Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/297

TOPOGRAPHY OF OAZAJ.AND. 288 sky was full of fleecy clouds, a mass of red uud yellow, while the bay looked as brilliant as a rainbow under the evening sun, which slanted across its waves, lighting them up with the constantly varying tints of green and gold."* North of the Inhambane inlet the seaboard is guarded by some small Portuguese posts. One of these stands on the island of Jiazarufo, where the neighbouring pearl and holothuria fisheries are little utilised. Another, on the island of Shi/oane, in the marshy delta of the 8abi, serves as a convict station, which is surrounded by brackish waters frequented by the hippopotamus. Formerly the most frequented harbour on the Gaza coast lay beyond the fluvial basin on the low beach of an inlet penetrating far into the interior. Here stands the port of So/ala, at a point which is unfortunately inaccessible to vessels of heavy draught. When the Portuguese founded in this place their first settlement between the Limpopo and the Zambese, they supposed they were restoring Solomon's city of Ophir, and gave this appella- tion to the little fort, one of whose towers is still standing. They were also under the impression that the river Sabi itself had been so named from the Queen of Saba. Before the discovery of the far more commodious port of Bamjue, formed by the mouth of the Pungue or Aruanga River, Sofala had the advantage of being the nearest seaport to the highland district where the Zulu conquerors have established their headquarters, as well as to the ^lanica plateau, famous for its gold-bearing alluvia. Gold-dust has even been found in the sands of the beach close to Sofala itself. This place is no longer, as formerly, the centre of a brisk export trade. The geologists that have visited the Manica country have hitherto failed to discover either the auriferous rocks in these granitic uplands or the deposits of precious stones where the native women find their beautiful pendants and earrings. The valley of the stream whose sands are washed for gold opens on the southern side of the mountains. Here the pits, sunk to a depth of 18 or 20 feet in the alluvial soil, and still perfectly preserved, date from the time of the early Portu- guese operations, which were themselves preceded by much older works, traditionally attributed to a " white people with long black hair." Near the village of Massikcsse, which was formerly the capital of the province, are also seen some ruins of the ancient city, which had already been almost entirely abandoned at the end of the last century. It was deserted in consequence of the "just reprisals " of the revolted natives, and subsequently destroyed by the Zulu invaders, who massacred most of the inhabitants, and forbade the survivors to continue the mining operations. A so-called " Ophir Company " has lately been constituted for the purpose of resuming these works and reviving the important " fair of Manica," which was formerly held at Massikess^. But according to some geologists, the sands of the Manica valleys are but slightly auriferous, the proportion of the precious metal apparently not averaging more than half a gramme, or about eight grains, to thirty-five cubic feet of matter. The future wealth of the country will be derived, not so much from its mineral resources as from the great fertility of its valleys. • Op. eit. p. 68.