ocess of rotation renewed
until the whole of the sand is taken away, and the gold alone remains.
It is found in very minute scales, and, unless I had been assured to the
contrary, I should have taken it to be mica, for, knowing the gold to be
of greater specific gravity than the sand, I imagined that a stream
of water would remove the latter and leave the former; but here the
practice is to remove the whole of the sand by the hand. This process
was, no doubt, a profitable one to the Portuguese, and it is probable
that, with the improved plan by means of mercury, the sands would
be lucrative. I had an opportunity of examining the gold-dust from
different parts to the east and northeast of Tete. There are six
well-known washing-places. These are called Mashinga, Shindundo,
Missala, Kapata, Mano, and Jawa. From the description of the rock I
received, I suppose gold is found both in clay shale and quartz. At the
range Mushinga to the N.N.W. the rock is said to be so soft that the
women pound it into powder in wooden mortars previous to washing.

Round toward the westward, the old Portuguese indicate a station which
was near to Zumbo on the River Panyame, and called Dambarari, near which
much gold was found. Farther west lay the now unknown kingdom of Abutua,
which was formerly famous for the metal; and then, coming round toward
the east, we have the gold-washings of the Mashona, or Bazizulu, and,
farther east, that of Manica, where gold is found much more abundantly
than in any other part, and which has been supposed by some to be the
Ophir of King Solomon. I saw the gold from this quarter as large as
grains of wheat, that found in the rivers which run into the coal-field
being in very minute scales. If we place one leg of the compasses at
Tete, and extend the other three and a half degrees, bringing it round
from the northeast of Tete by west, and then to the southeast, we nearly
touch or include all the known gold-producing country. As the gold
on this circumference is found in coarser grains than in the streams
running toward the centre, or Tete, I imagine that the real gold-field
lies round about the coal-field; and, if I am right in the conjecture,
then we have coal encircled by a gold-field, and abundance of wood,
water, and provisions--a combination not often met with in the world.
The inhabitants are not unfavorable to washings, conducted on the
principle formerly mentioned. At present they wash only when in want of