There are many native villages along the banks of the several streams, the country being very thickly populated, particularly in the hill districts, and the people are industrious and skilful workmen in all branches of trade, and they make their own blankets from the wild cotton and baobab tree, which they work by hand, the former by having the yarn spun by hand with a small stick, weighted at the end; four sticks are stuck in the ground to form a kind of loom, the yarn stretched tight, and being wound on a piece of wood, is passed backwards and forwards, the strands being threaded, to allow the woof to pass through and through by a backward movement of the hand. They can make blankets the usual size, and very white and strong. They also manufacture bands of various sizes for native uses. The blankets made from the bark of the tree, and bags to hold milk, are very strong and beautifully made. The females are fond of ornamenting their persons, wearing copper and brass rings round their necks, on their legs and arms, and some have silver, which I was told is got out of the mountains. Gold is found in all the mines in the Banyai country; the natives sell it to the Portuguese at Tette, and quartz reefs cross the country in many districts; several portions have not yet been visited, consequently the richness of this region is not known. On the mountains and high lands the country is healthy, but the low-lying ground in the rainy season is very unhealthy. Portuguese native traders are the only ones that go into those extensive regions, and supply the population with beads, brass wire, and other things in exchange for the gold-dust they procure from the rivers. There is an old fort on the Mazoe river, under the Lobolo mountains, and several others higher up that have been partly destroyed by the natives for walls for their gardens, where they plant small fields of cotton to make their blankets; a little piece is so occupied adjoining their huts, and it is found to grow very well in elevated positions. I have found it wild as high as 4300 feet above the sea-level, in a light soil, where water is not found near, but in the low lands it is very plentiful.