Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
Mosuril was in a state of ruin and endured only as a military
post with a store, a post o~ce and a few native huts, but the
town of Mozambique did have a hospital and a cathedral.
Exactly three weeks after departing from Naples they arrived
on April 13th, Maundy Thursday, at the town of Mozambique,
where the party was met by Mr. Barton, a Rhodesian and the
expedition's chief. After clearing customs they set o¬ across the
bay for Mosuril:
We went in a native sailing ship and with a good load of
other luggage, several natives and eight of our party, the boat
was heavily laden. It was the most exciting bit of travelling
any of us had done. The wind was strong and drove the ships
almost vertically and many a huge wave crashed in spray
right over us giving us a thorough soaking. As we neared the
shore we found it was high tide and that under those condi-
tions the water completely submerges a small forest of trees.
We thus had the unique experience of sailing over the tree
tops! To land we were obliged to ride some distance on the
shoulders of natives - Makua they are called - who waded
very sure-footedly through the surf. We have a big Portuguese
house, said to be 200 years old, surrounded by pleasant gar-
dens and attended to by a large suite of Makua who make
exceedingly good and willing servants - 'boys' as they are
known.
Two years previously Memba Minerals Limited, a British com-
pany, had purchased mineral prospecting rights to a large tract
of land in East Africa, then owned by the Portuguese. These
rights had cost the company a hefty £105 000, and a further
£25,827 7s 1d had been spent on the prospecting expedition of
1910 without them getting the smallest hint of anything worth
exploiting. The only minerals which would have paid working
were gold, copper and tin, and a few rarer ones they were unlikely
