f the river the huts are built on piles, and at these times the
communication is only in canoes; but the waters do not remain up more
than three or four days at a time. The first village is about eight
miles up the river, on the western bank, and is opposite to another
branch of the river called 'Muselo', which discharges itself into the
sea about five miles to the eastward.

"The village is extensive, and about it there is a very large quantity
of land in cultivation; calavances, or beans, of different sorts, rice,
and pumpkins, are the principal things. I saw also about here some wild
cotton, apparently of very good quality, but none is cultivated. The
land is so fertile as to produce almost any (thing?) without much
trouble.

"At this village is a very large house, mud-built, with a court-yard.
I believe it to have been used as a barracoon for slaves, several large
cargoes having been exported from this river. I proceeded up the river
as far as its junction with the Quilimane River, called 'Boca do
Rio', by my computation between 70 and 80 miles from the entrance. The
influence of the tides is felt about 25 or 30 miles up the river. Above
that, the stream, in the dry season, runs from 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 miles an
hour, but in the rains much stronger. 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, tomatoes, onions, etc. 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 cocoanut 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 cocoanut
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,