CHAPTER XVII - Of the Traffic at Mozambique, Sofala, Coüesme, Melinde, Mombase, Socotera, and other places.–Of the Siege of Mozambique, and what happened there

Summary

With regard to the traffic of Mozambic, Sofala, Coüesme, and other places, I will speak first of Mozambic, whence very rich cargoes are brought to Goa, chiefly of slaves or Cafres, which are carried everywhere; but besides them, ivory, and ebony the blackest and most excellent in the world; and note that the Portuguese call it pan de Mozambic, meaning the wood of that country; there is also some ambergris. This place is of vast importance to the King of Spain, as well for the commodities which he draws therefrom, as that it serves him greatly in his government and navigation. For it is an island, a fortress, and a haven, well adapted for a refuge to ships on the outward voyage from Portugal to Goa, after they have passed the Cape of Good Hope. So that all that are afflicted by storm, disease, scarcity, or other ills take refuge there. You might call it a sentinel or a bulwark at the entering in of the Indies, or a kind of hostelry for the refreshing of the Portuguese, worn out with a long and toilsome voyage, when they have been for so long time at sea without touching land, sometimes spending seven or eight months amid such heat and calms as attend the passage of the line (especially about the coast of Guinea, which is exceeding intemperate and unhealthy); hence are produced the many ailments of scurvy and pestilential fevers, whereof full many die.