Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The New Monthly Magazine, 1866, Vol. 138
Sabin and Sofala, has been ever since Europeans appeared on that coast, and is now, called Sabia; which all persons versed in Arabian history are aware, is synonymous with Saba, Sheba, or Yemen - names alike applied to the south part of Arabia, from which the Arabs would naturally start for Africa. The Manica old mines here alluded to are further described as being situated ina val ey, enclosed in an amphitheatre of hills, having a circuit of about a hundred miles. The spots containing gold are said to be known by the barren and naked aspect of the surface soil. The district is now called Matuka, and the natives who obtain the gold are Boton They dig in any small crevice made by the rains of the precedgiii: winter, and there find the gold in dust. They seldom go deeper than one or two feet at the most from the surface, and, on diggin five or six feet deep, they reach the rock. There are other mines still arther from Sofala, being about four or five hundred miles distant, where the gold is found in solid lumps, or as veins in the rocks and stones. In the still portions of the rivers, when they are low, the natives frequently dive to obtain the lumps of old which have been washed down into these holes and gullies in the beds of the rivers. They will sometimes join together in hundreds, and deflect a stream temporarily from its course, to drain these holes, and obtain the rich deposits which they contain. With such natives what could the Portuguese not do if they would only exert them selves -but they tell one that the natives are lazy and stupid brutes. On the other hand, the Moors induce the natives to work and obtain gold for them; and so it is very a parent who are deserving of the degrading epithets applied to them by t e degenerate hybrid race of Canareens who lord it over them. Mr. Lyons m'leod adds, that although this country is situated between the equator and the trapic of Capricorn, in the cold season the mountains surrounding the mining districts are covered with so great a quantity of snow, that, if the natives are caught there at that season, they perish from the cold; but, in the hot season, the sides and summits of these mountains enjoy a serene, bracing, equable temperature, while it is hot in the enclosed valleys. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
