitimate commerce, and reduced it to its present position ”

“ There is one man upon your track who judges for himself, and does not take slave-dealers’ reports; but he has not yet entered the Mozambique Channel; he is at Natal, and has only just heard of your movements. You may perhaps obtain your cargo of slaves, and add to the large list of unreported slavers which have been carrying large cargoes from the Mozambique to Cuba and America for a quarter of a century.
The “Zambesi” stood away for the Bazarutto Islands, remained there three days, relanded the men who had belonged to the “Ocean Queen,” and returned to Inhambane. ”

“ This island was already a great Arab market, trading with the East Indies, when Yasco de Guma discovered it in 1498. The Portuguese had merely to fortify the place in order to secure a station of vital importance on the highway between Lisbon and Goa. Mozambique Island, a coralline rock about two miles long and a few hundred yards broad, partly closes the entrance of the spacious Mossoril Bay, a perfectly sheltered haven from 25 to 60 feet deep, where vessels frequenting these waters find a safe anchorage during the prevalence of the south-east monsoons. ”

“ The exports are chiefly groundnuts, rubber of inferior quality, sesamum and other oil seeds, tortoise-shell and ebony. Germany has a large share of the exports.
Mozambique was discovered by Vasco da Gama in 1498. There was then a flourishing Arab town on the island, of which no trace exists. The history of the Portuguese town is closely identified with that of the province, for which see Portuguese East Africa. ”

“ One of Africa's poorest countries, with a per capita GDP of little more than $100, Mozambique has failed to exploit the economic potential of its sizable agricultural, hydropower, and transportation resources. ”

“ The station of Mozambique itself, mainstay of the Portuguese authority along the seaboard, is situated not on the mainland but on a neighbouring island, while the surrounding country might, till quite recently, be described as a terra incognita to within a short distance of the opposite coast. Like all other stations on the East African seaboard, except Sofala, Mozambique was regarded as little more than a port of call for vessels plying between Europe and India. ”

“ She was a chattel belonging to a Portuguese of Mozambique descent, and was to be used as such. We often think what may be her fate!
When the slaves were removed from Mr. Soares’ house, in the hope of driving us away, I used every endeavour to hire some from persons in the city of Mozambique. A German merchant would have procured me the services of some, but as he could not hold slaves more than myself, he was dependent on the will of the Mozambique people, who hired their slaves to him on the express condition that he would not lend them to the British consul. ”

“ The profits derived from the trade which they carry on with Mozambique, to which place all the ivory of the province generally finds its way, are so considerable that the Banyans are induced to submit to great exactions and considerable injustice. They have no appeal, and must either put up with the robberies to which they are liable, or entirely abandon the trade.
It may be easily imagined that they rejoiced on seeing a British consul established at Mozambique ”

“ Mozambique, like many other cities of the world, is now reduced from its ancient wealth and vice-regal splendor, to the almost forgotten seat of desolation and poverty."
MR. WILTON. "Between this island and Sofala Bay is the slave town Quillimane. It is in a commodious situation and one of the finest countries in the world; but is continually in a state of turmoil, from the different tribes striving by mutual conflict to obtain prisoners for sale to the Portuguese, who wickedly excite the wars and fatten and grow wealthy on the blood and wretchedness they produce." ”