_ 162 _ Chapter Eight Concerning the fortresses of Sofala and Mozambique. On the coast between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Guardafui, in latitude 20° south, lies the fortress of Sofala, situated along a river below a town of Moors and Africans. Dom Manuel of glorious memory ordered this fortress to be built at the mouth of this river because of the trade in gold and ivory there, which are brought in large quantities from the interior by the black natives of the country which they exchange for merchandise from India, mostly from the kingdom of Cambay. This trade in gold and ivory is at present less than it used to be in the fortress of Sofala, because since the discovery of the Cuama river, which is twenty-five leagues below Sofala, and the Portuguese began to trade there, all the gold goes there and much less to Sofala. As a result, very little merchandise now goes to the fortress of Sofala and most goes to the Cuama river, and except for the captaincy the offices in Sofala are of very little importance, whereas before they were the most profitable of all the fortresses of India. The principal sea-port for all the gold and ivory traded in the Sofala and Cuama rivers and others along that coast is the island of Mozambique, which is on the
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