the natives a finer race, and the huts
larger and better constructed. Maruru belongs to Senor 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 Senor 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 the 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 rise
of the river must be very nearly 30 feet, and the volume of water
discharged by it (the Zambesi) enormous.

"Above Maruru the country begins to become more hilly, and the high
mountains of Boruru are in sight; the first view of these is obtained
below Nyangue, and they must be of considerable height, as from this
they are distant above 40 miles. They are reported to contain great
mineral wealth; gold and copper being found in the range, as also COAL
(?). The natives (Landeens) are a bold, independent race, who do not
acknowledge the Portuguese authority, and even make them pay for leave
to pass unmolested. Throughout the whole course of the river hippopotami
were very abundant, and at one village a chase by the natives was
witnessed. They harpoon the animal with a barbed lance, to which is
attached, by a cord 3 or 4 fathoms long, an inflated bladder. The
natives follow in their canoes, and look out to fix more harpoons as
the animal rises to blow, and, when exhausted, dispatch him with their
lances. It is, in fact, nearly similar to a whale-hunt. Elephants and
lions are also abundant on the western side; the latter destroy many of
the blacks annually, and are much feared by them. Alligators are said to
be numerous, but I did not see any.

"The voyage up to Mar