End of the Middle-Ages view by the Portuguese.

Taken from: A description of the coasts of East Africa and Malabar, in the beginning of the sixteenth century. Duarte Barbosa 1514. Transl Stanley.

THE LITTLE VCIQUES ISLANDS IN RIVERS. (Called Rios das Bosiqas in the map above)

Having passed the Great Vciques towards Sofala, a fortress which the King of Portugal made there, and where there is much gold, at XVII or XVIII leagues from it there are some rivers, which make between their branches, islands, called the Little Vciques, in which there are some villages of the Moors, who also deal with the Gentiles of the mainland in their provisions, which are rice, millet, and meat, and which they bring in small barks to Sufala.

Taken from: Ethiopia oriental, Volume 1 By João dos Santos. (From the years 1580-1600)

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Chapter XXVII

From the woman and pearl fish that are raised on the islands of Bocicas.

Fifteen leagues of Sofala are the islands of Bocicas along the coast to the southern part of the sea where there is a lot of fish that the natives of the same islands fish and catch with thick lines and large hooks with iron chains made just for this purpose. and from its meat they make smoke-cured dishes that look like pork dishes. This meat is very good and very fatty and we eat it in Sofala, often cooked with cabbage and seasoned with its sauce. This fish is very similar to the men and women of belly to the neck where it has all the features and parts that women and men have. The female raises her children on her breasts which she has exactly like a woman. ………

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…… the female fish that is created and lives in the Bocicas Sea, as I have said. Which they call mother of pearls that lie at the bottom of the sea on sandy land. The natural people fish for them by diving and before going under they throw a basket attached to the sea into the sea with a stone inside so that it sinks to the bottom.

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They go diving tied by the belt with a rope attached to the boat because they deviate from it and to go faster to the bottom they carry a stone in their arms which they drop when they get there and so they walk along the bottom of the sea looking for the oysters and putting them in the basket and when it is full they pull it under by the rope with which they are tied to the boat and the fishermen who are in it lift them up (empty it) and throw it down again. And when the fishermen who walk on the bottom of the sea get fed up and no longer retain (air); They come up, guided by the ropes with which they are tied, and put themselves on the boat, after they rested, they dive again and continue their fishing, and in this way they go down many times and catch many oysters and are so used to diving that they often they are under water for half a quarter of an hour and they make a lot of bets on who will be there longer. The depth in which they fish will be from ten twelve to fifteen fathoms (1). One finds two three and four small pearls and other times none. And the main reason why these Kaffirs and Moors fish oysters is to eat the meat because they don't pay much attention to the pearls and for that reason they sell it very cheaply ……………

Note: this must be the place in Sofala where pearls were found mentioned by Arab writers for centuries.

Note2: The Book of Duarte Barbosa (1516) also mentions the pearls of the islands but puts them in the Bazaruto Islands, way further south. Here João dos Santos says 15 leagues south of Sofala; that is 83km what brings us strait up to the mouth of the Safe river were the small vciques are. For the Bazaruto Islands see my webpage on: Charbuh or Sadbuwah islands (Chibuene).

(1) Fathom: a unit of length equal to six feet (1.83 meters) used especially for measuring the depth of water.