Zambezia : a general description of the valley of the Zambezi River, from its delta to the River Aroangwa, with its history, agriculture, flora, fauna, and ethnography

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ZAMBEZIA

HIS EXCELLENCY MAJOR ALFREDO AUGUSTO FREIRE D’ANDRADE, R.E.,

Governor-General of Portuguese East Africa.
[Frontispiece

ZAMBEZIA

A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE VALLEY OF
THE ZAMBEZI RIVER, FROM ITS DELTA TO THE
RIVER AROANGWA, WITH ITS HISTORY, AGRI-
CULTURE, FLORA, FAUNA, AND ETHNOGRAPHY

BY R. C. F. MAUGHAM

H.B.M. CONSUL FOR PORTUGUESE EAST AFRICA

AUTHOR OF
‘* PORTUGUESE EAST AFRICA,” ‘‘ A HANDBOOK OF CHI-MAKUA,”
AND OTHER WRITINGS

WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.

Igo

R49 4445

PRINTED BY
HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD.,
LONDON AND AYLESBURY,

To
HIS MOST FAITHFUL MAJESTY
DOM MANOEL II
KING OF PORTUGAL
IN PROFOUND ADMIRATION OF THOSE PORTIONS OF
THE SPLENDID DEPENDENCY OF PORTUGUESE EAST AFRICA
WHICH THE FOLLOWING PAGES BUT DIMLY DESCRIBE
BY HIS MAJESTY’S MOST GRACIOUSLY EXPRESSED PERMISSION

THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED

PREFACE

THE task of writing some account of the Portuguese
section of the River Zambezi is one which I first
proposed to myself some years ago, and although
the work has, for a variety of reasons, progressed
but slowly, I have found it much more of a pleasure
than a toil, and must confess to having completed
the final chapter with a feeling akin to one of
regret.

My recollections of the region I have endeavoured
to describe are as pleasant as those of my numerous
Portuguese friends still labouring in it are cordial,
and, consequently, I am not unconscious of a sense
of vague misgiving lest I should have failed to
convey adequately a reasonable impression of a
district in the greatness of whose future I for one
have the firmest confidence.

Although I have spent considerable time in
gathering together the material of which this book
is composed, I fear that the result is only a founda-
tion upon which, I trust, more competent and
highly trained observers may one day build. What
we know about these regions is, after all, but little
as yet. There is still a wealth of interesting and
important information waiting to yield itself up to
scientific searchers after the secrets of Africa. The

vii

viii PREFACE

discovery of this information is not, however, to
the preoccupied official, nor to the hard working
agriculturist ; these have their own duties and
responsibilities in other directions. If, therefore,
a perusal of the following pages should leave a
lurking sense of their incompleteness, of a want of
smoothness arising from the difficulty I have ex-
perienced in dove-tailing together the various com-
ponent parts, I would ask my readers to be rather
indulgent than censorious, for I have, at all events,
succeeded in compressing into the limits of a single
volume material which might well have proved
sufficient for several. In any case I shall feel more
than satisfied if I succeed in conveying to students
of the great Dark Continent some idea, however
dim and incomplete, of the immense value of the
splendid district of which Zambezia after all forms
but a part.

In the writing of this book I have derived most
valuable assistance from Dr. G. McCall Theal’s
admirable work entitled “The History and Ethno-
graphy of Africa South of the Zambezi,” as also
from the works of Mr. H. L. Duff, Sir Charles
Eliot, and Sir H. H. Johnston. The list of birds
appended to Chapter VIII has been arranged in
accordance with the carefully compiled work of my
friend Mr. W. L. Sclater, M.A., F.Z.S., Director
of the South African Museum at Cape Town;
those of mammals coincide with Sir H. H.
Johnston’s grouping of the beasts of the neigh-
bouring colony of Nyasaland, whilst my botanical
appendices are drawn up largely as the result of
my own observation based upon the scheme of my

PREFACE ix

old friend Mr. J. Abercromby Alexander. My
historical chapter has been greatly enriched by the
invaluable stores of quaint, old-world information
contained in the fascinating work of the long dead
Friar Joao dos Santos entitled “ Ethiopia Oriental,”
and published in Lisbon in 1609.

For photographs, I have pleasure in acknow-
ledging my indebtedness to Mr. J. Wexelsen of
Beira, who supplied me with the more important
of my views of the River Zambezi, amongst others:
to Mr. C. A. Reid; to Mr. J. Lazarus of Lisbon ;
to Dr. R. Kuenzer, Imperial German Consul in
this Province; to Mr. A. T. Long, British Vice-
Consul at Lourenco Marques, and to Monsieur
René Wuilleumier. Last, but not least, to my
secretary, Mr. Johnston B. Sazuze, who, in addition
to many official cares, has most painstakingly
assisted by typing out my manuscript, my grateful
thanks are likewise due.

R. C. F. MAUGHAM.

Britisa Consutare, Lourenco Marques,
1909

CHAPTER

I.

Il.

Til.

IV.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTORY .

THE EARLY OCCUPATION OF THE ZAMBEZI,
AND THE PROGRESS OF THE PORTUGUESE
PENETRATION INTO THE ANCIENT EMPIRE
OF MONOMOTAPA AND HIS FEUDATORIES.

THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY—
CHINDE — MARROMEO — MORAMBALA —
PINDA — INYANGOMA — SENA — LUPATA —
TETE

THE GREAT COMPANIES—THE ZAMBEZI COM-
PANY—THE MOZAMBIQUE COMPANY—THE
LUABO COMPANY

THE PRAZOES

THE REGION OF THE BARUE PAST AND
PRESENT

ZAMBEZIAN FLORA .
BIRDS—INSECTS— REPTILES
ZAMBEZIAN ZOOLOGY

EXISTING SETTLERS. . .

xi

PAQE

11

46

88

114

138

163

196

241

272

xii CONTENTS
CHAPTER

XI. THE NATIVES—WA-SENA—A-NYANJA
XI. THE NATIVES (continued)—ETHNOLOGY

XII. THE NATIVES (continued) — SUPERSTITIONS —
FOLK-LORE .

XIV. THE CLIMATE—HEALTH .

XV. CONCLUSION

INDEX

PAGE

295

325

353

383

398

401

ILLUSTRATIONS

His Excennency Mason Aurrepo Avucusto Frreire pb’ ANDRADE,
R.E., Governor-General or Portucurse East AFRICA

Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

Map or Zampezia Company’s TERRITORY . i : ‘ : 1
An Earty Portueurse Navigator . ‘ ‘ : ‘ » 22
Tae First Vessets To ROUND THE CaPE . : : 3 . 18
Tse Forrress or San Sepastian, Mozampique . : : . 20
Tue OrnteinaL Gateway aT Sena. : : 2 3 . 28
CacnomBa oR CoroaBasa . 2 4 y 3 . 48
A Vuttace Scene 3 ‘ 4 ‘ ‘ : ‘ . 62
Tue Franciscan Mission, SHupanea . F 4 . 66
Tue River Sart, sHowinc OvercrowTe . ; 4 , . 68
Caprain A. DE Portucan Durio, R.N. . , ‘ ‘ . 70
A Cascape 1n THE Massowa Hus . ‘ j F . 6
THe ZAMBEZI NEAR SENA . : : : : 8‘ . 78
Tae Lupata Gorce, with Zampezi Hovusesoat . : 4 80
Currs in Lupata GoreEe . F ; : : : : . 82
Tere: View or Tere From THE NortH Bank . A : . 84
Captain E. J. Berrencourt, Governor or Tete. ‘ . 86
Cuurca or Boroma . ‘i ‘ ‘ F 2 : A . 88
One or ZampBezia Company’s Coconut PuanratTions . : . 92
Ove or Socifré pu Manpau’s Copra Dépéts .. : : . 108
A STREET IN QUELIMANE . ; é : : ; ; . 114

In tHE GoLp-minIne Districts: A Rovean Assay. F . 180
xiii

xiv ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

Tae Luenya River or THE Barut

Some Typican Granite Formations

A Baospas wita View oF ZaMBEzi

Hyrnene Paws.

A Rice Freip

Some Insecr Pests

Buacx Rarnoceros

Hippopotamus

Tae Arrican BurraLo

Aw Exanp .

Youne Maur Sasie

A Goop Rieut anp Lerr: Tur Arrican Leoparp
A Typicat “ Banyan”

ZamBezian Goupsmitas—Iniustratine Huts suit on Pies
Burmpine rae Roor or a Hur

An A-Nyansa Hut

An A-Nyanya Vinnace: Mat-makina

Wa-Sena Women BEATING ouT CorN

A Yao Carerrarin’s Grave

Basket-maxine, A-Nyvansa

148
154
158
170
186
220
244
248
250
254
258
266
272
314
316
316
330
338
342
352

ZAMBEZIA

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY

I HAVE endeavoured in the following pages to give
some account of that portion of the Zambezi, and
of the lands washed by its all too shallow waters,
which have fallen, in the partition of Africa, beneath
the sovereignty of the Portuguese Crown. It is,
of course, but a part of Africa’s fourth greatest
waterway ; but, since the lower Zambezi is at
present the doorway through which we reach the
slowly awakening colonies of Nyasaland and North-
Eastern Rhodesia—and even the far-away basin of the
mighty Congo—it is with that portion of the river
we are at present most concerned, and it will no
doubt continue to claim our attention until slowly
developing railway enterprise shall one day bring
the remoter stretches of the great river within the
daily widening scope of the modern traveller.

The name “Zambezia,” properly speaking, is used
among geographers to designate a vast district
most of which has been granted, as a concession
for mineral and agricultural exploitation, to an

1

2 INTRODUCTORY

influential group of Portuguese and other financiers
formed some years ago under the style of the
Zambezia Company (Companhia da Zambezia),
with the object of working these valuable resources.
The district of which this great concession largely
consists forms also one of the administrative sub-
divisions of the Province of Mozambique, and has
as its capital the town of Quelimane, where resides
the Governor of Zambezia, and the chief officials
of the administration over which he presides.
Quelimane is, therefore, the headquarters of the
Zambezia Company, in whose hands, as I have
just stated, the economic destinies of the district
and its peoples have to a great extent been placed.
The importance of the concession mentioned will
perhaps be the better understood when it is explained
that it contains about 70,000 square miles of terri-
tory, and some 1,100 miles of more or less navigable
waterways. It is, therefore, on this basis of calcu-
lation, rather larger than twice the size of the
kingdom of Portugal.

Bounded by the Mozambique Channel on the
east, and traversing some seventy miles of coast-line
from the Zambezi mouth to the Likungu River,
the vast region covered by the Zambezia Com-
pany’s concession occupies the whole of the enor-
mous area between the sea and the eastern frontiers
of the Nyasaland Protectorate as far north as the
15th degree of south latitude. Passing round the
southern extremity of Nyasaland, and still follow-
ing the Zambezi’s northern margin, it again widens °
out until its northern limits march with those of
North-Eastern, whilst those in the south coincide

NATURE OF THE COUNTRY 3

with those of South-Eastern Rhodesia. Its most
distant westerly extent follows the eastern shore of
the River Aroangwa.

Contained within the territory of Zambezia,
situated on the southern bank of the River
Zambezi, and still regarded, after the flight of
several centuries, as a military settlement of some
importance, we find the ancient city of Tete,
dating from considerably over four hundred years
ago, and still possessing in its massive fortresses
and strongly-built houses, interesting relics of a
period when every man’s house was his castle in a
sense which we of to-day would find it difficult to
realise. Thence, following the great river up its
course to the westward, the only remaining centre
of importance in the Portuguese sphere is that of
Zumbo on the frontier, at the point of the con-
fluence of the Aroangwa, which possesses neither
the importance nor the traditions which to this day
invest Tete with such a veritable halo of old-world
interest.

The history of this portion of Africa has been in
a high degree eventful. So far as the dim echoes
of its strenuous past have come down to us, its
early occupation reads like a long romance, and
there can be little doubt that the hitherto insignifi-
cant measure of development accorded to it has been
accomplished in the face of difficulties, privations,
and dangers which might well have given pause
to nations with the greatest passion for colonising,
even aided by those indispensable scientific triumphs
of latter-day discovery which have done so much
of late to assist in combating Africa’s countless

4 INTRODUCTORY

hostile agencies. It is due to these triumphs, no
doubt, that what we have learned of the economic
side of Zambezia’s possibilities comes to us for the
most part from observers who have laboured in
recent years. It is they who have enriched our
knowledge of the lands through which the Zambezi
flows ; to them we are indebted for data and facts
of interest and importance noted, it may have been,
in moments of heightened temperature and fevered
pulse. Within the last twenty years or so, the
somewhat supine air of laissez aller, which for so
long hung over the Portuguese province, has
slowly given way to an activity of which many of
my fellow - countrymen living in neighbouring
colonies do not dream. It is true that individual
effort has not yet played any very active
part in this improvement. It has been largely
brought about by the efforts of powerful adminis-
trative and colonising bodies such as the one to
which I have referred. These, placed by the
Portuguese Government in possession of the
immense areas they control, are now actively en-
gaged in important schemes of cultivation and
exploitation. In this great task, moreover, they
are now aided by a new class of assistant, doubtless
the product of the needs of the period, but still,
unhappily, far from numerous. I mean the class of
subordinate whose judgment, ripened by some years
of administrative employment in Africa, and gained
under enlightened superintendence, now offers an
excellent, indeed an ideal instrument for the
furtherance of interests of an important character.

For this class of man, the three principal local

THE RESIDENTS 5

administrative companies, of whom in a future
chapter I shall have occasion to speak at some
length, form admirable training schools, and, I
suppose, in years to come, they will turn out men
whose usefulness will go far to assist in civilising
the still existing savagery of the Zambezi Valley.

For many years, the only Portuguese residents
might have been regarded as belonging to three
principal classes, none of which produced the most
desirable material, or indeed any capable of steady,
systematic work of the character now so essential.
These three classes consisted first of all of the
governing body, with its officials of the various
departments. Then came the Prazo-holders, and,
lastly, the merchant or trader.

The Prazo-holder leased from the State vast
areas of land (Prazoes), some only a few hundreds
of square miles in extent, others half as large again
as the county of York. These were rented by
auction as vacancies in their occupancy occurred
(indeed such is, I understand, still the practice),
the upset price being based upon the number of
the native inhabitants living within their limits,
and the consequent amount of hut-tax recoverable
from them. At present the lessee pays to the
Government half the tax received, less a small
percentage for cost of collection, retaining the
balance himself. In some of the Prazoes of this
portion of the province, the annual amount
received in payment of this impost was formerly
very large, so much so that the old-time lessee,
secure of a good income from this source alone,
troubled his head but little to observe those con-

6 INTRODUCTORY

ditions of his lease whereby he covenanted to carry
out various schemes of improvement within the
area allotted to him.

The remaining class I have referred to as one
from which the colony derived in the past but little
benefit was the former Zambezian trader. This
latter type was probably the worst of all. Twenty
or thirty years ago, the conditions of life and resi-
dence in the Zambezi Valley were perhaps twenty
or thirty times worse than at present. It followed,
therefore, that such trading houses as at that time
carried on business had fewer competitors to
contend with, less tiresome, embarrassing regu-
lations to get in the way of their rough-and-ready
methods, and far more incitement, arising from
deadly climate and daily funerals, to make as much
money as possible in the shortest time, and to
betake themselves to healthier and more congenial
atmospheres at the earliest possible moment.
About this time, therefore, large fortunes were in
some cases realised, not always, it is to be feared,
by means the most legitimate ; but the traders of
that time were, as I have said, of a rough-and-ready
type, whose integrity was elastic, and whose ideas
of the fitness of things were bounded by a horizon
which stood for gain. These three predominating
classes were, unconsciously perhaps, doing the
country more injury than they had any idea of.
They were taking everything out, and putting
nothing back. These were the days of which very
old residents still speak reverently, with many a
reminiscent sigh, and, I doubt not, many an inward
pang at the bitter recollection of opportunities lost,

DEVELOPMENT 7

or snapped up by their more fortunate rivals, who
are now leading lives of leisured ease on the
continent of Europe.

The end came, of course, as it does to all things.
The volume of trade of the sixties and seventies, of
which it would probably be hard enough to find
accurate details outside the records of the traders
of that time, decreased and dwindled as native
produce diminished in quantity and became more
and more difficult to obtain. One by one the older
so-called merchants, for whom slaves were, without
doubt, the most profitable articles of export, but to
whom nothing came amiss, dropped out, sadly
realising that their day was over. A better type
of administrator was sent out from Portugal,
naturally demanding in his turn a better type of
subordinate. Companies were formed to cultivate
large areas, and did so; waste lands began to
produce sugar, coconuts, and other commodities ;
and with the effective occupation by Great Britain
in the later eighties of those neighbouring colonies
now known as Nyasaland and Rhodesia, a method
was shown to Portugal whereby she might do
likewise, and this we must do her the justice to
admit she has not been slow to adopt.

Of course the activity to which the founding of
the protectorates I have named gave rise, was at
once responsible for much improvement, and this
was plainly visible in a very few years upon such
portions of the Zambezi and Shiré Rivers as lay
upon the routes leading up to them. Still, im-
provement was a plant which throve but slowly in
a country only now awakening from more than

8 INTRODUCTORY

four centuries of death-like slumber, and it was not
until fourteen or fifteen years ago that moderately
efficient communication with the interior, together
with an increasing European population, began to
create those needs which rendered better transport
and an open waterway imperative necessities.
Thenceforward began that transformation in the
district of the Lower Zambezi which is so strikingly
apparent to any one visiting the country again after
a moderately lengthy interval.

From my knowledge and experience of this
portion of Africa, gleaned during some fifteen years’
residence here, I look upon Zambezia as a region
which will do much within the next decade to
redeem its unfortunate past, and, I doubt not,
finally emerge a possession of which, for its richness
and productiveness, if for no other reason, any
European Power might well be proud. For such
administrative light as Great Britain has introduced
into our East and Central African possessions, the
nation has had to pay, I will not say dearly, but by
liberal grants-in-aid from the Treasury, and it will
therefore come as a surprise to many that the
Province of Portuguese East Africa should receive
no sort of regular subvention to aid her in tiding
over moments of financial embarrassment. All the
revenues of the great Dependency have been for
many years swallowed up by her internal neces-
sities, and have but sparingly sufficed even for these.
If we were further to consider the cost of ad-
ministering from one governing centre the affairs
of a colony of such magnitude in a manner com-
parable to that in which British and other colonies

FORMER INDIFFERENCE 9

in Africa are controlled, we should at once find
ourselves confronted by an expenditure from which
any but the wealthiest among the European Powers
might well shrink back aghast. I cannot refrain,
therefore, from reflecting that although much has
been said and much written regarding the condition
of neglect and moral abandonment in which
Livingstone and Oswell found the Zambezi in
1851, at that time the eyes of Europe were
glancing across the Mediterranean with but a
languid interest. They only developed a gleam
of covetousness some years later, when, in the
partition of the great continent, it was tardily found
that occupation at all events, if not actual internal
development, formed the indispensable qualification
for permanent possession. What did we care for
the Zambezi, or, indeed, any other portion of
Central or South Central Africa, forty years ago ?
How many of us at that time possessed an accurate
idea as to where these regions lay? It isas though
with the awakening of European interest in East
Africa as a whole, Portugal struggled hard to fall
into line with other colonising nations ; and what-
ever may have been the condition of her East
African Colony when, in 1888, light commenced to
stream from Great Britain into Mombasa, I should
be loth to say that she had not bestirred herself
since, and done her best to improve the condition
of the Zambezi Valley, as well as to purify the
fountains of her entire colonial administration.
The future of Zambezia twenty years hence will
wholly depend upon what she does now, and the
game is no doubt true of the province as a whole.

10 INTRODUCTORY

There is already regular communication from the
Zambezi, through our Protectorate of Nyasaland,
to Lake Nyasa, Tanganyika, North-East Rhodesia,
and the headwaters of the Congo; and as those
remoter regions slowly awake to their responsi-
bilities towards the great scheme of the civilisation
of Africa, so must the countries lying along their
routes profit by the multitudinous benefits which
this civilisation brings in its train.

Thus it will one day come to pass, I doubt not,
that the region of Zambezia—its marshes drained,
its river banks reclaimed and cultivated, its malaria
stamped out, and its administration based upon
modern and improved methods—will take its place
among the most valuable of African possessions.
This, however, is a result only to be achieved by
years of patient toil, by the expenditure of large
sums of money on agriculture and experiments,
and last, but not least, by the sacrifice of European
lives. We have even now, as I look at it, done
little enough for those portions of the great African
continent over which our own flag flies to-day, and
every step on the road which leads to the point
we have reached is marked by the graves of those
who have fallen by the way ; but well have they
fallen, and all honour should they receive who, at
the cost even of life itself, have added their quota,
however small, to that great whole which we proudly
call the Empire.

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.

CHAPTER II

EARLY EAST AFRICA—THE OCCUPATION BY THE
PORTUGUESE OF THE VALLEY OF THE ZAMBEZI
FROM A.D. 1498 TO THE END OF THE NINE-
TEENTH CENTURY

THE position in which the early Portuguese navi-
gators found themselves when, in 1498, their vessels
appeared for the first time sailing northward along
the East African coast-line was one of some pre-
cariousness, and in order that it may be the better
understood, a few words on the conditions which
they discovered may not be regarded as inopportune.

We must go back some centuries, however, and
shortly trace the history of the East African sea-
board, and, neglecting its complicated quarrels and
stormy episodes of war and rapine, consult the
impressions of the first observer, whose manuscript
accounts of the events of his day are, I believe,
since those of Ptolemy, the earliest records which
have been handed down to us. This was Abu el
Hassan el Massudi, a native of Bagdad, who in
the third century after the hegira became a great
traveller, and visited in turn many countries, in-
cluding South-East Africa.

Massudi’s writings are the first from which we
11

12 EARLY EAST AFRICA

obtain a glimpse of the Indian Ocean of his day ;
of the carefully calculated voyages of the vessels,
but little if in any respect dissimilar from the Arab
and Indian dhows of modern times, which coasted
along from Muscat and Oman to Madagascar (Kam-
balu, or the Island of the Moon, as it was at that
time called) on the one hand, and to Sofala and
pearl-yielding Bazaruto on the other.

He tells us in simple yet convincing language
of the forcible possession by the Arabs of practic-
ally the whole of the commerce of the coast, and
adds many interesting observations on the habits
and customs of the natives occupying the various
countries of the lengthy seaboard.

At that time the most important commercial
centre was that of Mogdishu, which with Kilwa
(Quiloa, as the early Portuguese were accustomed
to spell it) was established between a.p. 908 and
975.

Mogdishu, according to Massudi, was founded
by the Emozeides (or Ammu Saidi), feudatories
of the Sheik of Oman, in a.p. 908. Ancient
records state that its founder, Zeide (or Seyyid,
meaning prince, ruler), who was apparently a direct
descendant of the prophet, possessed religious views
of an extremely unorthodox character, and in con-
sequence was forced to submit to the apparently
(in those days) inconsiderable penalty of banish-
ment. As in the case of the founder of Kilwa,
to whom he may have served as an enviable ex-
ample, he gathered his adherents around him and
crossed over to the African coast. Having founded
Mogdishu, Brava, and other settlements to the

AN EARLY PORTUGUESE NAVIGATOR.

KILWA 13

south, these people, now known as the Emozeides
(or Emozaidi), were in turn driven out by an in-
cursion of Arabs from Central Arabia, under whose
control Mogdishu became a thriving and populous
port, the metropolis, indeed, of East African trade.

Kilwa was the second of these towns to be estab-
lished, since we learn that, about the fourth century
of the Mohammedan era, one Ali, a Persian, a son
of the Sheik of Shiraz, embarked from Ormuz with
a few followers and sailed for Mogdishu. Here,
owing to sectarial differences with the Arabs whom
he discovered there, who, though followers of the
prophet, had adopted certain peculiarities of ritual
to which the virtuous Ali found himself unable to
conform, he set sail again, and, shaping a course
to the south, purchased the island of Kilwa from
the natives then residing upon it, and proceeded
to establish there a small hierarchy of his own, far
from family dissension or religious controversy—a
hierarchy of which he was to be at once the ruler
and guide. The settlement rapidly grew, as the
sound principles and inherent justice of Sheik Ali
attracted large numbers of the more peacefully
inclined. An imposing fortress was constructed,
and houses of timber and thatch gave place to the
flat-roofed, stone edifices so characteristic of the
East of to-day. It is also stated that the town
increased so rapidly in size that soon the slender
minarets and shapely domes of its numerous mosques
and other buildings gave it the stately yet graceful
appearance of a thriving Eastern city.

Our next authoritative observer of the events
which crowded thick and fast upon each other on

14 EARLY EAST AFRICA

the gradually awakening Ethiopian seaboard, is a
contemplative traveller, a native of Tangier, one
Ibn Batuta, who in the middle of the fourteenth
century visited the East, and wrote an account of
his journeyings in many lands. He speaks of Mom-
basa and Kilwa, the latter now controlled by the
Sultan Hassan, the nineteenth ruler since the founder
Ali, doubtless of saintly memory. Batuta speaks
highly of this Sultan, and extols his great personal
courage and many victories over the barbarous
infidel Zanj or Bantu. This word Zanj is also
used by Ptolemy, who, as Sir Charles Eliot points
out, called Africa Azania. In Arabic the word
means simply coast, but its probable true deriva-
tion is from the Persian word zang, a negro. The
Portuguese usually spelt Zanzibar Zanguebar.

It is, I consider, extremely likely that from the
earliest times periodical migrations may have taken
place from Arabia, and even Persia, to what is
now Portuguese East Africa, by races of which
all trace or record is now lost—races who domi-
nated the savage inhabitants of Sofala and the
Empire of Monomotapa, and mixed among them
and traded and built those ruins which have so
exercised the minds of latter-day scientists.

Ibn Batuta tells us that Sofala passed from the
suzerainty of Mogdishu to that of Kilwa during the
reign of Sultan Suliman—another ruler of Ali’s
dynasty—and that there commenced a traffic in
gold and ivory of a most profitable character, which
doubtless continued until the appearance of the
Portuguese at the latter end of the fifteenth century.

The same authority speaks of Mogdishu as a

IMPRESSIONS OF. IBN BATUTA 15

large and important city. He describes a visit
which he paid to the Sultan, and which he appears
greatly to have enjoyed. In Lee’s translation of
his writings he describes a visit also to Mombasa,
a city which he says abounded with many luscious
fruits, including that which he calls the jammoom,
similar in appearance to an olive and of great
sweetness. Thence he passed to Kilwa, then ruled
by the Sultan Abu el Mozaffir Hassan previously
mentioned.

As Dr. Theal points out, the forty-third ruler
of Kilwa, after the long-dead founder Ali, was one
Ibrahim, and from the circumstance that he had
usurped the sovereignty in the absence of its right-
ful heir, he was merely accorded the title of Emir.
At this time, moreover, Sofala was a powerful
Arab sultanate ruled by one Issuf, of whom we
shall hear more anon; and thus, when Vasco da
Gama appeared from the south in 1498, Ibrahim
still ruled in Kilwa, and the east coast of Africa
was divided into a number of states, each presided
over by an independent ruler, and each one had
in turn to be placated or conquered.

It is, of course, a far cry from either Mogdishu
or Kilwa to the Zambezi, but the foregoing résumé
of the events which led up to the conditions dis-
covered by Vasco da Gama on his arrival are not
without interest, as showing the nature of the
difficulties which confronted him, and as explaining
what has in some circles been characterised as the
useless, wanton bloodshed which followed the ap-

pearance of these western strangers in the Indian
Ocean.

16 EARLY EAST AFRICA

Let us now glance briefly at the events in
Portugal which Jed to the discovery of an ocean
route to India and the East.

Prince Henry the Navigator, son of Dom Joao,
then King of Portugal, was apparently the first
of his house to realise the importance of establish-
ing communication with India by way of the Cape
of Good Hope.

It was as yet only through Turkish territory
that the wealth of the Eastern markets found its
way to Europe, and this route—namely, through
Egypt to Alexandria and thence to Venice—was,
it was found, one which so enhanced the cost of
the silks and spices and other Oriental merchandise
of the period that only the wealthy were able to
afford them. Moreover, this route was already
regarded with misgiving by merchants, by reason
of the distant rumblings of that approaching up-
heaval which in 1517 was to overthrow the Mame-
lukes and to convert Egypt into a province of the
Ottoman Empire. For many years, doubtless, the
trains of camels laden with the luxuries of Asia
which crossed to the Mediterranean from the Persian
Gulf must have followed a route which was perilous
in the extreme, and this was doubtless one of the
most important of the reasons which drew the en-
terprising eyes of the Lusitanian Prince to the
route, whose discovery later on was to draw in
turn the admiring eyes of all Europe to the small
kingdom at the western extremity of the Iberian
Peninsula. Little by little his vessels groped their
way down the African coast until they crossed
the equator in 1471. Ten years later his nephew,

PORTUGUESE EXPLORATIONS 17

Joao II., who in the meantime had ascended the
throne, enthusiastically bent on carrying out the
projects of his illustrious relative, fitted out a fleet,
which discovered the Congo and pushed its way
south as far as Cape Cross. The next undertaking
of the kind was the despatch in 1486 of three small
vessels under the command of Bartholomew Dias,
the first European navigator to reach the Cape.
They were absent from the Tagus for nearly eighteen
months, and there is little doubt that the devoted
Dias would have forestalled his luckier rival, da
Gama, and reached India had it not been for the
importunity of his officers and men, who, owing
to lack of provisions, insisted on his abandoning
the voyage when the “Cape of Storms,” as he
named it, had been actually successfully doubled.
In the meantime, as we learn from the fine
work of the Conde de Ficalho on the subject,
King Joao of Portugal, still thirsting for informa-
tion, had despatched one Pero da Covilha in search
of the dominions of the fabulous Prester John.
Passing by way of Naples to Alexandria and Cairo,
and thence to Aden, he shipped to Calicut and
Goa, and thence took passage for Sofala. Here,
it is believed, he heard some news of the passage
by his adventurous countrymen of the Cape of
Storms, and this may have been the first account
of that exploit to reach Europe, since, it would
appear, he returned to Cairo, where he met
messengers from his royal master, to whom he
entrusted important despatches, receiving in return
others instructing him to proceed in a new direction
on a further quest of the fabled kingdom which it
2

18 EARLY EAST AFRICA

was his mission to discover. He now wandered
away through Ormuz to Abyssinia, where it is said
he was detained by force, but being a person of
philosophical temperament he promptly married a
lady of the country, and ended his days in affluent
circumstances.

The news of the discovery of the African conti-
nent’s southern extremity was received on the
return of Dias with the utmost enthusiasm, and
only the death of King Joao in 1495 interrupted
the immediate fitting out of a further squadron.
Luckily the Duke of Beja, who now ascended the
throne as King Manuel I., was to the full as keen
as his distinguished predecessors to prosecute at all
hazards the important projects which they had so
successfully initiated. In 1494, therefore, at con-
siderable cost and with much difficulty, a small
fleet of four vessels was specially built for the pur-
pose, under the superintendence of Dias. On their
completion, the supreme command was not at once
given to Vasco da Gama, but to Paulo, his elder
brother. He, however, declined it, and nominated
Vasco, then unmarried, and, as we learn, a harsh,
stern, passionate individual not yet forty years of
age. On July 8, 1497, therefore, the four vessels,
consisting of the Sado Gabriel, the Sado Rafael
(names still perpetuated in the Portuguese Navy),
the Berrio, and a store ship, hoisted sail and
stood down the ‘Tagus on their great quest. These
four vessels are said to have had on board some 170
men, amongst whom a number of criminals were
included for the purpose of being landed in
dangerous and doubtful places to obtain informa-

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VASCO DA GAMA 19

tion or perish in the attempt. The first point
on the South African coast at which the vessels
anchored, on the 7th of the following November,
was the Bay of St. Helena, about 120 miles from
the Cape, where observations were taken and water
obtained. One or two natives were captured, but
nobody could understand their speech. On Thurs-
day, the 16th of the same month, the ships made
sail from St. Helena Bay, and two days later came
in sight of Table Mountain.

The following two months were spent in cruising
quietly along the South African coastline, until, on
Christmas Day 1498, the great commander found
himself off a point concerning which there is much
uncertainty, but which may have been slightly to
the north of the Umzimkulu River. This country he
called Natal, from the circumstance of his having
sighted it on the anniversary of the birth of the
Saviour. Continuing onward, the next halt was
made at the estuary of the Limpopo, which he
called the “ Rio dos Reis,” or River of the Kings.
Here presents were exchanged with the natives,
and the mariners and others were hospitably treated.
This spot was named the “Terra de Boa Gente,”
or Land of Good People. It is a long distance
to the succeeding point at which the African
coast was sighted, but on January 24, 1499, the
squadron entered the Quelimane River, which was
christened, by reason of the kindness and courtesy
of their welcome by the people, the “ Rio de Boas
Signaes,” or River of Good Signs.

Here, although Vasco da Gama knew it not, his
vessels were moored in one of the mouths of the

20 EARLY EAST AFRICA

great Zambezi River, that mighty waterway whose
future was destined to be so intimately linked with
the expansion of Portuguese influence in this part
of Africa. With the remainder of the great navi-
gator’s voyage, therefore, we are not concerned.
He has shown us the way to the mouth of the
Zambezi, and we shall now pass to the considera-
tion of what befell those early pioneers who so
shortly followed him.

As we have seen from the facts outlined in the
early part of this chapter, one of the most important
of the centres of commerce in East Africa was that
of Sofala, and the large output of gold and ivory
obtained there, and carried thence in fast-sailing
dhows to Muscat, Persia, and distant India, had
lent that place a celebrity which was soon to reach
the ear of the commander of the Portuguese
vessels. Not, however, until the voyage to India
had been successfully concluded was it found pos-
sible to establish relations of a commercial character
with a point so distant from the dépét which had
been formed at Mozambique. Early in the 16th
century, Sancho de Toar was probably the first
Portuguese officer to show the national flag at the
golden port, and on the arrival at his post of the
newly appointed Viceroy of India, the latter gave
immediate orders for the construction of fortresses
both at Sofala and Mozambique.

The first Capitao-mor* of Sofala was appointed in
1505. ‘This was Pero d’Anhaya, an officer of some
distinction, who in that year was sent out from

* A title somewhat difficult to define, but usually meaning
‘* Military Commander.”

SSauLyod AHL

“ANOIGNVZON ‘NVILSVEES NVS dO

— =

PERO D'ANHAYA Ql

Lisbon in command of a small squadron of six
ships, which had been specially laden with all the
necessaries for the construction of a fortress, as well
as merchandise for the “ransom,” or purchase of
the gold which the country hereabout was confi-
dently believed to contain. Arrived, therefore, at
Sofala about the end of the year, no time was lost
in carrying out the important object of his voyage.

Pero d’Anhaya’s difficulties were many. He had
first of all to gain the confidence of the ruling
Sheik Issuf, who during a long and eventful life
had held the reins of the port’s destinies in his
crafty hands. At length, after much delicate
negotiation, ‘the necessary permission was given
to erect a fortress and general dépdét, of which
d’Anhaya lost no time in availing himself. Re-
pentance, however, seems to have quickly followed
on the heels of this permission, for we are told that
Issuf, taking advantage of a moment when the
numbers of the Portuguese were greatly reduced
by fever, violently and treacherously attacked them.
The Arabs with their native levies were beaten off,
and, after several days of desultory fighting, it is
said that d’Anhaya sallied forth under cover of
darkness, and delivered a well-timed counter-attack
on the Sheik’s dwelling. This he forcibly entered,
only to be wounded by a spear which, though half-
blind with age, Sheik Issuf flung at him; im-
mediately afterwards, one of the Portuguese, who
pressed forward behind his captain, struck Issuf's
head from his body with a single sweep of his
sword.

The death of the Mohammedan ruler effectually

22 EARLY EAST AFRICA

brought the hostilities to a conclusion, and enabled
d’Anhaya to strengthen his position in Sofala to
a point which rendered future aggression, either
Arab or native, practically impossible. ‘The native
trade in ivory and gold which now passed into
Portuguese hands was extremely disappointing.
Probably as the outcome of long custom, or pos-
sibly due to a shyness of the Portuguese which
would be characteristic of the native temperament,
the latter insisted on continuing to traffic with the
Arabs, and for some years the receipts of the
newcomers were barely sufficient to balance expen-
diture, although the profits on European merchan-
dise are stated to have been enormous.

In 1581, realising finally that much of the wealth
of the Zambezi was probably shipped from the
delta of that river, and thence escaped the vigilance
of the custodians of the royal goods dépét at
Sofala, a certain Captain Pegado established a
trading centre in the midst of a small Arab com-
munity, at a place which was afterwards known
by the name of Sena, and is still in existence.
About this time the settlement of Tete came into
being, although the precise date of its adoption as
the scene of Portuguese activity has not been
handed down to us—the same uncertainty existing
with regard to the discovery by the Portuguese of
the “ Rivers of Cuama,” as the mouths of the
Zambezi were at that time called. In 1544,
Quelimane, or Sao Martinho de Kilimane, as it
was then named, sprang into being in the most
northerly branch of the Zambezi delta, that stream
which had witnessed the arrival of Vasco da Gama

PROGRESS OF THE PORTUGUESE 23

nearly fifty years before, and had, as we have seen,
been named by him the River of Good Signs.

With these three ports established, therefore, the
Portuguese felt that their commercial aspirations
had been placed upon a sound basis, and that trade
with the surrounding tribes would soon become a
source of fabulous wealth—the wealth which, in
anticipation, had roused the enthusiasm of the
Portuguese nation, and awakened that craving for
suddenly acquired riches which the amazing dis-
coveries of Spain under Cortes on the other side of
the Atlantic went far about this time to strengthen
and heighten.

In spite of all this, the Arabs, in their light-
draught sailing boats and rapid dhows, succeeded
in carrying off the greater portion of the gold and
ivory with which the natives could be induced to
part; for, as is indeed the case to the present day,
the Asiatic was the man who sought out the native
markets, and there bartered European commodities
and those of India and the East. To-day the Arab
is gone from these parts of the coast, and his old
place on the African seaboard knows him no more ;
but his latter-day representative, the astute British
Indian Banyan trader, whose tactics are almost the
same as those of his long-dead prototype in the
early days of the Portuguese occupation, is a
picturesque figure with which we are sufficiently
familiar in every coast town on the East African
littoral.

Little by little the Portuguese were asserting
themselves ; gradually they were pushing their way
onward into the interior, when an event occurred

24 EARLY EAST AFRICA

which was to be fraught in the end with the gravest
and most lamentable consequences. This was the
first attempt on the part of Portugal to evangelise
the Kingdom of Monomotapa. In his instructive
description of the Zambezi in its sixteenth-century
aspect, that observant friar Padre Joao dos Santos
tells us that nearly the whole of the great central
table-land south of the Zambezi, from the east
coast on the one hand to the confines of Angola on
the other, was ruled by a mighty chief who was
known and dreaded by the title of Monomotapa.
To bring in the teeming millions of the heathen over
whom his sway extended, therefore, from the outer
darkness of error and superstition into the inner
brilliant illumination scintillating from the maternal
bosom of holy mother church, was a duty which no
devout Portuguese of that long-dead era could
possibly see his way to evade. Thus, at the
instance of King Joao III., an earnest young priest
named Gongalo da Silveira, of the Company of
Jesus, founded by Papal Bull sixteen years before,
left Portugal in 1556 for Goa, and a year or two
later, accompanied by a brother friar of the same
order, one André Fernandes, proceeded to Inham-
bane, whence he lost no time in reaching the main
town of one of the Monomotapa’s lieutenants, a
Makaranga chieftain named Kamba (the tortoise).
Here they made many converts in a surprisingly
short space of time, among them being no less a
personage than Kamba himself. All went har-
moniously until these dusky proselytes realised the
extent of the responsibilities to which they had
committed themselves, With a fine disregard of

FIRST MISSIONARY EXPEDITION 25

their undertakings, probably much more real than
the light-heartedness with which they had been
assumed, they expressed themselves clearly and
unmistakably on the subjects of polygamy, witch-
craft, war, and the many other habits and customs
to which they had been reared, and which they were
now pledged to abjure; and finally, the fulminations
of the clergy proving somewhat wearisome, the
overwrought chieftain cut the gordian knot of his
difficulties and Padre Gongalo da Silveira’s throat
at one and the same time. Thus it fell that by
ignorance of the native temperament on the one
hand, and unsatisfied cupidity on the other, the
first victim to the spread of Christianity in Africa
was sacrificed, and the first missionary expedition
to the Dark Continent nipped rudely in the bud.
Thenceforward several years passed uneventfully,
until in 1569 an expedition, commanded by that
devoted Portuguese soldier and administrator
Francisco Barreto, sailed from the Tagus with
several ships bound for East Africa, and pledged
to undertake a sufficiently serious enterprise. This
was nothing less than the invasion and annexation
of the empire of Monomotapa. This expedition
consisted, it is stated, of no less than a thousand
men, and carte blanche was given to its commander
to avail himself of every possible means to bring it
to a successful conclusion. Only the preceding
year Dom Sebastiéo had come to the throne of
Portugal at an age when most boys are still in a
lower school-form, and that singularly morose
youth would appear to have already formed ambi-
tions, of which the annexation of the whole of

26 EARLY EAST AFRICA

South Africa was only an inconsiderable detail.
His enthusiasm for the expansion of his over-sea
influence reflected itself in the minds of his people,
who, in the success of Barreto’s expedition, saw not
only a just and proper expiation of the sacrilege of
Goncalo da Silveira’s untimely death, but, inci-
dentally, a plenishing of the national coffers which
a succession of maritime enterprises, not always
attended by financial success, had done much in the
past to empty. Thus do we see that, even in that
era of almost fanatical religious fervour, the benefits
to be derived from the spread of the gospel in the
haunts of the heathen did not wholly dissociate
themselves from the value of the discoveries which
might be made in the process.

Barreto was rather over a year in reaching
Mozambique from the Tagus, and wasted another
in unimportant expeditions to the north of that
port, when, suddenly realising that the blood of
the murdered priest must be getting rather tired
of calling out for vengeance, he marshalled his
troops and proceeded to the Zambezi in November
1571—quite the hottest and worst season he could
possibly have selected for the purpose. With
immense labour, and admirable steadfastness, he
succeeded in reaching Sena with 600 arquebusiers,
a park of artillery, a baggage train of 25 waggons,
and several hundred camp followers and porters.
Envoys were immediately sent to the Monomotapa,
as the sacrilegious Makaranga chieftain had come to
be called, who, having been informed of the arrival
of Barreto’s imposing force, was now, it would
appear, the prey of uneasiness hard to dissimulate.

COMMERCE AND CHRISTIANITY Q7

Dr. Theal, in his admirable history of South Africa,
gives an interesting account of what took place.
He says the envoy had several attendants with him,
and before him went servants carrying a chair and
a carpet, which was spread in front of the place
where the chieftain reclined, surrounded by his
councillors and headmen. The Portuguese envoy,
richly dressed and armed, introduced the subject of
his mission, which consisted mainly in obtaining
right of way to the gold-fields of Manica and Batua,
and in the formation of an offensive alliance against
the Mongas, who dwelt above the Lupata gorge on
the southern bank of the Zambezi, and were pro-
bably the ancestors of Makombe’s people, who until
recently occupied the Barué, and of whom we shall
hear more anon. Other authorities state that, in
addition to the foregoing, the Portuguese agent
also stipulated for an indemnity for the murder of
the ill-starred Gongalo, and the expulsion of those
bétes notres the Arabs. To all these conditions, we
are told, the Monomotapa joyfully acceded; but
when it was suggested that he should embrace the
Christian faith in addition, his patience exhausted
itself, and he boisterously refused.

In the meantime, the expedition under Barreto
encamped at Sena was passing through nerve-
shaking experiences. Owing to the unhealthiness
of the climate, and those causes of which we are
still to some extent ignorant, his men commenced
to die daily of fever, and his animals were de-
cimated by horse-sickness and fly. The chaplain
who accompanied him, a monk named Monclaio,
the recorder of what took place, filled with religious

28 EARLY EAST AFRICA

intolerance of the doubtless innocent Arabs who
had made Sena their home many years before, lost
no opportunity of accusing them of poisoning the
grass the horses ate, and of destroying the EKuro-
peans with their Mohammedan enchantments.
The Captain-General for a long time refused to
pay heed to the churchman’s denunciations, but at
length, alarmed by the constant and increasing
mortality, he ordered all the Asiatics to be
seized and put to the torture. In these cases there
is always one weaker than the rest, and the poor
wretch on this occasion, unable to bear the agony
of the screws, confessed to having seen poison put
down, and, in short, admitted all the offences with
which he and his luckless countrymen were accused.
Some of these were, therefore, burned at the stake,
others impaled, or put to death by torture, whilst
the rest, we are informed, were blown from the
mouths of cannon.

About this time—probably whilst his representa-
tive was engaged in his negotiations with the Chief
of the Makaranga—Barreto undertook an expedi-
tion against the Mongas, and appears to have
inflicted great loss upon them and reduced them to
submission, but at the expense of many lives which
he could ill afford. In the course of this expedition
he was attacked, in the only serious encounter
fought, by an immense horde of the enemy, pre-
ceded by an aged female mabisalila, or witch, who
muttered damaging incantations as she advanced.
Believed to be impervious to human weapons, her
unlooked-for death from an arquebus ball was
a rude shock to her followers, who, it is said,

THE ORIGINAL GATEWAY AT SENA,

THE SILVER MINES OF CHICOVA 29

actually carried ropes wherewith to bind their
enemies when they should be overthrown. With
loud cries of “San Thiago,” the Portuguese poured
in a volley from their matchlocks and cannon, which
so stupefied the natives that, believing all the devils
in hell had thrown in their lot with these pale-
faced invaders, they promptly flung away their arms
and fled. Many villages were burned, and the
savage destruction of life was very great, but when
Barreto’s officers came to call their muster rolls it
was found that his own losses amounted to over
sixty men.

In spite of this, however, the Captain-General
now continued on up the river in quest of the
legendary silver mines of Chicova, and what befell
this ill-fated attempt is best described by the monk
Joio dos Santos, whose enthralling description of
the Zambezia of that far distant day was published
in Portugal in 1609. I translate a portion of
Chapter XIV. which, conserving so far as possible
the quaint phrasing of the period, reads as
follows :

“In the country which borders the kingdom of
the Monomotapa towards the inland region looking
to the north-east, is the kingdom of Chicova
greatly renowned for its mines of fine silver which
follow the course of the Zambezi. After the
journey of the Governor, Francisco Barreto, which
I have herein set down, he passed up the rivers of
Cuama [the Zambezi—Trans.] with all his people
to lay hands upon the mines of Chicova. On the
way he made war upon the Mongas beneath the hills
of Lupata. These he conquered, as I have shown

30 EARLY EAST AFRICA

you, and thence, voyaging by the kingdoms which
extend to the river side, none daring to offer him
hindrance, Francisco Barreto with the soldiery and
followers arrived at length at the kingdom of
Chicova, where he fortified a large encampment.
Then began they all to seek for silver, but none
was found, since the cafres, for dread lest they
should lose their country if the mines were made
known to the Portuguese, dared not point the
places out. For fear of this the cafres fled, so that
not one remained who could be taken and by force
or the torture made to discover the silver to us.

“ At length a negro, moved thereto by the large
promises of reward the Governor had made, re-
solved to show to him some pieces of silver taken
from the true mines, but buried in another part of
these lands, saying and pretending that where it
should be found there the mines lay. Thus did he,
and going secretly by night with some pieces of
silver of four or five pounds each, he buried them
in a distant place.

“The next day, it being afternoon, he came to
the Governor almost at sunset and told him he
would disclose to him secretly the place of the
mines, covenanting that he should receive certain
cloth and beads as his reward. These the Governor
promised him with great joy, and for his content-
ment gave orders that he should receive at once
a portion of his guerdon. He then gathered
together a company of soldiers, and with the cafre
set out to the place where the silver had been buried.
Here they were told to dig, for here, said the guide,
the silver mines truly lay. After digging up much

NATIVE DISSIMULATION 31

earth, the silver was found, at sight of which they
rejoiced greatly, feasting and making merry ; and
because it was almost night the cafre said he would
fain go back to his house, and though, as all might
see, the mines of silver were already discovered,
yet on the morrow he would come again. The
Governor agreed, but never again did that man
return. The day after, seeing that the cafre came
not back as he had promised, the Governor com-
manded to dig in the same place where the night
before the silver had been laid bare, and in all
the surrounding region, but no sign of silver did
they see.

“Then was the native’s deception manifest. So
seeing no way of finding the mines, and that all
the inhabitants had fled with their supplies, Barreto
turned his face towards Sena, leaving 200 soldiers
with their captain, named Antonio Cardoso
d’Almeida, provisioned and armed in a stockade
of timber to take heed with caution of the cafres
around, and find, if they could, the silver he
coveted.

“In this place stayed the soldiers some months
without success, and almost without food, which
latter. they were soon constrained to provide by
force of arms.

“Hereupon the cafres, seeing they could not
live in security and quiet with the Portuguese as
their neighbours and foes, feigned to make peace
with them, and communicate amicably with them,
to gain their friendship that they might the more
assuredly slay them by stealth. Thus passed some
time in this pretended harmony, when at length

32 EARLY EAST AFRICA

the cafres came to proffer their new friends the
discovery of the silver mines.

« With this were our people very merry, and on
the day set apart for the journey, there staying
forty in the stockade for its ordinary guard, the
remainder, who numbered 150, set out with their
arms on their journey of discovery, accompanied
by guides who pretended they had not more than
a league to go. In this way they marched, until,
entering a close jungle, they were in a moment
attacked by more than 3,000 armed cafres, who fell
upon them with great fury, killing and wounding
as many as they could; and although the Portu-
guese slew many, nevertheless, surrounded as they
were by dense jungle, they could not fight with
order, and but few escaped and fled back to the
fort, where they were soon besieged. There they
remained several months, suffering greatly from
hunger, until at length they determined to sally
forth and die, if need be, like soldiers with arms in
their hands. This they put into effect, and fell
suddenly on the natives with such fury that they
put them to flight, slaying many ; but when they
would fain have re-formed their ranks, the cafres
returned and fell upon them from all sides, and
seeing them in their power slew them so that not
one escaped. Thus fell they all, selling their lives
as dearly as might be.”

With much difficulty and greatly hindered by his
sick and wounded, Barreto now returned to Sena,
his expedition still further enfeebled by the men
he had left behind, when he found messengers from

BARRETO’S LAST EFFORT 33

the Monomotapa who made friendly overtures,
and several officers were told off to accompany
them back in charge of valuable presents. Barreto
then appointed his camp-master, Vasco Fernandes
Homem, to the command of the column, and set
out for Mozambique, where important business
awaited settlement.

Early in 1573 he sailed once more for Sena
accompanied by his son, and reinforcements of
men to fill the sorely depleted ranks of the fine
force with which he had left the Tagus so full of
noble ambitions now four long years before. At
the mouth of the Zambezi, however, a sore blow
awaited him, for here he learned that almost all the
members of the expedition left in charge of the
camp-master had perished during his absence, and
in such sore straits did the survivors find themselves
that it is said on his arrival at Sena only about fifty
soldiers were free from disease, and these so fever-
stricken and exhausted that they were incapable of
taking the field. The last physician that remained
was dying, and the camp was one vast hospital,
full—no, not full, although it had been—of helpless
sick, whose senses were fortunately blunted in
many cases by the merciful insanity which the
despair of their position had produced. The
Captain-General’s feelings must have been those of
utter hopelessness, for it is said he was shortly
taken ill, and died a few days afterwards in a
condition of great mental agony,

Vasco Fernandes Homem, who as we have seen
was entrusted with the command of the fever-
decimated camp at Sena, was now appointed

3

34 EARLY EAST AFRICA

Captain-General of the whole of the East African
coast-line from the Gulf of Aden to Cape Corrientes,
and lost no time in taking up the burden which his
predecessor, through so unimaginable a chain of un-
conquerable difficulties, had been forced at length
by death to relinquish. He landed, therefore, at
Sofala, it is thought, early in 1575, and marched
straight through Quiteve to Manica, encountering
not a little resistance on his way.

In the work of the priest Joao dos Santos
to which I have just somewhat copiously referred,
the territories through which the new Captain-
General forced his way were those of the king-
dom of Quiteve, but it is clear to us in the
light of our knowledge of to-day that the term
‘kingdom ” was then applied by the Portuguese to
any area of whose extent they were ignorant, but
which appeared to them, by reason of native
rumour or of appearances often illusive, to be of
importance meriting a separate designation. In
any case, Quiteve was the accepted name of the
strip of country running from the coast to the
highlands of Manica, and to the Chief Quiteve,
whose name they had given it, Vasco Homem lost
no time in specifying the conditions in which he
might live at peace with the Portuguese—con-
ditions the more readily accepted seeing that his
column had forced its way thither in the face of
considerable resistance. They consisted in an
agreement to facilitate commerce with the new-
comers, keep open the highway to the coast,
and furnish carriers and labour for all purposes.
In return for these advantages, the factor at Sofala

STAGNATION OF EUROPEAN INFLUENCE 35

was to pay an annual subvention of rolls of cloth.
These arrangements satisfactorily concluded, the
Captain-General returned to the coast. Thus
ended the last attempt made by the Portuguese
to obtain forcible possession of the kingdom of
Monomotapa, and the disasters which had attended
the attempts already made, left European prestige
on the Zambezi at a lower ebb than it had ever
reached since the appearance of the Portuguese on
these coasts.

Glancing for a moment at the actual condition
of this portion of East Africa, we find that at the
end of the sixteenth century, although on the Zam-
bezi itself beyond Sena but little had been accom-
plished, Sofala was at the height of its importance ;
was guarded by a fine stone fortress with wide
bastions and heavy guns ; contained three churches,
described by dos Santos as of sufficient size and
pleasing appearance, and in all nearly 1,000 bap-
tised Christians, forming a settlement of merchants,
whose interests not only identified themselves with
the export of gold and ivory from Quiteve and
Manica, but with pearls, amber, and tortoiseshell
from Bocicas (Bazaruto), ambergris from the Sabi,
and wax and other valuable native products from
all parts of the territory. European influence on
the Zambezi itself must have terminated not far
above Sena, where we are told the small stone fort
contained both light and heavy artillery, with the
exception of the outlying settlement of Tete, which
contained about forty Portuguese living, it can
only be supposed, in an uncomfortable condition
of constant nervous tension. In the country of

36 EARLY EAST AFRICA

the Monomotapa feiras, or places of barter, had
been established, according to dos Santos, at Mas-
sapa, Luanze, and Manzovo. He describes them
as being light fortifications or palisades, containing
the factory or storehouse for European accommo-
dation, the inevitable church, and the residence
of the factor or government agent. These three
feiras, little by little, placed Portuguese commerce on
an extremely solid foundation, and were responsible
for remunerative business relations with the Maka-
ranga, which greatly increased in the seventeenth
century, most of the exports, if not ail, passing
through the now considerable port of Quelimane.
In 1590 an appalling invasion of a horde of
terrible natives from the north-west occurred.
Sweeping down the north bank of the Zambezi,
in numbers variously estimated, but believed to
have been not less than 12,000 strong, these
Zimbas or Mazimbas were cannibals who not only
slew and laid waste along their devastating way,
but literally ate up the tribes through whose lands
they passed. They carried immense shields of ox-
hide, with spears, battle-axes, and bows and arrows,
and are described as being of much more powerful
physique than the comparatively peaceful dwellers
of the Zambezi Valley. The Portuguese under-
took several expeditions against these savages,
which almost always led to disaster. Their most
successful encounter was with a Mazimba chief
named Kuaziru, or Kuizura, who, with his division
of about 600 warriors, was attacked 1m a fortified
village of which it had possessed itself. All these
warriors were killed, when it was found that the

FIERCE NATIVE REPRISALS 37

chief’s courtyard had been paved with the skulls
of the victims he and his people had devoured.
These Mazimba hordes, finding the Portuguese
firearms too deadly to face, thence turned north-
ward, and, it is said, sweeping across what are
now the Shiré Highlands, harried the country as
far as the Rovuma to the north of Mozambique.
About the same time another Zimba division
destroyed every available fighting man in Tete, by
a ruse to which for cunning and ferocity it would
be hard to find a parallel. It had been attacked
by the Portuguese commandant from Sena, who,
however, finding he had undertaken a hopeless
task and being unable to retreat, sent messengers
to Tete for assistance. ‘The captain, Pedro Fer-
nandes de Chaves, responded by collecting all his
countrymen and a large number of natives, and
proceeded at once to his colleague’s succour. In-
formation of their approach was conveyed to the
Mazimba, however, who despatched a strong party
to ambush them in a thick jungle. The unsus-
pecting Portuguese were far ahead of their native
troops, travelling in palanquins and wholly unarmed,
when without warning they were suddenly fallen
upon by the Mazimba and killed to the last man,
the only one reserved being a monk, a contemporary
of the friar Jo#o0 dos Santos, who tells us what
took place. This luckless cleric was taken to the
Mazimba camp, tied to a tree, and gradually killed
by being shot with arrows. The returning Mazimba
detachment then appeared before the camp of the
beleaguered Portuguese, their chief arrayed in the
plundered vestments of the murdered priest, whose

38 EARLY EAST AFRICA

head was borne on high upon the point of a spear.
The limbs of those who had fallen, which were
destined for an unimaginable feast, were also dis-
played to the horror-stricken Europeans as an
earnest of what was in store for them. Terrified
by this wholly unlooked-for catastrophe, the Sena
commander endeavoured to withdraw his forces in
the night ; but, while preparing to recross the river,
they were fallen upon, and most, if not all the
Kuropeans, with many of their native allies, were
cut to pieces.

From 1608 to 1619 various expeditions were
sent from Mozambique to accomplish the pacifica-
tion of the Zambezi districts, each, as we learn,
with an eye to the illusive silver mines which in
the past had cost the early settlers so dearly. These
were never discovered, but the crumbling power
of Monomotapa, which for many years had been
undergoing a gradual process of disintegration,
enabled the Portuguese thenceforward to establish
themselves firmly in those distant inland regions.
Thus about 1630 the Governor of Mozambique, by
dint of assisting that potentate in the subjugation
of some disaffected tribes, took advantage of the
pretext thus afforded him of negotiating a treaty
of vassalage whereby the Monomotapa formally
recognised Portuguese sovereignty throughout his
dominions ; undertook to seek for and make known
the whereabouts of the silver mines; grant to
Portugal a virtual monopoly of the gold industry ;
receive a permanent Portuguese resident in his
zimbabwe,* or capital ; and pay an annual tribute

* Zimbabwe is said by the old writers to have signified royal residence.

THE “RIVERS OF CUAMA” 39

of three pastas * of gold. In return for this treaty,
in 1631, he was appointed a Knight of the Order
of Christ. Fresh disturbances, however, broke out
in the succeeding years, from which it is not un-
natural to infer that the ill-starred chieftain found
his position one of extreme difficulty ; he was soon
afterwards deposed by the Portuguese, who ap-
pointed a successor whom they named Dom Filippe.
This individual also revolted, and gave place to a
third ruler, who, according to Lacerda, was not
baptised until after his accession. This rapid making
and unmaking of kings must have had a far-reaching
moral effect upon the tribes of Monomotapa, since
we learn that thereafter the Resident at the chief's
zimbabwe was granted, without any resistance on
the part of the chieftain, a Portuguese escort of
thirty men.

About this time the commerce of the “ Rivers
of Cuama,” as the Zambezi was still called, was
thrown open to all Portuguese subjects, with the
exception of the traffic in gold, which was ex-
pressly reserved to the royal treasury. It so
happened, however, that a new industry was about
to spring up, so easy and lucrative in its pursuit
that the comparatively arduous toil involved in the
search for gold was with one consent abandoned.
This was the slave trade. The ports of Angola,
then under Dutch control, furnished but few negroes
for the Brazilian plantations; here then was a
wide field for the supply of this indispensable and
valuable commodity, and, moreover, far from being

* Plates of varying weight, but usually said to have been equal
to about 12 oz, ,

40 EARLY EAST AFRICA

regarded as in any sense derogatory, it was looked
upon as one of the most honourable and justifiable
of callings. Curiously enough, the commencement
of this hideous occupation coincided almost exactly
with the first serious attempt at establishing per-
manent missions of Dominican friars for the evan-
gelisation of this portion of the country, parishes
being now founded (1652) all along the banks of
the Zambezi, from Luabo in the delta as far as
Tete and Zumbo. It would not appear, however,
that these servants of the gospel of peace and good-
will towards man made any effort towards repre-
senting how heinous was this general and widespread
exportation of slaves, with all the abominable
cruelties, vices, and iniquities by which it was
attended. It would seem, indeed, that so com-
placently did they view the rapidly increasing
opulence of their backsliding countrymen, that,
conscious of the advantages they were to derive
from so much unlooked-for wealth, the voice of
reprobation was smothered in tolerant anticipation
of temporal benefit.

In spite of the disturbing appearance of the
English in 1649, and of the Hollanders two years
later, and notwithstanding the sensible impoverish-
ment caused by the growing export of slaves, a
remarkable growth in the development of Portu-
guese influence on the Zambezi is the most striking
feature of the seventeenth century. The gold
industry, moreover, had increased in that and the
Quelimane districts, just as it had declined almost
in direct ratio at the port of Sofala; for about this
time, one reads, while Sofala with great difficulty

SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT 41

succeeded in dealing with a total annual output of
only 500 pastas of gold, Quelimane shipped no less
than a steady 3,000. These figures, so far as can
be ascertained, represent the high-water mark of
gold export from these coasts, and soon afterwards
the quantities commenced to dwindle in import-
ance, a circumstance entirely due, as the authorities
of the period are agreed, to the enervating influence
of the growing traffic in human beings.

The whole territory was now divided into leased
districts, whence originated the Prazo system
which we will discuss more fully in a succeeding
chapter; but, unlike the present more restricted
arrangement, the custom of that time granted a
lease, not for a period of years, but for the duration
of three generations, passing from father to son.

The system of government subordinated all
administrative officials to the Captain of Sena—the
“Chief Captain of the Rivers,” as he was at that
time picturesquely called—in all matters excepting
the trial of offences, or processes regarded as
actions of a non-criminal character, which, so far
as one can see, had to be remitted for decision
to the tribunals of Goa.

From 1660 to the commencement of the eigh-
teenth century, the events which succeeded each
other have but little interest for us. Decree after
decree was published, each intended to improve
existing conditions, but few succeeding by reason
of the increasing wealth and consequent inde-
pendence of the landholders in the remoter districts.
These had now become in many cases so powerful
that, surrounded by numerous armed retainers, and

42 EARLY EAST AFRICA

occupying strongly fortified houses, their positions
were not unlike those of the feudal chieftains of the
middle ages, and they even made war upon each
other from time to time without reference to the
constituted authorities of the period.

Then came Changamira. Who this chieftain
was, or whence he came, is not clear. He is
believed to have been a headman of the last Mono-
motapa, but be this as it may, by his wars and
descents he darkened the opening years of the
eighteenth century to such an extent that the
Portuguese had great difficulty in holding their
own. Fighting was almost continuous until, shortly
after the rebuilding of the fort of Sao Marcel at
Sena, by Dom Jofio Fernandes d’Almeida about
1720, a peace was concluded. Almost as grave,
however, in their consequences upon the solidarity
of the government system, were the disorders
caused in Sena by the Dominican priests, and by
some of the powerfully established Portuguese
prazo-holders to whom allusion has just been made.
But for these, it must be confessed, the instability
of the commercial policy of the government was
largely responsible, monopolies and privileges of
every kind being granted and withdrawn with an
air of irresponsibility which would have been start-
ling had it not indicated the deep-rooted corruption
which had eaten into the heart of the administrative
system. In 1755, after numerous singular fluctua-
tions of régime, commerce was again thrown open
to all Portuguese subjects, and two years later a
decree was published which restricted officials from
following commercial pursuits,

A WARLIKE DAWN 43

Darker still was the opening of the nineteenth
century. The possession of the prazoes and districts
of Zambezia, which had for so many years remained
in the hands of pure Portuguese, was now to a
great extent in the control of their half-caste and
quarter-caste descendants. By this time ivory and
gold were scarce, the country depopulated by the
slave-export, and the seaboard from time to time
harried by French, Dutch, and English privateers.
The great influence of that distinguished statesman
the Marquez de Pombal, whose edict in 1761
extinguished the Jesuits and confiscated their
property, was fast waning; and if the people were
a prey to indolence, immorality, and corruption,
but little more can be said for those in whose hands
the governing power had been placed.

The first events of importance, after the dawn of
the nineteenth century, were wars with the Bongas;
and the massacre at Boroma by these savages of
the devoted Governor Villas Boas Trudo in 1810,
through an act of treachery on the part of a native
guide, was followed by an amazing sedition and
disorder in Sena. We are informed by Botelho
that a proclamation was actually issued announcing
a union with Brazil—a foolish and bloodless revo-
lution quickly extinguished. The same authority
informs us of the independence of Quelimane
granted, under a sub-governor, in 1814. <A short
time before his death Governor Villas Boas Truao,
in a report upon the “ Capitania dos Rios de Sena,”
lamented the want of agricultural development,
and the dwindling importance of the gold and ivory
revenue, He deals trenchantly, moreover, with

44, EARLY EAST AFRICA

the manner of life of the European inhabitants,
who, loaded with debt, lived in a fool’s paradise,
their days passed in indolence, immorality, and
extravagance. His remarks regarding the ignorance
and malpractices of the Dominican priests are also
very pointed. Precisely the same views are, more-
over, expressed by Manoel Gomes Loureiro, who
shortly afterwards wrote on the same subject.

In 1836, having flourished like an evil weed for
nearly two hundred years, the traffic in slaves was
formally abolished; but in order to avoid the general
ruin which would have succeeded had the decree
enacting this salutary measure been suddenly put
into force, its introduction was gradual, and thus
the full effect of the reform did not become
generally felt for many years thereafter. This
decree was followed by another in 1858, which
finally abolished the legal status of slavery, and
shortly afterwards another was introduced creating
primary schools in various districts bordering on the
Zambezi.

From 1865 to 1875 war again broke out, and the
Bongas inflicted disaster after disaster upon the
enfeebled Portuguese forces. These, unhappily,
owing to a succession of misfortunes, were unable
to assert themselves, and a welcome peace was
proclaimed in the latter year, which, however, was
not destined to be a lasting one, for, but little later,
further fighting took place, which was not brought
to an end until, in 1887, the Bonga power was
finally broken by Governor Simoes and Colonel
Paiva de Andrada.

Let us now finally glance at the condition of

A LAND OF RUIN 45

Zambezia towards the close of the nineteenth
century. Properly speaking it possessed but three
settlements, Sena, Tete, and Zumbo. Of these, the
first was a ruined village containing half a dozen
stone houses and a few mud huts, surrounded by a
feeble palisade scarcely worthy of the name of a
fortification. The dreaded Landins or Vatuas from
the country to the north of Delagoa Bay collected
a yearly tribute, and commerce, properly speaking,
existed in name only. Tete was in like circum-
stances, whilst Zumbo was a mere village of
thatched mud huts inhabited by natives, doubtless
blood relations of the Bongas, who were probably
only waiting for a favourable opportunity to break
out anew into deeds of war and rapine.

CHAPTER III

THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY: CHINDE,
SHUPANGA, MORAMBALA, INYANGOMA, MUTE-
RARA, LUPATA, TETE

THE River Zambezi, rising in the Lunda country
on the borders of Angola, has a total course of over
1,200 miles, and drains an area estimated at more
than 600,000 square miles. Its headwaters can
scarcely yet be regarded as fully explored, but it is
considered probable that the true source flows from
the east of the marshy lake Dilolo, situated about
12° S. lat. and 22° E. long. This branch, known
as the Liba, which, for want of better data to go
upon, we will regard as the beginning of all things
Zambezian, is soon joined by the Lungo-e-bungo,
or Dungeungo, coming from near Kabuta in the
Massamba mountains, and the Liambe, or Yambaji,
which rises in Kazembe’s country. These three
branches coming together, and swollen by the
waters of the Uyengo, form what is called the
Upper Zambezi, and flow south by east through
Barotseland, now becoming better known as
Lewanika’s country; thence, as it receives the
Linyanti or Chobe, it trends almost due east, and

soon after thunders over that eighth wonder of
46

THE RIVER ZAMBEZI 47

the world, the Victoria Falls. The great river
now takes a north-easterly direction, and enters
the Portuguese Province of Mozambique at Zumbo,
the small settlement which marks its confluence
with the Loangwa or Aroangwa River, an important
waterway forming for many miles the Anglo-
Portuguese western boundary, and rising in the
northern portion of the Nyasaland Protectorate.
Broadly speaking, the waters of the River Zambezi
are mainly those drained from what we may call
for the sake of convenience the great central plain
of Africa, which at this point of the continent
stretches from the western shores of Lake Nyasa
to the confines of the Portuguese West African
Colony of Angola. Its most important tributaries
are, of course, the Aroangwa mentioned above,
and the Shiré, draining Lake Nyasa, and flowing
through the Protectorate of that name, where its
waters are reinforced by the Ruo from the north-
eastward.

Although, doubtless, the Zambezi may be re-
garded as a river of moderately slow and placid
current, flowing, so far as its course through the
Portuguese Province is concerned, through broad
wooded valleys and richly fertile plains, it is in-
evitable, when one comes to consider the singular
system of terraces whereby Africa ascends from
the low-lying malarious seaboard to the healthy
upland plateaux of Rhodesia, that many falls and
cataracts must arrest it in its course to the east-
ward, or assuredly the greater portion of the year
would find the bed of the river a mere dry, sandy
streak. Putting aside, therefore, the restraining»

48 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY

lock-like influence exerted by the Victoria Falls in
the British Sphere, we are now aware, to the east-
ward of them, of a long system of unnavigable
river, interrupted every few miles by perilous rapids
and cataracts, until the final bar to inland naviga-
tion is reached at the Rapids of Cachomba or
Coroabassa, which impose, about thirty miles east
of the Anglo-Portuguese frontier, an insuperable
barrier to any but canoe navigation. Once past
Cachomba, the Zambezi widens out once more,
and meanders placidly past Tete, its wide, silvery
waters broken by countless wooded and sandy
islets, which continue for many miles as the great
river rolls on to the distant sea.

I have come to the conclusion that four or five
centuries ago, when the early Portuguese pioneers
first forced their way up, the river was nothing like
so wide as it is at present, and therefore must have
been much deeper. If the formation of the river
banks be carefully noted, it will be found that for
one mile of clay formation there are probably
‘twenty of light, porous, sandy soil, opposing no
resistance to erosion by the current, and, conse-
quently, always washing away. As this action
has, without question, been going on through the
ages, it must be perfectly evident that the river
has been widening all the time. This is one reason
for its consistent shallowness, as, clearly, only an
insignificant quantity of the eroded matter could
be carried in suspension, but must have filled up
those channels which we read in the old records
were once of sufficient depth to afford passage to
vessels of considerable size. As most people are

[sr cd

‘VSVAVOUOO HO VANOHOVO

A GLIMPSE OF THE FUTURE 49

aware, to build steamers now for the Zambezi river
traffic drawing more than 2 ft. would be so much
money thrown away. When the river is in full
flood, of course, the depth is often six or seven
times as great, and communication easy with all
points below Coroabassa Rapids on the one hand,
and the Murchison Falls of the Shiré on the other.

It would not, I consider, be carrying hypothesis
too far to predict a time, still doubtless far distant,
when the Zambezi as we know it will cease to
exist, and its course, many times wider than it now
appears, will present the appearance of a vast,
sandy track, over which, after the middle of each
rainy season, a shallow trickle of water will pass for
a few months seaward, to dry up quickly and dis-
appear with the last of the summer rains. In
great waterways like the Congo and the Niger, the
clayey nature of their banks has doubtless had
much to do with their long-continued, and even
increasing, navigability ; the rich, argillaceous soil
which produced and nourished the immense, almost
impenetrable, forests of the higher waters of the
Congo, has had an actually preservative effect, in
so far as it has been carried down, on the banks of
the lower river, by leaving upon them a thick,
adhesive, immovable stratum of mud. Not so the
Zambezi. Except near the delta, very little mud
is seen. Its course, as I have said, is one long,
continuous system of sandy islets and visible sand-
banks, the component grains of the latter, I doubt
not, once part and paréel of a richly productive,
alluvial soil area. Again, any steamship master
of some years’ standing will tell you that in his

4

50 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY

recollcetion of it the river is distinctly changing for
the worse; that at such and such a point where he
used to get good, bold water up to August, he
cannot now pass after the middle of June, and
that there can be no doubt that the river is growing
shallower and shallower year by year.

In the Shiré, which, as we have seen, drains
Lake Nyasa into the Zambezi, an even more
singular phenomenon presents itself. Of late years,
so little has this river been influenced by the
annual rainfalls that the utmost difficulty has been
experienced in keeping communication open even
so far as Chiromo, the port of entry of the Nyasa-
land Protectorate. Ten years ago, whilst I was
serving in that part of the country, the annual
rainfall amounted to between 50 and 60 inches, and
raised the level of the lake about 5 ft., this im-
mense volume of water draining down through the
Shiré, and keeping that river open to navigation
usually until late in the month of June. Now,
although the Nyasaland rainfall has in nowise
diminished since the period I have mentioned, its
effect in raising the level of Lake Nyasa is not, I
am informed, more than half what it used to be,
and the lake, therefore, instead of rising to the
height to which it formerly attained, scarcely ever
adds more than 2 ft. to its dry-season level.
Where does all this water go to? The only
comprehensible explanation which has so far been
offered is to the effect that Nyasa may have sprung
some terrific leak, and that in some portion of the
continent still to be explored, but most probably
low down on the almost unknown, eastern, coast-

THE DELTA 51

ward side, an immense foaming torrent goes
thundering seaward, and, for aught we know to
the contrary, may be now delving out the bed of
some unknown, unsuspected, and unnamed river.*
It is attractive as a theory, but only a theory of
course.

A few words about the delta. As it nears the coast,
the Zambezi branches out into six or seven mouths,
which, in order from north to south, are called
the Chinde, Caterina, East Luabo, Inyamissengo (or
Kongoni), Milambe, and West Luabo. In addition
to these, there are one or two small outlets, which
are, I think, properly speaking, branches of the
main channels. For many years past the Chinde
mouth has been used by small steamers which
formerly landed their passengers and cargo either
by the Inyamissengo entrance, or else took them
on to Quelimane fifty miles to the northward.
Thence, wayfarers for the upper waters of the
Zambezi and Lake Nyasa journeyed in comfortless
house-boats up the Qua-qua River,t upon which
the town of Quelimane stands, to a point on the
Zambezi at Mopéa which the Qua-qua approaches,
and with which I understand it communicates in
the rainy season, and may thus, perhaps, have
some claim to be regarded as the eighth channel
of the delta. In the course of time, however, the
Chinde entrance, having come to be regarded as
the least liable to variation, was definitely selected
by shippers as the port of entry to the Zambezi,
and in due time a small settlement sprang up

* Lake Nyasa is nearly 1,600 ft. above sea-level.
+ The ancient ‘ River of Good Signs.”

52 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY

which I was on the point of saying still remains,
but I remembered in time to stay my pen that
such a statement would be wholly inaccurate. A
place which we call Chinde exists, it is true, but
not the Chinde whose acquaintance I made fifteen
years ago. That Chinde has long ago been borne
away in suspension in the eroding waters of the
Zambezi, and now lies either at the bottom of
the river, or has gone to strengthen the innumer-
able bars and sand-spits which constitute such
a danger to vessels entering the tiny port. In a
word, the Chinde of the early nineties has been
gradually washed away, and the present aspect and
appearance of the townlet is as of one which the
waters have suddenly invaded, engulphing one
portion and still menacing the other. It will, I fancy,
enable me still to lay claim to accuracy if I say
that, since I have known Chinde, a valuable strip
of fully 200 yards has completely disappeared from
the existing river bank, the width of the stream
at this point having proportionately increased.

In 1891, as the result of an Exchange of Notes
between the British and Portuguese Governments,
a piece of land which I believe I am right in
saying was about 100 acres in extent, was leased
by Portugal to the authorities of the British
Central Africa (now known as the Nyasaland) Pro-
tectorate, for the landing, storage, and transhipment
of goods intended for transport to that British
sphere. <A year or two after, when I first landed
in Chinde, this piece of land, called the British
Concession, securely fenced in, and fulfilling the
functions of a gigantic bonded warehouse, con-

CHINDE 58

tained the tidily built offices of the transport
companies and shipping agents who controlled the
river traffic, and the tastefully laid out gardens and
cement tennis court of the British Central Africa
Protectorate Agent and Vice-Consul. Along one
side of this ran the river, at whose tendency to eat
away the sandy bank householders were already
beginning to look with disquietude. Gradually the
disappearance of the bank increased until it attained
to alarming proportions, and buildings had to be
hurriedly taken down at great expense, and re-
erected in positions promising greater safety.
After some time,representations were made through
our Legation at Lisbon requesting an addition to
the first grant made, and indeed it was time, for
visiting Chinde a few months ago, I found that the
original Concession had entirely disappeared, and
that the site of the house wherein I had resided in
1896 was now somewhere about the spot on which
my steamer was anchored.

There is not very much in Chinde to describe, but
as it is the main entrance to certain of our posses-
sions which we trust may one day prove of import-
ance, a few words regarding it may not be out of
place. Situated on a sandy plain at the northern end
of Timbwe Island, its back to the Indian Ocean, and
its face (or as much of its face as may remain) to
the Chinde River, the small settlement does not
present an alluring appearance. As I have just
stated, its aspect from the water is that of one half
of a corrugated-iron town whose remaining moiety
has been cut off and put down somewhere else—as
indeed it has. On our boat nearing the dingy

54 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY

mixture of sand and mud of which the bank is
composed, we seem able to look right into houses
and compounds and offices and workshops, since
the fences, when there were any, have either been
washed down or taken up. Perched upon the top
of the “ Gombé,” as the river bank is here called,
one’s attention is first caught by several stern-
wheel river steamers in ingeniously constructed
dry docks, either “resting,” as they say in the
theatrical profession, or undergoing repairs, their
appearance suggesting that of so many gigantic
and indignant hens sitting on an equal number of
enormous nests, the air vibrating the while with
the tapping of hammers on iron plates. On the
steeply shelving river bank itself, every sort of
craft is huddled in one confused pell-mell, from the
smartly painted, five-oared agent’s gig, to the large,
unwieldy, iron lighter. On the top of the bank,
other boats appear under thatched shelters of neg-
lected exterior, wherein repose in addition a number
of card-playing natives, who are supposed to be
cleaning paint or brasswork. We climb upon
brawny shoulders, and are speedily carried ashore.
The first annoyance is caused by the sand into
which our feet sink to the ankle. It is hot sand,
and you speculate as to what would be the
sufferings of a wearer of patent leathers in such a
place. ‘The crowd on the “Gombé” is a motley
one. Natives, of course, everywhere, unintelligent-
looking, almost naked Zambezi boys, or “lower
river boys” as one speedily learns to call them.
A couple of Scottish engineers, coatless, shirt sleeves
rolled up, double terai hat faded and shapeless well

LIFE IN CHINDE 55

back on the head, pipe inevitable, evidently in
difficulties with their razors, and profanely dis-
cussing a question relative to angle-irons with an
accent redolent of the shadow of Saint Mungo.
They stroll along jostling one or two tidy-looking
Mohammedans in red fezzes, evidently from the
cultured native atmosphere of Zanzibar. A leisurely
khaki-clad Customs guard, cigarette in mouth,
who appears, in addition to misunderstandings with
the barber, to have lost the run of his soap-box, dis-
cusses some important point of local customs tariff
with a group of dressy Indian merchants, with gold-
embroidered caps and spangled waistcoats. <A
little farther along you see a handsome, brass-
mounted machila,* spread with a showy leopard-
skin rug, and carried by four muscular A-Mahindo
with wild-looking cocks’ feathers perkily stuck in
their small, jaunty, scarlet fezzes. It awaits the
head of some local business agency, who stalks
contemplatively down the two rough wooden steps
of the counting-house, lighting a Virginia cigarette
and ejaculating over his shoulder: “ Aweel, Jock,
Ah'll no’ be gin’ ye an answer the noo, ye ken.
She'll no’ be sailin’ to-morra; Ah canna get th’
wood. alongside, and frae all accoonts there’s varra
little wather i th’ river. Onny way ye'll hae yer
commeeshun, ye ken. So long.”

I do not think, with the exception of that portion
of Chinde called the Portuguese town, that there
is anything which might be taken as even dimly
resembling the most rudimentary form of street
or road. Sand, of course, is everywhere, and every-

* A hammock or canvas seat slung on a strong bamboo pole.

56 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY

body who can manage to do so is carried in a
machila. Two hotels furnish quite superior food
and accommodation when regard is had to the
extraordinary difficulties which must attend the
daily supply of any article of constant consumption
other than strong waters. Of these there is never
any lack. A little withdrawn from the workshops
of the transport companies and the offices and
stores of the British Concession, and situated in
what is called the “Outer Concession,” one finds
scattered all over the centre of the island and
facing the sea a number of tastefully built, and in
one or two cases quite commodious, houses, all,
it is true, of wood and iron, but in several in-
stances possessing the inestimable advantage of an
upper story, to catch the sea-breeze and escape
the mosquitoes. They all mark a distinct advance
on the shameless shanties which were all that we
considered necessary in the far-off days of the early
nineties. The only remaining feature lying out-
side the small settlement is the happily sparsely
occupied cemetery. An old burial-ground there
is, it is true, nearer the river, which I hope will
rather turn from its course than disturb the well-
earned repose of such men as Stairs (Stanley’s com-
panion through Darkest Africa), John Buchanan,
Monteith Fotheringham, and several others of those
early pioneers of civilisation to whom Central Africa
owes so much. But I mention the cemetery, as
it brings back to my mind recollections of the
only occasion upon which my conduct at a grave-
side ever brought down upon me a stern rebuke.
I had been asked to read the funeral office at the

A SCOTS BURIAL 57

burial of some passing stranger of North British
origin, which was largely attended by his brother
Scots. The last sad scene was enacted, the Benedic-
tion pronounced, and as J sadly turned away to gain
my machila, I became faintly conscious that the
bystanders were regarding me with an ill-concealed
expression of indignant surprise. Much pained by
so unexpected a manifestation, I took one of these
aside shortly afterwards and asked him the reason
for it, when he sternly replied: ‘‘ Aweel, Sir, Ah’ll
no’ be sayin’ we were a'thegither contented wi’ ye.
Yer readin’ o’ the Buke micht hae been gude, or
it micht hae been bad, but we did think ye’d hae
said a few wurrds!”

An immense improvement has taken place in
river transport from Chinde since my first voyage
up the Zambezi and Shiré in 1893. My recollec-
tions of this are painful ones. It should be borne
in mind that at the period I have mentioned it
was difficult to ascertain in England, prior to start-
ing on an African journey, exactly what to supply
one’s self with—that is to say, what to take, out,
and what to leave for purchase on arrival; the
consequence was that, like most travellers of the
period, I found at the mouth of the Zambezi that
I could scarcely purchase anything, and that many
of the articles with which I had provided myself
I could well have dispensed with altogether. I
started away from Chinde one afternoon on board
of a side-wheel paddle steamer of archaic pattern
called the John Bowie. I did not at that time
know anything regarding the individual whose
name she bore, with the exception that he was

58 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY

already dead, and I had not passed many hours
on board before beginning to wish that he had
taken her with him. She was a flat-bottomed,
shallow-draught old tub drawing about two feet,
and we towed two small lighters astern laden with
I know not what. Her sole accommodation con-
sisted of two cabins, each about the size of a large
packing case, and placed in the stern of the vessel.
In each of these, two microscopic wooden bunks
had been squeezed, so that with four passengers
on board the maximum accommodation was ex-
hausted. These were innocent of mosquito-cur-
tains, and, so far as I can recollect, destitute of
any other sort of convenience. Buckets of water
outside on deck were provided for the passengers’
ablutions, and the daily bath was an event for the
preparation and enjoyment of which the whole
morning seemed all too short and fleeting. To
begin with, there was no bath, nor was there any
place wherein such a luxury could have been in-
stalled; recourse, therefore, had to be had to
buckets, and two, placed side by side on an in-
conveniently narrow ledge in the very partial
shelter of the cabins I have just mentioned, per-
mitted one to stand in the “altogether,” as Trilby
would have said, one foot in each, at the imminent
risk, should the vessel turn a sharp corner at the
moment, of being precipitated into the fast-flowing,
crocodile-haunted current which swept the steamer’s
sides only a few inches below. This peril survived,
others had still to be faced. ‘There was no dining
saloon, or any part of the deck suitable for the pur-
pose of dining, as such a duty is usually understood ;

ON BOARD THE JOHN BOWIE 59

and as the full complement of passengers consisted
only of four, a table was laid on the after-hatchway,
immediately abaft the unguarded machinery, and
about two feet from the stroke of the cylinders.
Here we were joined by the commander, a very
large, red-faced Hollander, possessed of a surpris-
ingly rich and varied vocabulary of fluent, inter-
national profanity. His staff was also present,
consisting of the several executive officers, the
several engineer officers, the boatswain, carpenter,
and cook, all combined in the person of one small,
pale, unspeakably dirty Scotsman. Did the com-
mander desire steam at any given hour, Scotty
had to see that it was ready. Whilst attending
to this, did it strike the commander (who was also
the purser) that we required bread, the obedient and
versatile Scotty wiped his engine-room-oily hands
on a venerable piece of cotton waste, and im-
mediately proceeded to carry out his instructions.
Let me not recount either how the food was cooked,
of what it consisted, or, more important still, what
it tasted like ; these are unprofitable memories, and
I would that they were memories no longer.

But the nights were worse than all else.

As I have said, there were no mosquito-curtains,
and the piece of muslin which was all I could
obtain at Chinde was far too tiny to serve any
useful purpose. To the sleeplessness produced by
swarms of mosquitoes, was added, soon after mid-
night, a variety of discomfort by the dew which
filtered through the cracks in the roof and dropped
icily cold upon one from above.

Of course, we have changed all that now, and,

60 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY

within certain limits, a passenger may at present
ascend these rivers in comfort. A voyage which I
made from Chinde to Tete a few months ago
stands out in my memory as among the most
agreeable I have ever undertaken. Nothing was
lacking on this Portuguese river steamer, and the
days on board spent in watching panorama after
panorama unfold, each as it seemed more varied
and beautiful than the last, passed all too quickly.

There are, I understand, running on the Zambezi
and Shiré Rivers, or available to do so should
inducement offer, no less than twenty stern-wheel
passenger and cargo steamers, and 108 barges and
lighters, with a total carrying capacity of some
4,756 tons. These transport to Chiromo, the port
of entry of Nyasaland, large quantities of mer-
chandise for local consumption, and increasing
consignments in transit for Rhodesia, and even for
such far-away points as the Katanga and Garan-
ganza countries bordering upon the eastern fron-
tiers of the distant Congo Free State. The amount
of cargo actually carried by the British and other
transport companies during1906 amounted to 18,327
tons, these figures representing both imports and
exports.

As one ascends the Chinde River, as that dreary
branch of the Zambezi Delta is called, the banks
are seen to be fringed by dense forests of gloomy
mangroves, forming an impassable, or almost im-
passable, screen or barrier which for many miles
shuts out any glimpse of the grassy plains beyond.
It is probable that persons who have never quitted
the United Kingdom may regard the mangrove, by

THE MANGROVE 61

reason of the similarity of its name to that of a
totally different class of tree, as some beautiful
forest growth, covered with rich, luscious fruit, and
bright with balsamic clusters of tropical flowers.
It is my duty to remove this illusion. The man-
grove (Rhizophoracee) is a horrible excrescence on
the face of the African coast. There is something
about it so unnatural, so abnormal, that the effect
it produces upon one is the reverse of pleasing. It
springs from mud, and thrives in the blackest, most
treacherous, and most forbidding of ooze. It
consists in Kast Africa of two different species, the
red and the white, both of which, as I have just
pointed out, thrust their rapidly imcreasing and
obnoxious presence at all points under your very
nose. Its horrible, nightmare-like, arching roots
descend into the mud like the clumsy, slimy
foundations of some prehistoric crinoline, from the
centre of which the trunk springs. The lower
limbs throw down tufts of roots, which strike on
reaching the mud beneath, and throw up other
members of the same unlovely family. Within the
mangrove forests, moreover, there is always darkness
and gloom. The tree produces a sombre, ever-
green leaf, and grows so close to its neighbour that
the foliage, uniting, shuts out the day. In the
semi-twilight thus produced you see, in your
mournful, squelching progress through this moist,
muddy land of disordered dreams, the ghostly night-
jar rise noiselessly from beneath your feet ; a horned
owl glares suspicious disapproval ; a scuttling brood
of hideous land crabs disappear down their yawn-
ing, muddy holes ; and a huge, carnivorous iguana,

62 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY

like a small, ungainly crocodile, appears as though
specially sent to complete a picture of hopeless
desolation.

As, about five hours from Chinde, we near the
main body of the Zambezi, however, some slight
improvement in our surroundings takes place. The
depressing mangrove ceases; the river banks in-
crease in height, and change from black, clinging,
viscous mud to a soil of a sandy, or more rarely
clayey, character. At the point where one turns
into the Zambezi, here some 800 or 900 yards wide,
these banks, in the dry season, are fully 15 or 18
feet in height, and display in their faces the curious,
interesting strata of clay, sand, sandstone, and
organic matter of which the local formation is
composed. In places they are literally honey-
combed for long distances by swifts and sand-
martins, and the parent birds wheel and circle round
their tiny strongholds just as we have seen them do
in the well-remembered sand-pits at home. The
water (I am supposing it to be still the middle of
May) flows placidly down at a rate of about three
miles an hour. It is of a pale café-au-lait colour,
and bears sand and organic substances carried in
suspension from the far interior. It is excellent
water, however, and, boiled and filtered, is perfectly
wholesome. Over the high banks, fringed with
green reeds and high, snowy-plumed spear-grass,
clumps of trees now appear ; several kinds of thinly
leaved acacias mingling with a curious pale green
elm are most numerous, but away beyond, some-
times singly and sometimes in groups of half a dozen
or more, straight-trunked, clean-cut hyphcene and

[eg *d

‘ANHOS GOVITIA V

SWARMING BIRD-LIFE 63

borassus palms tower 60 and 70 feet above the
surrounding forest growths, dwarfing all else by
their majestic stature. Sandy islets covered with
grass and reeds are passed all day long, and floating
islands of marshy greenery borne down on the
current require careful watching lest they should
get under the bows of the steamer and decrease
her speed. ‘Turning round a jutting sand-bank,
three or four large crocodiles are seen almost im-
perceptibly entering the water, which closes slowly
as we approach over the menacing, coffin-shaped
heads. Farther on the glasses reveal a vast con-
gregation of Zambezi fowl. Giant, grey herons
stand sentrylike watching the water, whilst
stalking sharply about in the shallows, with wide,
hurried stride, snowy white egrets shoot out their,
long, yellow beaks, with a snaky motion of the
neck, at the small fish and other tiny forms of
river life. In a miniature lagoon inside the sand-
spit where the river current causes no eddy, a few
spur-winged geese, bronzy green on back and wing
covers, with a dash of white at the base of the
neck, fraternise harmoniously with a dozen small
black pochard, and some barred umber and dark
brown whistling duck. Running about the edge,
probably envious of the natural accomplishments
of their acquaintances the ducks and geese, sand-
pipers, dunlins, spur-winged plover, curlew, and
many other shore birds in large numbers pursue
the swarming river fish, until the steamer’s near
approach sends them with loud cries, and whistles,
and vociferous quacking and flapping to seek their
sustenance in less disturbed surroundings.

64 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY

Here and there on the bank above, the hive-
shaped roofs of small native villages appear, and
on some high white-ant-heap, or other elevated
point, two or three dusky native heads appear,
curiously watching the slow progress of the now
familiar steamer. In the bushes overhanging the
river, colonies of yellow and black weaver birds
have built their nests, which faintly resemble so
many distended stockings hanging leg downwards
over the water. Kites and fishing eagles make
their appearance, whilst still at a distance of more
than fifty miles from the coast, gulls are now and
then to be seen, together with a small, apparently
black-backed tern, probably the Mydrochelidon
leucoptera.

Usually the first stopping-place on the Zambezi
is the important French sugar plantation and
manufactory at Marroméo,on the right bank, which
was established by a powerful syndicate of that
nationality about ten years ago. The tall black
chimney is hideously visible for many miles, as at
night are the brilliant illuminations. In a sub-
sequent chapter I shall endeavour to give some
description of this important Zambezi industry,
which is now assuming encouraging proportions.
At this point the river narrows somewhat, and the
increasing current thus produced requires every
pound of steam we can muster in order to pass it.
I was informed by Monsieur Aubert, the company’s
courteous manager, that great difficulty was ex-
perienced here, as at Chinde, in conserving their
property, which the current was fast washing away,
and he pointed out some important buildings

SHUPANGA 65

whose daily increasing nearness to the stream
was the cause of great anxiety. A mile or so
above the Marroméo sugar works the steamer
passes the Mozambique Company’s Customs
Station, on the south bank of the river.

A day’s journey, pounding slowly against the
current, passing many sand-banks and islets, and,
perchance, catching sight of the square head of an
aged and experienced hippopotamus on the way,
warily withdrawn beneath the water long before
the steamer nears him, and we come to Shupanga,
an old-established and beautifully situated station
of the Franciscan Missionaries. The river, still
about 800 yards wide, is deeper here, there are no
sand-banks visible, and between the point at which
the steamer ties up and the buildings themselves,
a distance of some 250 yards, a well-kept piece of
grass (I had almost written lawn) slopes gradually
upward, intersected by trim, gravel foot-paths and
bordered by sharp-pointed aloes and smooth-barked
cotton trees. ‘The low, whitewashed buildings are
of stone, and very extensive and commodious.
There are, of course, chapel, schools, and workshops,
but not the least important of the mission depart-
ments is that of the wonderfully complete and ex-
tensive vegetable gardens, which possess their own
efficient system of irrigation tanks. A little below
these, one reverently removes one’s hat before the
marble stone which marks the resting-place of
Mary Moffat, or Livingstone, the wife of that
greatest of African explorers, whose name is so
indelibly engraven on the very heart of the great
continent for which he gave his life.

5

66 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY

Continuing up the river, one is immediately struck
on leaving Shupanga by the increased luxuriance
of the tropical vegetation. The high river-banks
are covered with an exuberant growth of low
bushes. Palms of various kinds become very
numerous; immense baobabs, clumps of stiff
euphorbias, and groves of feathery albizzias mingle
with acacias of several kinds. Few large trees
appear, however, if we omit a species of camwood,
whose bark is used for dyeing, and which | believe
to be a species of baphia. Climbing plants quite
cover the bushes and lower trees in places, and
hang down lovely, transparent green trailers
gemmed with deep mauve, white-centred con-
volvulus blooms to gaze Narcissus-like, in placid
admiration of their beauties, in the calmly flowing
water beneath. And now the pale blue outline of
Morambala Mountain shows faintly in the north-
west. We should have seen it yesterday evening
if the weather had not been cloudy. As the day
advances this fascinating elevation, which springs
to a height of, I believe, nearly 5,000 feet from the
plain, continues to unfold a wide succession of
glittering granite peaks, rocky escarpments, and
tree-clothed foothills. From appearing in the
distance as one single, isolated, majestic peak, it
opens out on nearer approach into an exquisite
panorama of undulating eminences which form
what is really the rocky advance guard of the
Shiré Highlands, and marks one upward step in
the curious ascent leading to that wide upland
plateau of which so vast an area of Central Africa
consists. Away to the westward again, more

MISSION, SHUPANGA.

THE FRANCISCAN

p 66)

AT VILLA BOCAGE 67

mountain peaks commence to show, and, with
their advent, is provided the one sadly missing
factor in the landscape; it at once takes on a
completeness which the bare plains of the lower
river have taught us to appreciate.

The next morning, having been able, thanks to a
full moon, to proceed by night instead of tying up
to the river bank as otherwise we should have
inevitably done, we wake to find ourselves at
Villa Bocage on the Shiré River. This lovely but
most insalubrious spot is at the very foot of the
mountains, which tower above the river bank to a
height which the mist of the early morning prevents
us from estimating. After an early breakfast, as
the steamer is not to leave until 10 o’clock, I take
a shot gun and stroll away along the bank to
plunge almost immediately into the thickly growing
forest. Here, at this time of the year, the
vegetation displays a vast wealth of colour and
detail, whilst the water reflects a sky all dappled
with fleecy clouds terminating in edges of luminous
straw colour. It is only rising mist, however, and
no anxiety need be felt concerning it. Forest trees
have always had an extraordinary fascination for
me, whether at midday stretched out for my siesta
beneath their shade, or camped for the night in
their purple shadow. Their cool, grateful greenness
—that delicious greenness upon which the eye,
tired and aching from the hard, white, radiating
heat outside, turns with a sensation of welcome
relief—draws me towards their cool protection like
the irresistible influence of a powerful magnet. I
never see one felled without experiencing a vague

68 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY

feeling akin to grief, whilst the pleasure one feels
after crossing some wide plain or expanse of scrub
country and again finding oneself in the sylvan
depths of the true forest is not unlike the satis-
faction one experiences on reaching camp at the
end of a weary march.

Proceeding slowly in my quest of a morning
shot, the path is soon barred by a deep stream
running in from the river, and, as I find, forming a
few hundred yards therefrom an enchanting back-
water full of interesting forms of life. An over-
hanging canopy of leafy boughs, some looped
together with llianas and monkey ropes, subdues
the bright morning sunshine, which, nevertheless,
pierces the barrier in a thousand golden sword-
blades of dazzling light. The still, mirror-like
water, save where its surface is covered with the
lush-green leaves of a fragrant blue water lily,
reflects the gnarled, twisted, grey tree-roots, which
protrude from the low bank and carelessly over-
hang it. Farther on, as we glance cautiously over
the breast-high, recumbent trunk of some huge,
fallen forest monster, whose under side is covered
with line upon line of dirty fungi, we see an
amusing sight—a score of yellow chacma baboons
have come down to drink. Their antics are inde-
scribably diverting. ‘The old men sit or recline a
little apart, watching with a slightly bored air of
complacent superiority the amusements of the
younger animals, who play together like so many
small children. The females either carry the very
young members of the family on their shoulders or
hold them by the hand as they move from place to

“HLUMOYOUTAO ONIMOHS “QUIHS YRATH FHL

A STRANGE PICTURE OF PEACE 69

place. Boundless energy, immense strength, and
tireless activity are here, and expend themselves in
every variety of somersault and caper. All round,
in the water and running about the sandy margin,
multitudes of waders and shore birds are seeking
their breakfast, and several crocodiles recline
motionless as so many tree trunks, secure in the
knowledge that the friendly spur-winged plover
will give them warning when anything of a doubt-
ful or dangerous character presents itself. This
singular compact between widely different mem-
bers of the creation is noticeable in the case of
several animals, such as the rhinoceros, eland, and
others, each of which has its attendant bird to
warn it of impending peril; and one asks oneself
in vain whence originated the amazing understand-
ing whereby the approach of a common danger
became the basis of a compact for the compassing
of a common security. How could so strange a
combination have originally sprung up, and which
side, we wonder, was it to make the first advance ?
On the tree roots and sands, and even on the broad
surface of the green water lilies, perch egrets and
darters, bitterns and stilts, whilst high up on some
overhanging branch, eagerly scanning the water
below, great pied kingfishers are waiting for an
opportunity to hurl themselves headforemost after
their prey into the placid mirror-like pool. It is a
peaceful scene of a beauty and interest which few
who have looked upon it could ever forget. One
hesitates to disturb it, seeing that there is nothing
edible to tempt one’s gun ; but even as this resolve
shapes itself in the mind, other destructive agencies

70 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY

are at work. A sudden scurry among the baboons,
followed by a yellowish flash, and a leopard springs
from the cover behind, and striking one of the
smaller animals a lightning-like blow with its paw
which dashes him senseless to the ground, snatches
him up and disappears at a bound. Now the
beautiful picture is at an end. The storks, the
bitterns, and egrets rise into the air uttering in-
dignant, discordant cries, to an accompaniment of
excited barks and squeals from the bereaved
chacmas, who hurriedly leave their ill-omened drink-
ing place, and betake themselves to the trees.
The crocodiles, recovered from the first short rush
they made towards the water, have dragged them-
selves once more upon the sand, where they com-
pose themselves for another nap. So we pass
onward, leaving them to the enjoyment of their
repose. The mist has by this time entirely dis-
persed, and a cool morning breeze rustles refresh-
ingly through the greenery above our heads.
Through the openings in the branches the mighty
form of giant Morambala looks so close in the
clear morning atmosphere that one could almost,
one thinks, throw a stone to the summit of that
majestic mass.

Farther up the Shiré River, and still in the
district of Zambezia, one reaches, it is true, a
mightier mountain as one nears Chiromo. This
giant, over 8,000 ft. in height, whose native
name, Chiperoni, I regard as infinitely more
suitable than the commonplace Mount Clarendon
which has been pompously and needlessly bestowed
upon it, is said to possess a healthy upland

CAPTAIN A. DE PORTUGAL DURAO, R.N.

p.:70)

INYANGOMA 71

plateau, in which respect it would seem to re-
semble Morambala, where, at an elevation of about
3,500 ft., coffee plantations are, I am informed,
giving results in many ways superior to those
of the much-esteemed product grown in the
Nyasaland Protectorate.

The steamer leaving at ten, we find ourselves,
an hour later, at Bompona, on the island called
Inyangoma, formed by the Zambezi and Shiré Rivers
and a shallow channel called the Zui-Zuie. Here,
by the kindness of Captain A. de Portugal Durao,
the Zambezia Company’s capable and energetic
manager in Africa, we are enabled to leave the
steamer, examine the island, and join her again
later in the day at the Company’s station at
Muterara. The area enclosed by the three streams
I have mentioned is known as the island of
Inyangoma, is of an extent of over 160,000 acres,
and possesses soil of remarkable richness. The
indigenous grass is of good quality, and Senhor
Magalhaes, an old and valued friend of mine, tells
us that the herds of cattle kept upon it now nearly
number 2,000 head. Splendid cattle they are, and
of fine appearance and condition. The only disease
by which they have been hitherto attacked, and
that without actual loss, has been a curious type of
bovine dysentery. Close to the headquarters we are
shown about twenty acres of cotton, destroyed by
that ruthless pest the green blight.* Large numbers
of well-set-up, well-fed, contented-looking natives
are employed by the Company, and here, it is quite
evident, there is no chance of the African being

* Malvacearum.

72 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY

permitted to fall into those habits of slackness
which beget famine and pestilence in neighbouring
territories.

We now mount into machilas and start across
the island for Muterara, two hours’ journey hence.
During the first few hundred yards we are accom-
panied by the whole posse comitatus, who run
alongside the machilas, clapping their hands and
yelling at the tops of their voices. These gradu-
ally tail off, however, and our conveyances, to each
of which eight lusty carriers, or machileiros, have
been told off, proceed on their way. First ex-
tensive fields of maize and millet are passed, and
thereafter, still following admirably constructed
wide roads, we come into the attractive open
country. Many small villages and settlements
appear, all the women rushing out to meet us
with vociferous songs and hand-clapping, con-
tinuing beside the machilas with many remarkably
friendly manifestations of good-will for consider-
able distances. Their songs betray no mean
appreciation of the rudiments of harmony; thus
one woman, selected doubtless for strength of
voice—and perhaps also wind—enunciating the
leit motif about half a bar in length, and the re-
mainder taking up the chorus with much precision
and by no means unpleasing effect. Surrounding
the villages, the maize and millet gardens, of
surprisingly luxuriant growth, have semi-circular
spaces many square yards in extent cut, as it were,
into them, where we see potatoes, onions, tobacco,
tomatoes, and other appreciable vegetables thriving.
Soon we traverse a densely wooded portion, con-

THE ZUI-ZUIE 73

taining forest trees of great variety and of fine
development, among them appearing numbers of
the cotton trees (Kapok) which we noted at
Shupanga, and gigantic, rounded, copper-foliaged
khayas. Some of the latter are fully seventy feet
high, and their crown of foliage is as round as a
globe. Arrived at the Zui-Zuie, we proceed in
large boats to cross the river, having traversed
a distance of no less than twenty-eight kilometres
in a little over three hours. We now set foot in
the old settlement of Muterara, where the Zambezia
Company possesses another fine station. Built
upon an eminence about a hundred feet above the
river, it consists of an old, fortified, Portuguese
house, now the official residence of the courteous
and capable agent, Senhor Magalhaes. The house,
which is of whitewashed stone, with immensely
thick walls, has in front a strongly protected pateo,
or courtyard, loopholed for musketry on the
western side, the only one on which it could be
approached. ‘The east side of the house descends
precipitously to the level of the river below, and com-
mands the most magnificent views. It overlooks the
confluence of the Zui-Zuie and Zambezi, here so
wide as to appear more like a large lake than a river,
whilst over the island of Inyangoma across the
water, rising from a billowy confusion of beautiful
mountain peaks, quaintly formed Pinda and
gigantic tree-covered Morambala look down from
their majestic four or five thousand feet, dwarfing
the remainder of the fairly tall assemblage of
mountains and foothills surrounding them. To
the north-east, the Zui-Zuie threads its way like

%4 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY

a silver streak past a lovely amphitheatre of low
wooded hills, the shallow stream being about a
quarter of a mile wide as it sweeps past the low,
boulder-strewn neck or peninsula which separates
Muterara from the hills farther along its course.
The true front of the building overlooks the
Zambezi, and the two large wooded hills on the
other shore at the back of the old settlement of
Sena, whose whitewashed red-roofed buildings can
just be distinguished. These two hills are called
Mbala-muana (the child-carrier), one being very large,
whilst the other which appears to be much smaller
bears a faint resemblance to the position of a child
borne on a woman’s back—a rare instance of native
imagination. ‘The surrounding land, which is poor
and stony, has been planted as an experiment with
Sisal fibre (Agave sixgatana), and Senhor Magalhaes
tells us that a little farther up the river it is
proposed to try the Oil Palm (Klais guineénsis)
which it is confidently expected will give good
results.

In this part of the Zambezi, and especially in
the district surrounding the ancient settlement of
Sena, the influence of several centuries of inter-
course with the European is extremely noticeable
in the negro, his manners, his surroundings, and
mode of life. No longer does he shelter himself
beneath the roof of the squalid, tumble-down hut
of small dimensions. His dwelling is large, fairly
airy, and often furnished with sawn timber doors,
glazed windows, and other luxuries whose uses the
advance of civilisation has taught him to appreci-
ate. Then again, the Sena people are decently

THE BLACK AND THE WHITE 75

clad in clean calico, some even affecting tailor-
made coats and trousers. The more prosperous
among them speak Portuguese, lift their hats to
each other, and display in many ways a compre-
hension of the broad principles of general propriety
of demeanour which augurs well for a time when
more attention will be lavished upon their training
and instruction. The women also in many cases
display much greater gravity and dignity than
those who are found farther afield. Their clothing
and ornaments, moreover, show at times very con-
siderable taste, the former chosen from harmonious
if somewhat violent colours, and scrupulously clean
at all times; the latter, often of silver and gold,
are the work of loca] native goldsmiths of consider-
able skill, who doubtless owe their superior train-
ing to the earlier religious (probably Jesuitical)
Zambezian Missions.

I am, and have always been, most favourably
impressed with the evident superiority of the
Zambezia Company’s officials, and with the admir-
able and painstaking manner in which, so far as an
outsider can form an opinion, their important duties
are carried out. Those with whom in the past it
has been my privilege to come into contact have,
moreover, invariably possessed that indispensable
qualification for effective administration, a sound
working knowledge of the native languages. In
this respect alone they are greatly in advance of
the personnel of other administrative companies
of the Mozambique Province, where the capacity
of individuals for acquiring native forms of speech
appears to be extremely and regrettably weak.

76 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY

The steamer’s whistle is heard below just as we
rise from a well-furnished dinner-table, but we
decide to remain for the night at Muterara, and
to proceed on our way at daybreak. So we spend
a pleasant tranquil evening seated in front of the
loopholed fortifications, and watch the ghostly effect
of the moonlight upon the thin diaphanous mist
which has commenced to veil the surface of the
water beneath us. It is perfectly still, and the
smoke from our cigarettes curls lazily upward.
The trees cast deep shadows, in which fireflies
wheel in their circular flight, whilst out in the
open it is so light that one could easily read in
the brilliant moonbeams. Morambala and_ the
mountains across to the eastward are mere shadows
on the horizon’s faintly luminous outline. Scarcely
any stars are visible, although the night is cloud-
less, so intensely clear is the light of the tropical
moon. It is a picture of half-tones ; of soft, pearly
greys, with something of the sharpness of a steel
engraving where light meets with shadow. Native
forms flit along the road, or pass us_noiselessly,
to vanish into the Hwigkeit like so many in-
tangible phantoms. Over all, and pervading all,
the ceaseless shrilling of the crickets, punctuated
from time to time by the howl of a questing
hyena.

The sunrise the following morning, as we watch
the progress of the wonderful phenomenon from
the steamer’s shade deck, is one of those marvels
of nature which words are surely feeble to describe.
After the deepening of the first rosy flush of the
dawn, Morambala, away to the eastward, displays

A CASCADE IN THE MASSOWA HILLS.

p. 76]

THE MASSOWA RANGE V7

itself across the wide intervening space of glassy
blue water and, as yet, dark forest land like a vast
deep purple shadow against the rapidly brightening
radiance behind. As the light increases, the great
river takes on a lighter, opalescent, greyish green,
and from dark purple the mountain shows a pale,
transparent bluish grey, a belt of feathery white
curus cloud drawn like a pencilled line across its
waist. ‘The whole of its base is wreathed in thin
morning vapour of the colour one sees in mother-
of-pearl, loth as yet to expose itself to the garish
light of the coming day. A few minutes more
and the rising sun, which has already tinged the
eastern sky with a changing glory deepening from
pale luminous saffron to bright transparent chrome,
shoots the first beams of light across a high out-
lying shoulder, and in an instant the great granite
boulders and rough stony outcrop of the upper
peaks are all aglitter.

We are away by 7.80, ascending a gradually
widening river, flanked on the north bank by the
long chain of the Massowa Hills, and on the south
by beautifully wooded, undulating country. About
10.30 we pass a tumbledown collection of huts
and a decrepit cattle corral, said to belong to the
Mozambique Company. The river here, I am in-
formed, though very shallow, is fully three miles
wide. The Massowa range, to which I have just
alluded, springs into being directly we leave Mu-
terara, and rises gradually from the river bank to
its ridge, which may perhaps attain to a little more
than 1,000 feet in height, presenting an agreeable
vista of unbroken tree-covered verdure. This ridge

78 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY

continues for ten or fifteen miles, when the height
of the hills somewhat increases, and the conforma-
tion breaks and commences to throw up wooded
peaks of great beauty, rough with glittering granite
boulders, until the domelike peak of Massowa it-
self, from which the range takes its name, springs
to fully 3,000 feet above the river. The opposite
or southern bank of the Zambezi gives on to almost
flat country, rising slightly a few miles from the
water and alternating wide stretches of open grass-
land with thick bush and forest. It is noticeable
that here the borassus palms grow to much greater
height than is the case farther down the river, and
display only a very slight midway swelling in the
trunk instead of the marked increase in girth which
is the singular characteristic of this striking palm.
Farther on a few hours the Massowa range gets
lower and lower, and finally dwindles into mere
low undulations too insignificant to be referred to
as hills. Crocodiles now become very numerous,
every exposed sandbank being a resting-place for
one or more; several are shot, and we pass the
Portuguese stern-wheel gunboat T'ete on her way
down the coast. Portugal has several light-draught
gunboats on the river, and doubtless they have a
salutary moral effect on the natives whose villages
border the stream; but they always strike me as
being both underarmed and undermanned for work
of a serious character. To-night we tie up at
Sinjal, a wretched wooding station, containing two
mud houses and several piles of telegraph standards,
from which the following morning we are quite
glad to get away. The morning is lovely, with

‘YNUS UVAEN IZTANVZ AHL

ENE
ON

NATIVE SAILOR-MEN 79

a slight mist on the horizon. The Massowa
Mountains now appear a mere blue outline astern,
and the Zambezi ahead of us, although the land
rises slightly on the right bank, is for many miles
quite flat, and backs on to undulating, tree-covered
hills, which throw up low peaks at long intervals.
The aneroid here shows that we have ascended
seventy-two feet above sea-level.

Down below, seated in various attitudes of restful
ease on the hatches of the lighters towed alongside,
the native crew and domestic servants, during the
greater part of the day, lead a life of unbroken
repose. Their chief duties are fulfilled in the early
morning, leaving them free, except for occasional calls
for unimportant services, to loiter in the luxurious
indolence they love on the sunny decks below.
Upon one or other of the lighters lashed alongside
us there is always a wood fire burning, and upon
this a native cooking-pot of vast, cavernous pro-
portions, which, like the widow’s cruse, seems always
full of . . . something, simmers gently. At intervals,
therefore, between short naps, or between games
of cards which to European eyes are wholly desti-
tute of rhyme or reason, or between voluble dis-
putes with neighbouring companions of shirking
disposition as to whose turn it really is now to
sweep up the lower decks and carry wood to the
furnaces, a short paddle-shaped spoon is thrust
into the cooking-pot, and a morsel fished out and
meditatively devoured. Looking back over many
journeys undertaken on steamers of this class, I
find it hard to recall any article, assimilable even
by miracle by the human digestive system, which

80 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY

I have not seen put into the cooking-pot. It is
usually about three parts full, and its contents
always appear to possess the inestimable quality
of giving general satisfaction. Soon after the deck-
washing and clearance that take place every morn-
ing, the native personnel assembles on the clean
washed hatches of the lighters, and its component
members at once commence to settle down to the
tranquil enjoyment of a leisurely day. The matted
sleeping bag, or ““Mfumba,” is placed in as ad-
vantageous a position as can be selected, and this
determined upon, and an absent-minded application
having been made to the cooking-pot, the African
settles down to the day’s repose. Of course, as he
fully realises, leisure has its duties as well as its
sweets, so you may see him from time to time
doing a service to an overburdened comrade by
cutting his coarse wool or performing some other
little friendly act of a similar appreciable character.
The operation of wool-cropping is one which a
native never refuses to practise. It has a fascina-
tion for him which seems to communicate itself
to all the idle surrounding bystanders, who at once
become entranced spectators of the delicate deed.
More often than not you may see the artist, with
a responsible air of the grimmest determination,
making desperate efforts to attain his ends by
means of a pair of small folding nail-scissors, with
an astonishing result on the scalp of the resigned-
looking subject, who, distrustful perhaps of the
operator’s skill, examines from time to time the
general effect of his ministrations in a tiny circular
tin box with a cracked mirror let into the lid, each

THE LUPATA GORGE, WITH ZAMBEZI HOUSEBOAT.

THE FORT OF TAMBARA 81

cursory examination giving rise to serious dissension
between the two, the operator resuming his task
thereafter with a pained expression of wounded
dignity.

About 4 p.m. we reach Ankwasi, the head-
quarters of the Guengue Prazo, the property of my
old friend Senhor J. de Moctezuma.

We proceed at 5.30, and tie up for the night a
little below Tambara, which we shall see early
to-morrow morning.

The following day the Fort of Tambara is
passed at an early hour. It is a whitewashed,
stone structure built to imitate the old types of
Portuguese stronghold. It occupies a fine com-
manding position on the extremity of a high ridge
overlooking the river, but, considering the character
of the natives as a defence against whom it has
been devised, it must have cost about eight or
ten times the amount of money and labour that
it need have done. This building is, 1 am informed,
the dwelling of the sub-district collector, under the
direction of the chief official at Sena. The banks
of the river are very thickly populated hereabout,
the gardens of maize, millet, and other commodities
extending in many places to the water’s edge, and
even to the islands in mid-channel. Creditably
devised life-sized figures of men made of straw and
reeds, with imitation guns in their hands, are
stationed at intervals on the river bank to scare
away hippopotami, which I am told do great
damage to the native crops.

And now, straight ahead, a barrier of low, undu-
lating hills proclaims our nearness to the beautiful

6

82 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY

Lupata Gorge, surely the most entrancing piece of
Zambezi River scenery eastward of the Victoria Falls.

These hills, through which the Lupata Gorge
pierces its way, present few if any distinctive
features until the station of Bandar, at the entrance
to the gorge, is reached. This station is situated
on the north bank, at the foot of a high, rocky,
tree-covered bluff, upon the stony face of which, in
execrable taste, the custom has been established for
passengers passing through for the first time to
paint their names—the splendid, rugged feature
being thus almost entirely spoilt. This bluff is
crowned by an immense baobab tree, and both bluff
and tree are objects of veneration to all passing
natives, who believe them to be haunted by the
spirits of the dead. On approaching, therefore,
they invariably remove their head coverings, and
pass by in silence. It is likewise customary from
time to time to deposit, at the foot of the baobab
mentioned, certain offerings of millet, flour, and
other gifts, doubtless to propitiate the unseen spirit
influences, and thus obtain favourable auguries of
contemplated undertakings. I am also informed
that the country hereabout teems with game, and
that lions are especially and unpleasantly numerous.

Entering the Lupata Gorge from the eastward,
the river, here much narrower than a few miles
below, passes through a system of high, undu-
lating, sparsely wooded hills, which descend sheer
into the water, many rocky boulders of great size
enhancing the wild beauty of the scene. A mile
farther, and a high, conical peak isolates itself from
its suaver neighbours, throwing a deep shadow down

CLIFFS IN LUPATA GORGE.

827

CLIFFS IN LUPATA GORGE.

THE HAIRY CHILD 83

into the water. This is called Panzu’ngoma, and
shares with the bluff which we passed at the
entrance the uncanny reputation of being fre-
quented by spirits. Farther on, on the opposite
side, is a long ridge of hills, the highest peak of
which is densely wooded, and known as Mwana-
katsitsi (the hairy child). The vegetation on the
steep stony banks, which spring in some places
abruptly from the water’s edge, is here much
thinner, and one finds baobabs in increasing
numbers, acacias, and coarse-foliaged gomphias,
several tall species of parinaria, and a low, shrubby
tree covered with small spade-shaped, shimmering
leaves which may perhaps be a species of dwarf iron
wood. Some hippopotami appear in the water,
and draw upon their unoffending heads the happily
futile shots of the nimrods on board. At several
points where the foothills recede a few hundred
yards from the river, native villages peep over their
surrounding palisades, and the women and children
congregate outside to watch the steamer pass.
These huts appear to be considerably larger, more
commodious, and better built than those nearer
the coast. Now the gorge sweeps round with a
wide curve to the south-west, and the long ridge
crowned by Mwana-katsitsi runs down to the
water’s edge, showing a strongly marked outline of
boulder-laden bluff. The mountains themselves
here and there display deep, purple-shadowed in-
dentations, often descending gently for a few
hundred feet from the summit, then suddenly
falling sheer for several hundred more, as though
from the effect of some terrific landslide. Farther

84 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY

on the high, rocky face of the mountain is cut by
deep ravines, doubtless produced by similar causes.
In the midst of the second curve the shore forma-
tion to the south is that of a vast semi-circular
amphitheatre, from whose sides and bottom spring
more or less conical rocky peaks, their sides and
heads glittering through the leafy covering with
picturesque broken masses of granite. The aridness
of the weather-beaten rock, which would soon
become monotonous and unwelcome, is atoned for
by the rich umbrageous effect of its clothing of
greenery, whose variegated verdure is enhanced by
the pale clayey soil one sees in the gaps between
the trees. On the right bank at this point, within
a distance of some three miles, by possibly as
many back from the water, no less than thirteen
rocky peaks similar to Panzuw’ngoma may be
counted, with a lovely belt of tropical vegetation
surrounding their bases; the effect given being in
turn that of sapphire-blue water, pale yellow grass
and reeds giving on to the deep greenery of the
tree belts and undergrowth, with the dark im-
penetrable shadows beneath; beyond and above
the pale red of the clayey surface flecked by grey,
sunlit granite, and fringes of feathery palm trees.
The water here is much clearer, and freer from
organic matter than one finds it lower down the
river.

At the western extremity, and seventeen miles
from the bluff at Bandar where we entered it, we
pass in midstream the small granite Mozambique
Island, and emerge from the Lupata Gorge. At
the point of exit, huge cliffs of porphyritic formation

“NVA HLNON AHL WOW ALAL TO MALA

oR SE

— ia eaten a se

TETE 85

run up several hundreds of feet, and descend sheer
into the water, which is here of great depth. They
are the nesting places of marabou storks, eagles,
and other large raptores, and furnish a striking
termination to a grand piece of river scenery.
Thenceforward until Tete is reached, the aspect
of the Zambezi does not differ widely from the
appearance it presented below the gorge, save for
the increasing barrenness and stoniness of its
banks.

When I was asked my opinion of the appearance
of Tete, I replied that I found it a piquant com-
bination of great picturesqueness and repellent
ugliness, and that is what in reality it is. From
any elevated point one casts one’s eyes northward
and westward, distance obliterating the unlovely
elements in the picture, and the whole is harmonious
and soothing. One sees a river 1,000 yards wide,
flowing past a thickly wooded island of great beauty,
and beyond the farther tree-clad river banks, the
soft effect of purple-shaded mountain chains, mark-
ing for scores upon scores of miles the long weari-
some road which leads to North-Eastern Rhodesia.
What one fortunately does not see in this har-
moniously blended colour scheme, is the detail
which would rob it of so much of its attractiveness
—the cracked, bare, red earth; the smallness of
the badly nourished, stunted trees; the absence
of shade; the hungriness of the weather-beaten,
igneous rock,—the absence, in a word, of that
exuberance of tropical vegetation which has lent
such grace and charm to the lower courses of the
Zambezi.

86 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY

Tete itself is disappointing. ‘The river, as I have
just said, is wide and commanding, but the banks
on both sides arid, stony, and uninteresting in the
extreme. Such small quantities of coarse grass
as are visible are thin and poor, and among the
trees leafless baobabs predominate. The town
itself, overlooked by the table-topped Carrueira
Mountain, covers a large area, but so scattered are
the habitations that here and there small groups
of native huts have sprung up between them, a
circumstance which my knowledge of native habits
and customs leads me to believe can scarcely make
for sanitation and health. Immediately above the
well-built stone mole to which the steamers make
fast, the church of the Sacred Heart, lime-washed
pale blue and white, stands upon a small eminence.
The streets are rough, stony, and destitute of
sidewalks, the principal European houses standing
on three almost equidistant ridges running parallel
with the river, the hollows between forming the main
roads. Several very fine modern houses have been
built of late years, but the more ancient dwellings
are fast falling into disrepair. The latter are of
solid stone, with tiled roofs and wide verandahs.
There are two fortresses, the land fort at the back
of the town, and the river fort commanding the
water. These are both strong and substantial,
probably impregnable to native assaults, and the
former is of great age. His Excellency Captain
E. J. Bettencourt, the accomplished Governor of
Tete, assured me that although excessively hot in
the summer months, he had not found the climate
either disagreeable or unhealthy. Whatever may

CAPTAIN E. J. BETTENCOURT,
Governor of Tete.

36]

THE ZAMBEZIA COMPANY 87

be said for it, however, there is one thing upon
which this town and district are to be most cordially
congratulated, namely the high character of the
officials and functionaries by whom their destinies
are guided. Seldom in my fairly wide knowledge
of Portuguese East Africa have I found myself
among such a consistently cordial, entertaining,
and capable governing body. His Excellency
Governor Bettencourt has long been known and
esteemed by all classes for his unvarying courtesy
and kindness, his great personal tact, and that ready
approachableness which is the unmistakable sign of
a first-class official ; but added to all this I found
myself conversing with a student, a thinker, a man
with a firm grasp of the situation and its needs.
I do not remember that any portion of our con-
versation was uninstructive—certainly none was
uninteresting. To the Director of the Zambezi
Company, Captain A. de Portugal Durao, I have
already made some allusion. Here we have energy,
activity, and thoroughness personified. To a fine
service record Captain Durao adds great business
capacity, and that sympathetic manner which has
already provided him with numbers of friends.
The Zambezia Company is fortunate in possessing
an official of his rare personality at the head of its
important affairs in Africa.

CHAPTER IV
THE GREAT COMPANIES

ZaMBEzIA is for the most part divided between
three important administrative bodies, one of
which possesses a Royal Charter in almost every
respect similar to that from which the British South
Africa Company derives its powers. These are, in
order of territorial importance, the Zambezia Com-
pany, the Mozambique Company, and the Luabo
Company.

The first administers what would in Europe be
considered a very fair kingdom, which, as stated
elsewhere, is rather more than twice the size of
Portugal itself; and although in every way the
largest and most important undertaking of its kind
in the Portuguese Sphere of Influence, it does not,
curiously enough, possess the powers which have
been extended by its charter to the Mozambique
Company. Founded in 1892, the Zambezia Com-
pany is controlled by a director and sub-director
in Africa, and by an administrative council in
Lisbon composed of fifteen members, of which the
Portuguese Government nominates five. A council
of superintendence consisting of three members is

elected annually for the examination and _ verifica-
88

yf JO HOWDHOD

THE ZAMBEZIA COMPANY 89

tion of accounts and reports, and the general offices
of the association are situated in the Portuguese
capital.

I do not think it would interest my readers
much if all the multifarious rights and privileges
of the Company were here laid bare; it will,
therefore, doubtless be sufficient to say that in
exchange for the annual payment of £14,964, plus
four per cent. on the value of all shares issued, they
were granted the indisputable and exclusive right,
among many others, to engage in such attractive
occupations as pearl-fishing, gold-mining, ivory
exploitation, and the development of every descrip-
tion of tropical agriculture ; they are also empowered
to construct roads, railways, and canals, to collect
the hut-tax from a vast population of natives, and
are granted the power to sub-let portions of their
huge area on advantageous terms to such approved
applicants as may present themselves. Naturally,
with such an enormous slice of East Africa to
administer, the Zambezia Company has done the
only thing possible for an association of its by
no means extravagant capital. It has divided up
such portions of its concession as were found too
far removed from centres of effective governance,
and leased them as prazoes to companies and
individuals with, in certain cases, very conspicuous
success.

If we except the rapidly developing mineral
areas existing, and now regularly crushing, in the
north-western portion of this territory, and the
promising experiments now being made with
cotton, coffee, and other profitable forms of agri-

90 THE GREAT COMPANIES

culture at Inyangoma, Muterara, and other centres
on the Zambezi, it is evident that the Company’s
most important sphere of action is in the neighbour-
hood of Quelimane, where it possesses plantations
containing about 150,000 ‘coconut palms, to which
number large additions are now annually made.
The planting of coconuts and cultivation of the
palm is a fascinating pursuit, and, given time to
arrive at a nut-producing stage, is one of the most
lucrative of African occupations. It is carried out
somewhat as follows. The coconuts carefully
selected, with the external covering of coir undis-
turbed, are planted in a veveiro, or nursery, about
the commencement of the summer rains. The
nuts, of which it is customary to plant in this way
several thousands at a time, with due regard to the
area which it is intended to plant out, are placed
in the earth point downwards and almost if not quite
touching each other. They are then covered with an
inch or two of soil, and, if there should be any undue
delay in the appearance of the rain, must be care-
fully and sedulously irrigated. After some months
of warmth and moisture, the first sign of life takes
the form of a minute crack in the surface of the
nut, and the appearance at the point at which it
left the parent stalk of a tiny, bright green leaf or
frond, which spreads out slightly in the course of
a few weeks until the whole is not unlike the
representations of a hand-grenade which you see
on the tunics of the Royal Artillery. The nursery,
with its slowly germinating nuts, is allowed to
remain undisturbed, but constantly irrigated, from
the end of the first rainy season to the beginning

PALMS 91

of the next one, in all about twelve or fourteen
months. The young palms are now removed from
the nursery and planted out in the ground which,
during the dry weather, and while they have been
slowly germinating, has been prepared by weeding,
by the removal of tree-roots, and by the digging of
shallow pits for their reception. The young palm’s
transfer from the nursery to the plantation should
coincide with the first appearance of the summer
rains, and, to produce the best results, they should
be placed not less than seven to ten yards, or even
a little more, apart. Thereafter all that is
necessary is to keep them carefully weeded and
clean, and to deposit a little coarse salt at long
intervals near the roots, so that rain water, or
other moisture, may dissolve and carry it down to
them.

There are few, if any, members of the palm
families so beautiful or so characteristic of a tropical
landscape as the coconut, and, as I have stated,
none more remunerative when once the full
bearing stage is reached. There is no portion of
this majestic growth which is not serviceable, and
searcely any which is not valuable; but little room
for wonder can there be, therefore, that the East
African coast is fringed with groves of coconut
palms for many hundreds of miles. It is said of
this species that it will never mature outside the
influence of the sea-breeze; but, in spite of this
oft-repeated statement, I have a perfect recollection
of a particularly fine and well-grown specimen
which used to furnish (and probably still does) an ex-
cellent leading mark to the vessels making the port

92 THE GREAT COMPANIES

of Kota-Kota on the western shore of Lake Nyasa.
I used to wonder at times whether its vegetable
nature was as susceptible to the deceitfulness of
appearances as that of poor humanity. Could it
be that the foolish old palm fondly and confidently
looked out day by day over the vast expanse of the
ocean-like lake under the firm impression that this
was indeed the sea? One speculates irresistibly on
its outraged feelings could it be made to realise its
years and years of melancholy self-deception. I
feel convinced it would be so overwrought that it
would fall down.

But to return to the Zambezia Company.

An interesting direction in which this active
body has spent much time and money in experi-
menting is that of the cultivation of cotton. Last
year I had the privilege of being conducted by the
Company’s able and courteous director, Captain
A. de P. Durao, over a plantation which had been
established on the island of Inyangoma, referred
to in a previous chapter. Here was an instance
of those saddening disappointments which Africa
appears at times to go out of her way to occasion.
In ideal conditions of climate and soil, eleven
hectares were planted with carefully selected seed.
Germination followed, and up to the flowering
period the plantation presented a most healthy
and promising appearance. Suddenly there pre-
sented itself that curse of the cotton-planter the
Green Leaf Blight (Malvacearuwm), and in a few
days the entire expanse became nothing more than
a sered, discoloured, withered scene of desolation.

At Muterara and elsewhere, the cultivation of

“SNOILVEINVId LANODOO S,ANVdNOO VIZEANVZ AO HNO

NATURAL PRODUCTS 93

Sisal fibre has been actively proceeded with, and, I
understand, no less than half a million plants are
. thriving most encouragingly in this stony soil. A
further experiment of immense importance is
the plantation of several thousands of young palm-
oil plants (Hlais guineénsis).

In addition to the foregoing, the utmost efforts
are being made to develop mining, with which
important industry I shall deal at greater length
hereafter.

Practically the whole of the north bank of the
Zambezi from the delta to the Lupata Gorge is
embraced by the concession of the Zambezia Com-
pany, and it is not too much to say that this strip
of land adjoining the great stream is capable of
producing annually hundreds of thousands of tons
of sugar. From Lupata, however, onward to the
Loangwa * River, vegetation becomes scanty, the
country barren, rocky, and unproductive, the native
population numerically inconsiderable, and _ the
soil generally of small agricultural value. It was
from this part of the country, we are told, that,
in the early days, large quantities of gold found
their way down to Quelimane, and although this is
no longer the case, the precious metal gives excel-
lent indications, whilst copper has been proved in a
number of places, as we shall see hereafter.

But Zambezia comprises, in addition, almost
every variety of climate and condition ; thus, when
once the low, heated, malarious banks of the great
waterway are left behind and you turn your face to
the northward, a few days’ journey will bring you

* Or Aroangwa.

94 THE GREAT COMPANIES

into high plateau country, with elevations in the
Namuli country of 3,000 feet, at Villa Paiva de
Andrada 4,000 feet, and at Mecotza-cotza, on the
borders of Angoniland, of 4,500 feet. Here it is
cool and salubrious, well-watered by perennially
running, limpid streams, and the murderous mos-
quito is left behind. Here, as your eye follows
contour after contour of rolling, undulating, upland
grass country, you realise that this is indeed a white
man’s home; here you could colonise and raise up
healthy children, and doubtless live as long or
longer than would be possible in Europe. With
all this, however, fever is not unknown, even at
these elevations, although I have sometimes thought
that the malarial germs may after all, and in spite
of the assurances we receive to the contrary, be
wholly unconnected with local influences; in other
words, that they may slumber in the system during
the journey from the mosquito-haunted river, and
make their appearance in surroundings which would
not otherwise be likely to harbour them. As yet,
unfortunately, with all the progress in the know-
ledge of tropical diseases which has been made by
the medical profession, we know but little of this
vital question of fever and its causes.

Zambezia as a whole consists broadly of three
separate systems, which for the sake of convenience
we may group as follows. The lower and _ best
known system, which follows the course of the
river, is well watered, and easy of access. Then
there is the extensive elevated region I have just
referred to, which, by reason of its distance from
the coast and its general inaccessibility, is almost

THE MOZAMBIQUE COMPANY 95

unknown, save to a few officials or prospectors whose
notes are either made for specific or confidential
purposes, or are otherwise worthless for reference.
Finally we have the waterless, mineralised district
west of Tete, possessing a mean elevation of some
1,200 feet, and entirely destitute of agricultural
possibilities, but having others which will, I doubt
not, bear fruit in the future, and reveal great
wealth in gold, copper, coal, and other precious
substances.

Let us now turn for a moment to the south
bank of the Zambezi, and glance at the territories
of the chartered Mozambique Company.

The charter bears date February 11, 1891, and,
amended or amplified by a subsequent document
of similar character, concedes to the governing
body practically sovereign rights for a long period
of years over an area of some 50,000 square miles
lying between the Zambezi and the 22nd parallel
of south latitude, and the Indian Ocean and the
frontiers of South-Eastern Rhodesia respectively.

Unhappily the Mozambique Company can
searcely be regarded as having achieved any more
striking measure of success than any other con-
cessionary body which has laboured hitherto in this
part of Africa. It controls an immense and mag-
nificent area, and possesses many descriptions of
mineral and agricultural wealth; but in spite
of these important natural advantages, its vast, if
hitherto financially unproductive territory, though
traversed by an admirably served railway system
and assisted by a port of which doubtless much
might be made, has never quite succeeded in

96 THE GREAT COMPANIES

realising the high hopes which were at one time
entertained for its future. In the first few years
of the present decade, considerable movement
was visible in the port of Beira, but, from the
conclusion of the South African War onward, each
year has disclosed more and more evidence of the
unresponsiveness of events, until at length, after
considerable expenditure of its modest capital, the
Mozambique Company now finds itself still at a
distance from the dividend-earning period for which
it has so ardently and courageously striven during
a chequered history extending over nearly twenty
years. By dint of almost superhuman exertion,
economy, and retrenchment, its annual deficiencies
have, it is true, been greatly lessened, and it is to
be hoped that by doubling its native hut-tax, as
has, I understand, been of late resolved upon, and
by other means still under consideration, the future
may yet do something to enable this association to
fulfil the useful mission which was originally pre-
dicted for it.

The same unhappy fate which has pursued the
governing body would seem to have largely befallen
its subsidiary companies, were it not that from
this unfortunate background one enterprise stands
boldly out as the exception which may pave the
way to other successes of a similar character. This
is the recently established British Sena Sugar
Factory, Limited, which there is little doubt,
judging by the success which has attended the two
kindred associations already in existence in the
same neighbourhood, has a fine future before it.
These three important organisations, and the valu-

GUARA-GUARA 97

able work they are carrying on, will claim our
attention in a future chapter.

But in addition to the important sugar industry
above mentioned, there is, a little farther to the
south, another growing enterprise now in course of
development which should not escape our atten-
tion. This is the exploitation of a very valuable
concession at Guara-Guara and Massanzane, near
Beira, granted some years ago to that well-known
South African Mr. A. L. Lawley. To Mr. Lawley
Beira is already indebted for much. The Beira
and Mashonaland Railway, from which the port
derives the greater measure of its importance, was
one among several others of South Africa’s railway
systems which owe their efficient construction, if
not their existence, largely to Mr. Lawley, and
now that he has devoted his remarkable energies
to the furtherance of his agricultural interests in
Massanzane Bay, a satisfactory result is a foregone
conclusion. At Guara-Guara, then, it is intended
to produce rubber, cotton, sugar, and other valuable
products; indeed, I believe I am right in saying
that the two former are already giving something
in the way of results; whilst at Massanzane many
thousands of coconut palms have been and will be
planted. The Mozambique Company is, therefore,
fortunate in having another promising undertaking
within its borders, which, in its success, will doubt-
less go far to convince the dubious of the value ot
the territory over which it presides.

If it were not for the gardens of the beautiful
Mission Station of the Immaculate Conception,
established by a prominent Roman Catholic Order

7

98 THE GREAT COMPANIES

at Shupanga, it would be difficult to point to
any spot upon the Zambezi falling beneath the
Mozambique Company’s administration ‘whereat
attempts have been made to develop existing
agricultural resources. In spite, therefore, of this
association’s strenuous and not seldom well-directed
efforts in other portions of its fine territory, one is
forced to regard the sugar produced by the British
undertaking mentioned above as the only attempt
at active exploitation in the portion of their con-
cession which is bounded by the River Zambezi.*

I suppose the real reason for all this unfortunate
want of success arises largely from the fact that,
with a confidence in the future upon which one
cannot look without sympathy, the company under-
took at the outset somewhat more than it had the
means of adequately dealing with; thus, with a
capital of only one million sterling, it covenanted
to assume the effective administration of an
enormous area of country, and bound itself:

1. To fulfil the terms of all foreign treaties and conventions.

2. To organise an administrative system similar to that
existing in other parts of Portuguese East Africa, and
to pay the officials employed.

8. To pay half the cost of the judicial and ecclesiastical
departments, the personnel being nominated by Lisbon.

4. To establish primary schools in all settlements containing

more than 500 inhabitants.

. To establish agricultural schools and experimental stations.

. To organise police forces both on land and sea.

. To establish, within a period of ten years, within its

concession, 1,000 families from Portugal, and furnish
them with grants of land.

TD oO

* T am happy to learn that recent experiments afford the most hopeful
indications of success in various forms of agriculture lately attempted.

THE BENEFITS OF A CHARTER 99

8. To construct a railway from the Pungwe River to the
British frontier.

9. To concede to the Government at Lisbon 10 per cent. of

the share capital as issued in fully paid-up shares ; also

23 per cent. of the profits until dividends of 10 per cent.

should be declared, and 5 per cent. of profits thereafter.

There were, in addition, some other more or less
difficult undertakings which were duly accepted,
whereupon the company received control of the
region which it still administers.

On reading through the foregoing, one is seized
with the conviction that the Zambezia Company
across the river, with a much wider concession and
equally important possibilities, cannot but feel vastly
relieved to have been spared the doubtful benefits
which a charter containing the above formidable
list of serious obligations would have conferred.
Of what benefit are sovereign rights when they are
accompanied by such an array of conditions that,
after superhuman efforts to fulfil them, the harassed
company now finds itself with a considerable period
of its chartered existence elapsed, the greater part
of its capital issued, and certainly not more than
one would expect it to show for all this expenditure
of effort and time and money ?

Still, with all this, there can be no doubt that the
Mozambique Company did what it could to carry out
its obligations. It might perhaps have been more
successful than it has been in this direction had it not
been for certain unfortunate restraining influences
by which, in the past, it has been greatly hampered.

This important association possesses on the
Zambezi five sub-districts, Lacerdonia, Inyaruca,

100 THE GREAT COMPANIES

Chemba, Tambara, and Sanca, which are all, I
believe, directed by a superior official—a kind of
Collector of Revenues—who resides at Sena.

These administrative officials lead a pleasant if
somewhat monotonous existence, and, for this
among other reasons, should be chosen with the
utmost care. Some I have known who were verit-
able walking encyclopedias of general knowledge ;
they could tell you all about native customs and
peculiarities, of natural history, and of curious
local conditions of various kinds. I am afraid,
however, these were the exceptions. The average
commandant, as they are styled within their dis-
tricts, does not as a rule occupy his spare time in
the pursuit of information calculated to widen our
knowledge of the obscurer pages of natural science,
and this is a lamentable fact which inseparably
connects itself with the unfortunate paucity of our
information regarding African flora and fauna.
He is, moreover, still swayed by that pernicious
system whereby, instead of being paid a fixed salary
for his labour, one which would be considered a
sufficient and remunerative living wage, he is, in
some portions of the country, still recompensed
by a comparatively low stipend supplemented by a
commission or percentage on the amount of his
receipts, both from hut-tax and native produce,
which latter he collects for export. It consists
chiefly of rubber and’ bee’s-wax, and by rubber I
mean, of course, indigenous rubber of which very
large quantities are still obtainable in these parts
of Africa, Still, putting aside the by no means
onerous duties imposed upon them, the district

THE TRIALS OF MONOTONY 101

commandants have, without question, ample leisure
which might be most profitably employed in the
study of languages, of native questions, and, as I
have said, in the classification and collection of
specimens of many branches of natural history.
There can be no doubt that, in the absence of some
such distraction or amusement, the lives these men
lead may become unhealthy in the extreme, both
from a physical and moral point of view. There
is nothing in the shape of public opinion to restrain
them from habits which they would probably shrink
from contracting in surroundings which brought
them into daily contact with their fellow-country-
men and women; and thus connections are formed
which are in many cases (if not in most) the direct
outcome of lonely and, it may be, uncongenial
surroundings, added perhaps to a certain slackness
into which men who are far removed from the
influence of public opinion are at times apt to fall.
Personally I do not think that these intimacies
with the daughters of the land of the European’s
adoption arise usually from any preconceived de-
termination to give rein to an innate vicious
propensity ; I prefer to regard them as the outcome
of the almost pathetic yearnings of the isolated
individual for the intimate society of some person,
of no matter what colour, within whose mind he
may, after a time, succeed in sowing the seeds of
that inestimable consolation and blessing which we
call sympathy.

Let me endeavour to give an inadequate pen-
picture of the abode and surroundings of a
Zambezian sub-district officer or commandant,

102 THE GREAT COMPANIES

You have been marching along a burning path
all day perhaps, and, it may be, are somewhat out
of your reckoning, when it suddenly dawns upon
you that the narrow native path, with its many
needless sinuosities and spiteful hindrances in the
shape of tall, scratching grasses, and annoying
unlooked-for tree-trunks, has suddenly straightened
out and widened considerably. From some distance
away comes the hum of voices, punctuated by the
yapping of a dog and the thudding of mortars.
Finally, along a pleasant green vista of luxuriant
banana fronds, several mud houses with heavy
thatched roofs make their appearance, and these
once passed, you emerge into a good-sized open
space enclosed on three sides by stores, magazines,
and police quarters, and on the fourth by the
commandant’s residence. In the middle of this
space, which is kept scrupulously swept, a flag-staff
is standing, from whose summit floats the har-
monious colouring of the Portuguese national flag.
The commandant hurries forth to meet you with
an air of grave courtesy, and is usually inexpressibly
relieved if he finds you are able to speak a little
Portuguese. Should this be beyond your powers,
however, he exerts himself to remember any frag-
ments of English or French which may still form
part of the flotsam and jetsam of his more cos-
mopolitan memory, and in the end you succeed in
understanding one another perfectly. A comfort-
able chamber is then pointed out, a bath prepared,
and finally, refreshed from the fatigues of the long
day’s march, you seek out your host, whom you
find busily engaged in making arrangements for

VEGETABLE GARDENS 103

your native escort. An adjournment is now made
to what looks like a very high circular native hut
without any walls, just a roof supported on poles.
This, you are informed, is primarily the dining-
room, but an apartment daily used for rest and
refreshment as well. Here cool the canvas water-
bottles, hanging high up in any breeze that may be
stirring. Here meals are served, and the succeeding
siesta is enjoyed. Three or four easy-chairs are
scattered about, one of which, a miracle of clumsi-
ness and comfort, was made, it appears, by the
commandant’s carpenter, who is an Indian under-
going imprisonment (or at least confinement) for
some offence committed on a passing river steamer.

After a little conversation on your journey and
plans, comes the inevitable invitation to visit the
vegetable gardens, so you go, accompanied by Joao
and Manoel the gardeners. You are surprised to
find an excellent selection of healthy vegetables,
and are politely sympathetic about the havoc
created by caterpillars and beetles among the cab-
bages and lettuces, by ants on the radishes, and
upon everything that grows therein by the stupidity
and unintelligence of the natives in charge: how
Joao transplanted the cress, and how Manoel
planted Morton’s tinned peas under the firm im-
pression that they would give an excellent crop,
etc. etc.

At sunset, a hoarse shout from the police
quarters is followed by the beating of a native
drum. Several important-looking native police,
armed with Snider rifles, appear, and with por-
tentous gravity crudely present arms, and you

104 THE GREAT COMPANIES

remove your hat as the Portuguese flag is
reverently lowered and folded up for the night.
A delicious coolness now makes itself felt, and on
returning to the dining-room you see that a clean
cloth has been laid therein, whilst appetising
odours float ever and anon from the neighbouring
kitchen. In the meantime, you visit the com-
mandant’s office, and are rewarded by the discovery
of a fine collection of antelope heads, with one or
two pairs of buffalo horns, and the skull of a small
female hippopotamus from the neighbouring river.
Your chief care must now be to abstain from
admiring these trophies too eloquently, for assuredly
if you do your host will not be satisfied unless you
accept them, or some of them. Then your eye is
plucked to a dado of gay Indian cloth surrounding
the varnished boarding of the walls, whereon hang
coloured portraits of their Majesties of Portugal,
together with photographs of the members of your
host’s family, with whom he hopes to spend his
leave at Alcobaca next year. You then make
some complimentary remarks concerning the
quality and serviceableness of two archaic rifles
lying in a corner, and express well simulated sur-
prise on being told, with a deprecating smile, that
the commandant is, personally, not much of a
sportsman. He has, you are informed, two ex-
cellent native hunters to whom he confides his
ancient weapons, and who bring him in guinea-
fowls and venison for his solitary table. Also that
one of these, Sangaroti by name, was knocked
down only the week before last by a charging
buffalo, and still walks lamely. ‘“ But what can you

THE HOSPITABLE PORTUGUESE 105

expect with guns like these? They have been
good ones; yes, that is true, but now they lend
themselves to nothing.”

An excellent dinner follows, with no lack of
good, sound Portuguese wine, somewhat inter-
rupted by the large fluffy moths which persistently
fall into the soup, and the hundred-and-one other
winged abominations of the night, which in all
the extent of the Zambezi Valley seem to have
been specially devised for the annoyance of man.

On the morrow, as you take your leave, you
notice for the first time in the morning light that
your host’s house contains but three rooms, and is
surrounded by a slightly raised verandah, and that
the corrugated-iron roof is covered with thatch for
coolness, and also to deaden the thunder of the
summer rain-storms. As he accompanies you
courteously to the confines of his domain, reiterat-
ing perfectly sincere regrets that your stay with
him has been such a short one, you look back as
you leave him, and sympathy for a life so cut off
from its kind almost stifles the last vestige of repro-
bation of any lax principles which may by accident
have forced themselves upon your notice.

There is probably no more hospitable nation in
the world than the Portuguese ; and not only do
they practise this virtue themselves, but, in most
parts of the country, they impose it as a law upon
the natives also.

It would be well both for our natives and our
own reputation were we in some of our own
colonies to adopt the same excellent practice.

The Luabo Company’s concession, compared

106 THE GREAT COMPANIES

with the immense areas controlled by the two
important associations we have just been consider-
ing, is almost insignificant. It includes practically
the whole of the delta of the Zambezi, and the
islands thereby created, and the southern bank
of the great river up to Marroméo, the scene of
activity of the great French Sugar Company which
I have already referred to—in all perhaps not
more than an inconsiderable two or three thousand
square miles of country. Founded in 1894, this
small but active body has done much within its
comparatively circumscribed area to develop its
holding, and has carried out many interesting and
instructive experiments, which it is hoped, and I
think with reason, may in the future indicate
avenues leading to considerable sources of profit.
It possesses flourishing coconut plantations, and
produces very considerable quantities of indi-
genous rubber, rice, ground-nuts, sesamum, millet,
and wax. For all of these, except of course the
rubber and wax, local markets are found at Queli-
mane and Chinde, the latter port enabling the
company, moreover, to realise quite an appreciable
revenue from the sale of wood for fuelling the
Zambezi steamers. Within the Tete district, the
Luabo Company also possesses an important and,
it is believed, highly mineralised prazo which has
given encouraging indications of the presence of
gold. This it is hoped to prospect thoroughly in
the near future, when we shall doubtless hear more
of it.

Among the several not inconsiderable associa-
tions which are labouring to develop the eastern

THE SOCIFTE DU MADAL 107

portions of the territory, that which from many
points of view has achieved a most striking success
is the Société du Madal, of which his Highness the
Prince of Monaco is, I understand, an interested
supporter.

This body holds under a Royal Decree the large
and important prazoes or districts of Madal, Tanga-
lane, Cheringone, and Mahindo, comprising an area
of some 700,000 acres, and possessing the striking
advantage of proximity to the important settlement
of Quelimane. Here again we have an association
labouring for agriculture, and one which has estab-
lished many model stations for the facilitation of
its numerous enterprises. Much attention and
considerable outlay have been devoted to the open-
ing up of roads, to the laying down of a small
Decauville railway which extends for some 15
kilometres, and to the developing of navigable
waterways for the appreciable object of the rapid
transport to the coast of their numerous products.

They possess already, it is said, no less than
125,000 coconut palms, whilst their exports include
on an increasing scale large quantities of copra,
rice, bee’s-wax, rubber, and native cereals.

Great advantage has been derived from the
Société du Madal’s workshops, which comprise
saw-mills, ironworks, brick and tile factories, and
boat-building yards, in which the untrained native
has, by intelligent supervision, been educated to a
point which now enables him to turn out most
superior work, thus rendering this active association
largely independent of expensive European labour,
and enabling it to almost bid defiance to all the

108 THE GREAT COMPANIES

hindrances and annoyances which the African
climate so successfully devises for the ruin of
machinery and labour-saving appliances.

Such, briefly, is the activity now endeavouring
courageously to utilise the resources of a portion of
Africa which, until recent years, has been almost a
terra incognita to those whose immediate interests
did not lie within the mighty environment of the
great dark continent. And what a labour it has
been, and what brain-wearing difficulties have had
to be surmounted, only those know whose path has
led them to these hitherto waste places of the earth.
But assuredly they are giving a good account of
themselves, and, more important still, leaving the
country in a better condition than that in which
they found it. I doubt not that as one’s knowledge
of how to overcome the myriad discouragements
and difficulties stored up in a concentrated form in
Africa widens; as we learn how to overcome its
unhealthiness, and to make provision to counteract
the exasperating manner in which things so in-
evitably seem to get out of joint, all these important
companies and zealous individuals who are now
struggling so hard to wrest a return from so many
centuries of entire unproductiveness, will realise a
reward which should be a large one, even as the
value of their efforts will have been incalculable.

I do not think anybody who has not lived in
Africa can realise the annoyances which there
attend almost every portion of a new undertaking.
You order, for example, some article of machinery
from home, for some important purpose for which
it appears to be indispensable, After some months

eB

2

2

SOCIKTE DU MADAL’S COPRA DE

Or

ONE

THE FUTURE 109

of patience and weary waiting, the mail brings
letters bearing on the envelope the stamp of the
manufacturer you have applied to. With trembling
fingers you tear it exultingly open, and find that
he has sent you something which is “not quite
what you ordered, but really a better article for the
purpose.” You return it with an indignant letter,
and after more months of delay the goods originally
ordered are delivered, and you find, as you eagerly
muster the various parts to adjust them, that some
vital screw or indispensable valve has been omitted,
or lost in transit, or stolen, and again you have to
submit to still more delay. It is a country in which
nothing can be safely relegated to the supervision
of another—nothing left to chance, or you find to
your cost the truth of the adage which advocates
the doing of all things oneself.

My own view of the future of the vast area we
call Zambezia is that its development will not be
achieved by large concessionary companies. ‘They
are too unwieldy, or rather, the needs of the con-
cessions entrusted to their governance are too
numerous, intricate, and multifarious to be supplied
by even the most painstaking and conscientious of
directing boards. Instead of two or three de-
veloping companies, we need two or three hundred,
all engaged in the prosecution of well-devised
schemes under the benevolent swrveillance of an
active and at the same time liberal government.
This sounds like idealism, perhaps, but its realisa-
tion is not, I think, so difficult to compass as may
appear at first sight. If we come to ask ourselves,
after a careful examination of what the great

110 THE GREAT COMPANIES

companies upon the Zambezi have to show for their
many years of effort, what they have actually
accomplished, it must be confessed that the net
result is disappointingly small; that the gigantic
task which they set themselves at the outset has
been entirely out of proportion to their physical
or financial powers. Why not endeavour to remedy
this?) Why not take the only step possible to
populate these rich lands which have for so many
centuries lain idle and fallow? ‘Throw open the
country to industry and agriculture. Make its
acquisition for legitimate objects easy to whomso-
ever will come and devote his time and his capital
to increasing its value. Let the governing com-
panies make free grants of land to approved
persons, as is done elsewhere, and wait for their
reward until success in its cultivation is assured.
That success will not, of course, come in all cases,
but even those who fail will have done no harm,
whilst those who succeed will have done more to
dispel the existing gloom than all the well-meant
but unconcentrated efforts of the present under-
capitalised administrative bodies.

A director or manager of a large association
controlling such areas as those above described
surveys his responsibilities as a confused, nebulous
whole. He is unable, unless he be a sort of
administrative Napoleon, to devote proper attention,
even had he the capital at his command, to tasks
of such magnitude and variety as those which
demand it of him, the inevitable result being
something attempted and but little done. If, on
the other hand, the same director or manager

DEFECTS OF THE SYSTEM 11

found himself directing the destinies of an estate
of moderate dimensions, that he was one of many
similarly cireumstanced, and that his powers of
organisation and arrangement were not overtaxed
by the calls made upon them, then he could apply
concentrated energy to the accomplishment of his
objects, an additional incentive to endeavour being
furnished by busily competing neighbours. Then,
instead of paying eternal ground-rents, and ham-
pering his undertaking by the acceptance of
conditions which he cannot be sure at the outset
of his ability to fulfil, the industrial or agricultural
developer of the future would commence his
enterprise with far more peace of mind, secure in
the knowledge that instead of a grasping task-
master, eyeing with calculating self-satisfaction
every success he achieved, he would possess in his
landowner a benevolent agency whose interests
were wholly bound up in his own.

Africa has in the past had enough of large landed
companies. In fact, this portion of the continent
has suffered from a positive epidemic of them;
and yet I do not know of a single enterprise of
this character, either in our own or any other sphere
of influence, which has attained to anything like
conspicuous success, either financially or, indeed,
from the point of view of fostering either industry
or agriculture.* They have tried to do these things,
and have brought to bear upon the questions con-
nected with them the mature judgment and ripe
experience of men of exceptional prominence and

* I am speaking, naturally, of landed companies unprovided with a
charter.

112 THE GREAT COMPANIES

ability. But these are not in all cases the men to
diagnose the disease and prescribe the remedy. It
is only the man who has lived upon the spot who
sees local needs and knows how to supply them ;
the man whose judgment is formed by failure as
well as success, who can, after all, come forward
and point to the weak spots in the administrative
or other machinery, and show how they may be
advantageously strengthened. And yet these are
the men whose views are seldom or never heard,
because, if they were, it is clear that their repre-
sentations would go to the root of the matter,
and, in their adoption, completely subvert existing
methods. None of the great undertakings at
present engaged in Africa are in a position seriously
to contemplate anything in the nature of a com-
plete revision of policy, and yet by that means, and
that means only, can the wilderness be made to
rejoice, and can individual capital be successfully
attracted to the eminently suitable fields for its
employment to be found at almost all points of the
Zambezi Valley.

Another thing which is required is railway com-
munication between the coast and the frontiers of
the Nyasaland Protectorate, and not until this indis-
pensable auxiliary is supplied will this splendid
region be able to stretch its cramped limbs, and
deal with those perhaps unsuspected resources
which faulty, and sometimes non-existent, trans-
port renders it practically impossible to satisfac-
torily develop.

The amazing fact that across a country not 300
miles wide, presenting not one serious engineering

A RAILWAY REQUIRED 113

difficulty, and furnishing stone, timber, and other
material in abundance, so necessary an adjunct as
railway communication should have been so long
neglected, fills one with astonishment, especially
when account is taken of the number of lines which
have been established for purposes which seem
trivial in comparison. Not only would a railway
from Quelimane to the western frontier bring
Blantyre to within a few hours of the sea, but it
would serve to remove the unpleasant uncertainty
attending the arrival, and at times even the safety,
of important consignments of merchandise so
frequently nowadays ruined, or lost perhaps, during
the more precarious periods of the Zambezi river
transport.

I suppose some day this railway will come. It
is almost as necessary for British as for Portuguese
purposes—I had almost said more so—and would
assuredly serve a most desirable end if it led to the
abandonment of Chinde, and the transfer of the
British Concession, the dépéts of the Zambezi
shipping companies et hoc genus omne to Quelimane.
The latter would then become a thriving and busy
centre, the port of entry into Zambezia, Nyasaland,
North-Eastern Rhodesia, and the countries soon
to be opened up by the line from Cape Town to
Cairo, and, in addition, would go far to throw
open to the extensive travelling public those magni-
ficent sporting regions of mountain and lake which
South Central Africa possesses in such numbers
and variety.

CHAPTER V

THE PRAZOES, THEIR ORIGIN AND INDUSTRIES:
COCONUTS, RUBBER, OIL-SEEDS, COFFEE, COTTON,
SUGAR, TOBACCO, AND MINERALS

Nor only in Zambezia, but in almost all parts
of the Portuguese Province of Mozambique, the
system of leasing large areas of land to syndicates
and private individuals has been customary for
several centuries, the practice having arisen chiefly
from the inability or disinclination of the State to
increase its burden of administrative expenditure
by adding to its establishment of colonial officials.

As we have seen in a previous chapter, the first
prazoes, as these districts of land came in time to be
called, were established about the beginning of the
seventeenth century, since it would appear that many
of the Portuguese at that time resident in the basin
of the Zambezi succeeded in obtaining considerable
grants of land from the native chiefs to whom it
then belonged. Some of these men are said to have
secured the allegiance of prominent sections of
some of the existing tribes, and to have led the
lives: of petty rulers, even making war on sur-
rounding chieftains, as well as, on occasion, upon
such of their own countrymen as were similarly

114

QUELIMANE

p. 114)

THE PRAZOES 115

circumstanced. In course of time, their descendants
by native wives, still nominally Portuguese, in spite
of their growing darkness of complexion, fell away
from one cause or another from the position of
rulers, but retained some control over the land
itself, and, naturally, over their large inheritances
of slaves. A superior of one of the Jesuit convents
on the Zambezi, in a report to the Viceroy of India
in the middle of the seventeenth century, stated that
practically the whole of the south bank of the river
from Coroabassa Rapids downwards was held by
individuals of Portuguese nationality, one of these,
Manoel Paes e Pinho, being reported to have
assumed supreme authority over a prazo the size of
a considerable kingdom, largely inhabited, and of
great value and importance. Some of these areas
were, it is true, held direct from the Portuguese
Crown at quitrent, the old feudal condition of mili-
tary service in time of war being also imposed. It
naturally followed, therefore, that some of these
men acquired immense influence and great wealth,
and lived in considerable rude state. Their hospi-
talities, for example, were regal in their barbarous
munificence, and their visits among each other
invariably gave occasion for astounding display,
each endeavouring to outdo the other in the
grandeur of his appointments, the number of his
slaves, and the beauty of his concubines and other
dependants. In this way, accustomed to the
exercise of unrestrained authority, and far removed
from the salutary influence of governmental control,
an amount of lawlessness broke out in this part
of the country which became a serious source of

116 THE PRAZOES

uneasiness to the Captain-General at Mozambique.
Finally an officer was despatched to restore order,
and to demand the surrender of certain prazoes
which had been taken possession of by force of arms.
But his authority was too feeble; the prazo-holders,
strong in their position of feudal chieftains, laughed
him to scorn. In short the position was chaotic,
anarchical, and, worse than all, so exhausted were
the resources at the command both of Portugal and
Mozambique that not a man could be spared to
chastise these law-breaking outcasts.

At length the singular expedient was devised
of sending out from Portugal a number of young
women to the Zambezi, for reasons which are not
very clear, but who were apparently imtended to
purify the blood of the existing half-breed prazo-
holders. These latter, in consideration of obtaining
the prize of a European helpmate, were to covenant
that the succession of their property should go in
the female line instead of through their sons ; thus,
the eldest daughter was to inherit and marry a
pure Portuguese, whose eldest female child should
do likewise, until, at the death of the third heiress,
the prazo was to revert tothe Crown. The success
or failure of this original scheme has not, so far as
I am aware, come down to us, and the old order
continued for many years, until finally the great
landed proprietors of the period we have been
considering signed their own death-warrants by
excessive participation in the slave-traffic, which so
decimated their prazoes and exhausted their powers
of resistance, that automatically they sank in course
of time to a point whereat they ceased to be the

CROWN PRAZOES . 117

menace to law and order which for a century and
a half they had continued.

At the present time, as the outcome of legislative
measures which have occupied the attention of the
Cortes in Lisbon at intervals since the events I
have just outlined, the system which has become
so widely known, and has been so adversely criticised,
under the name of the prazo-system, consists mainly
in the letting or leasing by the State to approved
persons or associations of the sole right of collection
of native taxes and imposts in a given area called
a prazo. Zambezia, therefore, has been divided
into a large number of these areas, which are
known as Crown prazoes, principally for the pur-
pose above stated—namely, that of facilitating the
collection of the native taxes within their limits.

Generally the boundaries of the regions so con-
ceded are accurately defined, especially in the cases
of those belonging to the Government as distinct
from those sublet by the great administrative com-
panies. On an application for a prazo being made,
an immediate census of the native population is
proceeded with, whereupon the area as it stands
is offered at auction to the highest bidder, the
upset amount of rent payable being 50 per cent.
of the native tax-revenue capable of collection as
calculated on the basis of the census taken. The
prazo is then let to whomsoever offers the highest
rent over and above the value of half such tax-
revenue as stated.

From the moment he enters into possession of
his estate, the proprietor, or his agent, wields the
authority of a native magistrate. He has power to

118 THE PRAZOES

arm and maintain a force of what are practically
military police (“sypaes”), and to him come all the
native inhabitants of his prazo for the settlement
of their disputes and all other questions. Clearly
his first object is to collect as much tax-revenue
as he possibly can, since, as we have seen, an
important portion of his income consists of the
moiety which the Government permits him to re-
tain; and this done, the average prazo-holder, I
fear, regards the greater portion of his year’s work
as accomplished. Naturally his contract with the
State—his lease, as we should call it—which is
usually one of twenty-five years, obliges him to
undertake certain works for the purpose of im-
proving and developing the area conceded to him.
He covenants to cultivate annually a given area,
to open up roads, erect buildings, and, in some
cases I understand, to take steps towards educating
the natives over whom he exerts authority. These
latter portions of his lease, although nowadays more
faithfully carried out than they were, at one time
gave the proprietor no sort of uneasiness. He
carried them out only in so far as he was compelled,
and at times, in the remoter regions where. su7-
veillance never came, his position and general mode
of life were not dissimilar from those of the old-
time prazo-holder of the early seventeenth century,
whose iniquities so strongly exercised the Jesuit
monk who reported on them to the viceroy of that
stormy period.

Clearly the system arose from want of means;
from the inability of the State itself to act as the
developing agent; and from its eagerness to welcome

QUALITIES OF THE SETTLER 119

the proposals of whomsoever was prepared to relieve
it of its administrative responsibilities. Properly
carried out, the idea was a good one, and even as
it stood the system became in time an excellent
instrument of effective occupation. JI have no
hesitation in saying that, to whatsoever degree the
individual Portuguese may be hampered by want
of capital or want of encouragement, he does not,
as a rule, lack any of those qualities which go to
make a successful tiller of the soil. He is sober,
tenacious, a good workman, and resists the effects
of climate more successfully than other Europeans.
He has still within him, moreover, a dash of that
adventurous spirit which in the past led his old-
time countrymen so far; and it therefore followed
that, at a time when the inland confines of the vast
Portuguese sphere of influence were but vaguely
known, men of the class described no sooner found
themselves transformed into rulers of immense
districts and controlling a force which they were
by law permitted to maintain, than they at once
turned their eyes towards the unknown, and enlarged
their borders as they imposed their influence at
one and the same time. By this means, before
our attention came to be directed by Livingstone
and his missionary successors to what is now the
colony of Nyasaland, the Portuguese occupation
had been carried on so far inland that it enabled
a very strong claim to be laid to portions of the
regions bordering on Nyasa which have since come
under British administration. An excellent com-
parison of the prevailing characteristics of the
Anglo-Saxon and the Portuguese colonists was

120 THE PRAZOES

recently made by a very distinguished authority
of the latter nationality in a report lately published
in Lisbon on the prazo-system of the district we
are considering. He said: “Whilst the Anglo-
Saxon colonist is par excellence practical, and his
primary object is the acquisition of wealth, the
Portuguese of the same class exerts himself no
more than may be necessary from the moment
that his income yields him a moderate and regular
livelihood. If, however, to the prospect of money-
making, in itself a consideration usually insufficient
to carry the Portuguese agriculturist far, be added
the possibility of compassing personal distinction,
as in the case of prazo-holders of the old type, then
he is capable of executing prodigies. It was the
desire of notoriety, a thirst for fame, rather than
purely a question of gain, which in the past led
the prazo-proprietor in his advance into the in-
terior, where he subjugated the tribes at the head
of his own forces.” With this view of the question
I entirely concur, for I am persuaded that by no
other means could the Portuguese have acquired
and maintained the ascendency they possessed in
these regions in the middle decades of the nine-
teenth century, had it not been for the astonishing
enterprise of the early proprietors, who pushed, not
always by the most desirable means, it is true, the
knowledge of civilisation forward into the heart of
the African continent, and, be it noted, by the
strength of their own commanding personalities
and without any support from a_ preoccupied
Government.

It would be difficult to ascertain correctly the

THE COCONUT PALM 12]

actual number of prazoes existing within the whole
of the great region which this work is endeavouring
to describe, but from the fact that, in addition to the
immense area still under active development by that
body, the Zambezia Company alone has sublet no
less than fifty-one, it will be understood that there
are many more than could be traced without the
expenditure of very considerable time and trouble.

Of course those prazoes situated nearest to the
coast, as also those within tolerably easy distance
of Quelimane and the main streams of the Zambezi,
have more to show as the outcome of industrial
effort than the remoter concessions, and here we
see some noteworthy results; but even yet there
remain to the north of Quelimane immense tracts
of country which might be, and assuredly one day
will be, subdivided into prazoes. These are of extra-
ordinary fertility, and doubtless possess sufficient
of a native population to enable development to be
satisfactorily prosecuted; naturally, however, for
reasons which are not difficult to understand, the
chief attention has been lavished upon the more
accessible areas, and they have now much to show
for the great labour and outlay which have been in
the past expended upon them.

The principal form of agricultural exploitation
pursued near the coast is that of the plantation and
cultivation of the coconut palm, and so actively
and perseveringly is this important work being
carried on that I look to this portion of the pro-
vince to furnish, a few years hence, as much or
more of that valuable product copra * as is shipped

* The dried edible substance of the coconut.

122 THE PRAZOES

at the present time from any portion of the East
Coast of Africa. Several of the larger concession-
holders possess immense plantations of this profit-
able palm, one in particular numbering no less than
400,000, in addition to a quarter of a million young
trees. Much attention has been paid of late years,
moreover, to the plantation of various kinds of
fibre-producing plants, especially that known as the
Sisal (Agave); the large plantations of coffee have
produced most satisfactory results in the more
elevated portions of the country, and valuable
experiments have also been made with several
kinds of imported rubber-producing trees, notably
the Manihot, Castzlloa elastica, Manicoba, and
others. On a recent journey which I made up the
Zambezi, I was much struck by the healthy and
promising appearance presented by a thriving grove
of oil-palms (Hlais guineénsis), for which I con-
sider the Zambezi Valley, with its moist, heated
atmosphere and rich soil, is a peculiarly suitable
locality. Then again we have the common ground-
nut (Arachis hypogeia), which might be made an
extraordinarily remunerative article of export, but
with which hitherto but little has been done. In
1906 the total amount of the ground-nuts exported
from Zambezia only totalled 1,800 tons, whereas
the quantity which could be raised is limitless.
Maize, millet, castor-oil seeds, beeswax, manioc
(Cassava), and various kinds of beans and oleaginous
seeds, are also cultivated for export, but chiefly by
natives; the crop as soon as it is harvested passing
into the hands either of the prazo authorities in
payment or part payment of the yearly hut-tax, or

THE FUTURE TO BE AGRICULTURAL 123

into those of the British Indian merchant, by whom
it is paid for in cloth and beads and passed on to
the European business house in Quelimane or
Chinde which supports him by supplying barter
goods on generous credit terms. It will, therefore,
be seen that the larger and more important con-
cessionnaires in Zambezia have hitherto devoted
their attention almost exclusively to the cultivation
of the coconut palm, the coffee plant, and, experi-
mentally, to cotton, sugar, rubber, rice, and a few
other commodities of comparative unimportance.
Of course I must not be understood to include in
these remarks the three large sugar-planting com-
panies established upon the Zambezi, which have
obtained most encouraging results, and of whose
efforts some further description will hereafter be
given. .

I am convinced that the future of Zambezia
depends upon the development of its agriculture,
and that although doubtless valuable mineral re-
sources exist, they will only form a weak second
line in the movement which will sweep this district
forward on the road which leads to prosperity.
And in this form of development, though I fancy
the consciousness of the fact is but dimly realised
by those now working in these regions, there is a
double source of gain. Not only, as we have seen,
are there many exotic forms which can be and are
being planted with profit, but there are multitudes
of indigenous growths of which nothing like enough
has been made in the past. I refer principally to
native rubber, tobacco, and ground-nuts, with each
and all of which there is much to be done. There

124 THE PRAZOES

are several rubber vines, but the most common,
even as their latex is the most valuable, are the
Landolphia florida and the L. kirkw. Hitherto
the prazo-holders who have been fortunate enough
to discover these lianas on their concessions have
never thought—I am speaking, of course, of the
average unthinking individual whose horizon is
limited by the needs of the moment—of planting
out more and more of these vines. They have
been content to tap existing plants, often heedlessly
and unskilfully, and thus, in the course of time,
many large areas have been wholly denuded of
rubber - producing growths of any description.
Much may be done to add to the chances of the
future by sedulously planting these two rubbers,
and as they thrive readily in suitable soil and
environment, the operation resolves itself into a
task which presents no greater difficulties than
sowing and afterwards planting out any ordinary
form of garden produce. By the agriculturists of
the Mozambique Company on the other side of the
river this has been largely done in recent years, as
also, I understand, by the Luabo Company in the
forests of Shupanga; but the success of these
experiments loses much of its interest by the un-
certainty as to the age at which the young plants
arrive at the yielding period. I have not as yet
met any person who could satisfactorily answer that
question, and thus it follows that, although many
hundreds of thousands of young vines have been
planted out by the two associations I have named,
those interested are naturally robbed of the pleasure
of looking forward to a definite return at a definite

COTTON 125

date, and must continue to regard the experiment
as one which may not mature in time to benefit
the present generation at all.

Cotton has emphatically not succeeded. I do
not mean by this that none has been sent home.
Sample consignments have, on the contrary, been
shipped to Europe which have sold for high prices ;
but they have been the outcome of careful selection,
or else resulted from fortunate and therefore ex-
ceptional climatic conditions upon which it would
be fatuous to rely. Not only is the rainfall of the
lower Zambezi far too capricious for so sensitive a
growth as the cotton bush, but Africa with her
astonishing resourcefulness has lost no time in
discovering an agency against which cotton-planters
have hitherto struggled in vain. This is the
Malvacearum, or green-fly pest. It comes just as
the healthy appearance of the plantation arouses
hopefulness almost amounting to confidence of
complete success. One morning the luckless planter
notes with a feeling of nervous apprehension that
some of the tender green leaves of the shrubs are
shrivelled and discoloured. The next day, with
a sharp intake of breath, he sees the discoloration
has spread. Dismayed and alarmed he seeks the
counsel of his neighbours, and learns that he may
now cut down every acre he has planted, and that
his toil and care have been thrown away. ‘There
you get Africa all over. If it had not been green
fly, locusts would probably have been the cause of
the failure. Everything agricultural has been
expressly furnished with one or more hostile
agencies, and these are chiefly of an insect character.

126 THE PRAZOES

Let us now turn to the Sugar plantations, the
most important industrial undertakings hitherto
attempted on the Zambezi. There are actually
three of these, as I have previously stated, but as
two are situated on the south bank I will endeavour
to give some description of the first established,
the Mozambique Sugar Company.

This association, which has been founded nearly
twenty years, although Portuguese in its composi-
tion, is managed and directed chiefly by British
employés, and occupies itself exclusively with the
cultivation of sugar-cane, the manufacture of sugar,
and the distillation of alcohol. Situated at Mopéa,
on the left or northern bank of the river, about
ninety miles from the coast, it had under cultiva-
tion in 1906 nearly 3,000 acres—but a small
fraction of its enormous concession. Nearly half
this acreage of cane was cut in that year, but in
1907 about 1,000 additional acres were planted
out, whilst the cane harvested yielded rather more
than 3,000 tons of sugar, valued at over £70,000.

The product is marketed in Lisbon, where,
conveyed by Portuguese ships at a merely
nominal freight, it is admitted on a payment of
half the customs dues collected upon sugar pro-
duced by other countries, equal to a bounty of
about £12 per ton—an interesting and instructive
lesson in Portuguese Colonial Preference.

To obtain such a result as the foregoing—a by
no means too satisfactory one, since it was hoped
in 1907 to reach an output of something over
5,000 tons—several things are necessary: the ex-
penditure of large sums in costly machinery,

IRRIGATION 127

buildings, and mills ; the engagement of skilled and,
therefore, highly paid employés at the heads of the
different departments, and lastly luck. We have
seen what Africa does for cotton; let it not be
supposed that the sugar-cane is in any sense more
immune to the devastation wrought by various
pests. Locusts of course do the most damage,
and after them a large black beetle covered with
reddish brown spots ; but a nocturnal visitation of
a school of hippopotami does more to desolate and
ruin the undertaking than would result from the
simultaneous arrival of several converging tempests.

In the winter season, that is to say between the
months of May and November, the ground is cleared
by means of powerful steam-ploughs—the time of
year being thus selected owing to the temporary
hardness of the soil produced by the absence of
rain. A carefully devised system of canalisation
is now carried out, as much for the purpose of
quickly ridding the surface of the immense weights
of water which fall during the earlier period of the
rainy season, and which, unless its drainage were
provided for, would quickly damage and kill the
young plants, as for the purposes of irrigation. In
a plantation of even moderate dimensions these
canals may total up to many miles in length, and
being constructed with a slight fall enable the
seven or eight powerful twelve-inch centrifugal
steam-pumps which, working together, pour a
flood of 25,000 gallons of water per minute into
the main canal, to furnish in times of drought
a continuous supply of water which is forced
through the system until it finally reaches the

128 THE PRAZOES

ridges in which the sugar-cane is planted. The
undertaking is thus rendered practically inde-
pendent of rainfall, which in this part of the
Zambezi is singularly variable.

But with all the advantages to be derived
from these modern and up-to-date labour-saving
machinery and appliances, the number of natives
for which employment is furnished by the sugar
plantations of the Zambezi is very large. More
are of course required during the winter season for
the clearing of ground and the work of irrigation
than during the rains ; thus in the period from July
to October 1906, the company we are considering
employed per month an average of 1,443 adult
natives, and paid out for wages and food for their
workers from July 1, 1906, to June 380, 1907, the
not inconsiderable sums respectively of £9,500
and £4,200.

The Mozambique Sugar Company possesses large
and well-provided workshops in addition to their
crushing mills and distillery. They grind their
own native corn, and make their own lubricating
oil, as well as having steam-saws and other local
conveniences.

Wherever one goes in this part of Africa large
quantities of the castor-oil plant (Ricinus communis)
are visible, and I have often wondered why this
rapid-growing weed—for that is all it is—has not
been cultivated. The beans, which apparently it
bears very freely hereabout, are, I believe, worth
£8 to £9 per ton on the European markets, and
scarcely any care or expense need be devoted to
the plant itself.

TOBACCO 129

We now turn to tobacco. This valuable product
has been cultivated time out of mind by the natives
of the Zambezi, and I have seen magnificent
plantations growing with the greatest luxuriance
not only in the immediate neighbourhood of that
river at many points, but in such remote localities
as the banks of the Luenya and Muira streams
in the Barué region. It is precisely the same
tobacco as that found in Nyasaland, and there
manufactured into a rapidly increasing and lucrative
export. In Zambezia I am unaware of any serious
attempt to cultivate the tobacco plant, and yet I
am fully convinced that properly undertaken it
would prove a much more remunerative industry
than some others which are now being half-heartedly
prosecuted, and from which but little in the shape
of result can ever probably be looked. I have
smoked manufactured tobacco from Nyasaland
plantations which seemed to me to exhibit but
little difference from the best Navy Cut. The
cigarettes exported from manufacturers in that
country are most popular with smokers of light
coloured tobacco; and although I have never had
the courage to try a Nyasaland cigar, I am informed
that the habit of smoking them is extremely difficult
to throw off when once it has been acquired.
What the British sphere can do to popularise these
commodities, could, I feel sure, be achieved by the
prazo-holders of the Zambezi, with less cost under
the head of transport, and consequently more profit
to the producer.

In the northern and north-western portions of
the district of Zambezia considerable mineral wealth

9

130 THE PRAZOES

has been found to exist, and there can be no doubt
that some of the claims pegged, especially at
Missale and Chifumbazi, have given most encourag-
ing results. In all the prazoes of Maravia and
Macanga traces of gold are found, and payable
areas, both reef and alluvial, are not uncommon ;
thus in one of the localities to which my attention
was recently drawn, and wherein considerable work
had been done, two galleries had been cut, one of
6 metres, the other of 13 metres, the quartz reef
showing visible gold. At the end of 1906 some
500 tons of this reef already exposed was believed
to contain over 1 oz. of gold to the ton. Other
mining propositions in the district have been shown
to contain anything from 1 dwt. to 8 dwts., whilst,
in very rare cases, as much as 15 oz. to the ton
are said to have been proved. All these results
were obtained within the district of Chifumbazi.
In Missale, certain claims conceded to a small
syndicate gave appreciable results early last year,
when a small 3-stamp battery produced, before
the usual accident which deprived the owners of
its services, so much gold as to warrant the setting
up of a larger apparatus. By this time, I understand,
serious crushing has commenced; a 5-stamp battery
with 1,000 lb. stamps, capable of crushing 25 tons
of reef a day, having been set up. The task of
getting this battery, with all its heavy machinery,
transported from the river to the gold fields was
one of immense difficulty, which will be the better
realised when it is explained that the only means
of conveyance consisted of the head of the in-
dispensable native. But of this form of develop-

{ost *d

“AVSSV HOOOW Vo i SLORLLSIG ONININ-GTO9 AHL NI

GOLD 131

ment the most that can be said is that it is only
awakening, and the promoters have assuredly had
to struggle not only with the difficulties inseparable
from a country whose geological formation is un-
certain, but with want of proper means of convey-
ance, a sickly climate, and, greatest handicap of
all, insufficient capital to tide them over the doubts
and fears of its initial stages.

In almost if not all the streams draining the
districts mentioned, alluvial gold has been found
in encouraging quantities, and many claims have
been registered on the Luia, M’lavi, and Muaredzi.
« Pay-dirt” from the bed of these streams passed
through a sluice-box gives an average of 9 grains
to the ton, and would seem, therefore, should there
be sufficient water for the purpose, to offer in-
ducements to the system known as “ dredging.”

In the district of Mino, in the same portion of
Zambezia, a formation was discovered which yielded
silver 1 oz. 3 dwts., copper 3°25 per cent., and lead
15°58 per cent. Uncertainty exists as to the extent
of this system, but I have been informed that the
discovery is regarded as one of importance.

In Macanga much attention has been devoted
to prospecting, where, especially surrounding
Machinga, extensive ancient workings have been
brought to light; no exceptionally rich systems
were, however, disclosed, although in the neigh-
bouring stream-beds good alluvial deposits were
observed. The rocks in this part of the country
are of consistent ferruginous schistose-quartz for-
mation.

What I look upon as a source of more assured

132 THE PRAZOES

mineral wealth in this portion of Zambezia than
all the gold which in the future will be wrested
from nature’s stronghold, is the copper which has
been found to exist between the Lupata Gorge and
the Coroabassa Rapids. Pandamacua is a name
which has been given to an extensive rocky
mountain chain situated within this area, and the
name in the local dialect of chi-Nyungwe is said to
mean “Fill yourself with copper.” Be this as it
may, very important discoveries of this valuable
metal have been made in the mica-schistose for-
mation presented. It occurs in several forms, those
of cuprite, malachite, native copper, and several
others. Ancient workings in two long lines show
plainly that of old considerable development by
rudimentary means was here carried out, and recent
investigations have gone far to lend colour to the
supposition that important deposits are here awaiting
discovery. In one case a tunnel twenty-four yards
in length was driven into an ancient working from
which ore was obtained bearing native copper,
malachite, and the formation known as “ copper
glance.” Of this forty-five tons were shipped to
London. I regret I am unable to remember the
amount of copper which this ore produced, but it
is within my recollection that the figures submitted
to me at the Mines Department at Tete proved
it to be phenomenally rich. Much work of a
prospecting character undertaken by private in-
dividuals tends to show that copper is, without
doubt, very extensively deposited hereabout, and
the chief advantage of the discovery consists in the
fact that the fields are only about two miles from

COAL 133

the Zambezi, which gives the heavy ore inexpensive
water transport to the hold of the ocean steamer.

There exist, near to Tete, extensive deposits of
coal, and samples shown to me by his Excellency
the Governor were of a singularly promising
quality. Obtained from near the surface, it was
naturally somewhat hard and shaley, but, in spite
of that, burned, I am informed, sufficiently well to
indicate that from a greater depth its quality would
improve.

Here we have an important commodity, which
in its development would go far to facilitate exist-
ing means of transport. The chief fuel, used alike
in the furnaces of the river steamers and the boiler
houses of the sugar companies, is wood ; a constant
and growing consumption for this purpose having
been going on for more than twenty years—and
in the absence of a satisfactory substitute, will
doubtless continue for twenty more. It will,
therefore, be understood that the destruction of
the forest trees, with its inevitable consequent re-
striction of rainfall, is a matter of the deepest
import, and it is hoped in many quarters that
means may be found to turn the Zambezi coal
fields to account, constituting as they do so valu-
able a source of general convenience.

With all its great agricultural and mineral
wealth, however ; with all the opportunities which
it offers for the employment of capital, there is one
grave fault which must be corrected before ever
this great African waterway can come to be con-
sidered as a river of importance. That fault lies
in its shallowness. The great stream which might

134 THE PRAZOES

lend such vast assistance to the prosecution of
rapid internal development, is nothing more during
the greater part of the year than a troublesome
hindrance. As I have stated in a previous chapter,
this fault is far from incurable. Its remedy con-
sists in the adoption of means whose cost, com-
pared with the construction of the railroad which
must soon alternatively become necessary, is in-
considerable.

The Zambezi, in a word, must be dredged.

I have pointed out that the sand-banks, which
constitute the chief obstacles to navigation, are not
continuous ; that where one of these bars a channel,
its extent is in nearly every case inconsiderable.
The task of clearing a way wide enough and deep
enough to afford passage to navigation during the
whole of the dry season would, I feel convinced,
be easily performed by one, or, at the outside, two
dredgers of moderate size and power. The Zambezi
thenceforward, its permanent channels carefully
marked and charted, its sand-banks pierced by pas-
sages of sufficient depth, and an intelligible system
of leading marks set up, should enable vessels to
navigate its waters by night as well as by day.
Thus, by means of a Kitson or other acetylene
search-light mounted forward, the tiresome delays
involved by making fast to the bank at nightfall, as
at present, would be done away with, and the time
occupied on the river journey reduced by at least
one half, with a consequent proportionate reduction
in the cost of freight and conveyance.

In the foregoing passages of this chapter we
have caught an imperfect glimpse of the region of

POPULATION 135

the prazoes, and formed, perhaps, an estimate of
what is being done within their borders, all too
little, some will say, in view of the immensity of
their value, and the responsibilities which their
occupants undertake; but there is one point of
which we should not lose sight in criticising the
comparatively insignificant measure of productive-
ness they have hitherto attained to. That is the
consideration of native labour. In a reliable
statistical table which lies before me as I write,
the entire native population of fifty prazoes, whose
area would probably somewhat exceed that of
England and Wales, is returned at 249,000, giving
an average per prazo of some 4,980 souls; but so
unequally are these divided that, according to the
list mentioned, it is noticeable, whilst some of the
larger areas possess aS many as 80,000 natives,
others can lay claim in some cases to no more than
forty or fifty. We therefore see at a glance the
unfortunate position thereby created. It is this.
So long as the remote prazo-holder is satisfied with
the amount of income he derives from the propor-
tion of the native hut-tax which he is allowed to
retain, and makes no attempt to employ the people
residing upon his concession, an assured income is
his; but from the moment that he insists upon
utilising their labour, in no matter what branch of
industry or agriculture, his tax-payers immediately
cast about for a prazo where life flows more peace-
fully, and in a short time the man of action finds
his native locations deserted, with the inevitable
consequence that his revenues are proportionately
reduced. It is clear, therefore, that the present

136 THE PRAZOES

generation of the remoter prazo-proprietors, profit-
ing by the bitter experience of those who have
gone before, seek first of all to attract as large a
native population as possible by dint of indulgent
treatment, and by making it quite understood that
labour will not be required of them to any excessive
degree. This once done, and the advantages of
residence within his borders sufficiently made public,
the happy proprietor will assuredly see his unde-
veloped prazo densely populated, and his coffers
overflowing with easily collected hut-taxes. Of
course, in the prazoes near the sea, where im-
portant work has, as we have seen, been carried
out, large populations rule in spite of the extensive
plantations undertaken ; but it should be remem-
bered that these are almost exclusively coconut
plantations, and that, therefore, the task of planting
once performed, but little care and labour suffice
to maintain the groves in a state of comparative
order. Moreover, the conditions obtaining upon
the coast but little resemble those subsisting in the
far interior. Led by men of energy, men of initia-
tive, the coast negro to some extent has begun to
realise the dignity and necessity of labour. He
has created needs for himself which only the fruits
of his toil can satisfy. ‘To those pioneers of prazo-
farming who in the past were content to sit still
and enrich themselves by the sole means of the
collection of taxes, has succeeded another genera-
tion possessed of capital and the knowledge of how
to employ it. To the present workers, as a whole,
the mere collection of the native taxes without other
sources of revenue would prove insufficient to pay

CENTRES OF PRODUCTION 137

them interest worthy of consideration, and, there-
fore, they are constrained to carry out agricultural
propositions which are rapidly transforming the
old-time prazoes, with their appalling abuses and
unprintable excesses, into centres of production
which will one day, however slowly, demonstrate
to home markets that this portion of Africa is a
producing area of no mean order.

CHAPTER VI
THE REGION OF THE BARUE

ALTHOUGH not strictly speaking within the district
of Zambezia, the almost adjoining region of the
Barué (pronounced “barway”) is one which, by
reason of the little which is known of it, may claim
our attention through the space of a chapter.
Situated between the Zambezi and the borders
of Mashonaland, and extending from the River
Luenya in the west to the limits of the Mozam-
bique Company’s territory, this beautiful district
has for many years been the scene of almost in-
cessant bickerings between the Portuguese autho-
rities and the native occupants. From the earliest
times it has been ruled by powerful and influential
chieftains bearing the title of the Makombé, a
designation stated to have been one of those which
belonged to the Monomotapa of old. It is almost
certain, indeed, that the Barué was at one time of
its history a portion of this ancient empire, since,
in the sixteenth century, Diogo d’Alcacova, writing
to the first King Manoel, said: “The king who
reigns here (Barué) is the son of the Makombé
Monomotapa.” The Friar Joao dos Santos, more-

over, confirms this supposition, and, in his outline
138

GOUVEIA 139

of the divisions of Monomotapa’s kingdom, clearly
indicates one a portion of which is identifiable with
the Barué of the present day.

In the constant dissensions and turmoils which
took place on the Zambezi, even as late as the early
eighties of the last century, this country, though
but little removed from the scene of their preoccu-
pations of that period, had not apparently to any
great extent attracted the attention of the Portu-
guese. It follows, therefore, that the Makombé
had not up to that time found his European neigh-
bours a source of any serious embarrassment to him ;
he appears, indeed, to have almost wholly escaped
their attention. But twenty years previously the
unfortunate ruler of the period had had another
trial to contend against. This was the adventurer
Gouveia—a_ half-cast Goanese, whose name for
many years was a terror to the whole of the wide
region of which he was the undisputed ruler,
stretching from the Zambezi to the highlands of
Manica, and from the Cheringoma Range westward
to the present Rhodesian border. This man,
Manoel Antonio de Sousa by name, established
himself in Gorongoza in 1868 or 1869, and there
built a strong aringa, or stockade, wherein he
gathered together a few people armed to withstand
the attacks of the Landins or Vatuas, who, as we
have seen, were still in the habit of collecting
tribute even from the settlement of Sena itself.
Several times Gouveia (as the natives came in time
to call him) inflicted heavy defeats on these in-
vaders, and by this means so imposed his influence
upon the surrounding tribes as to elevate him-

140 THE REGION OF THE BARUE

self in a comparatively short time to the un-
questioned position of lord of Gorongoza and much
of the territory to the eastward. But Manoel
Antonio de Sousa was an ambitious man, and
possessed of an intelligence, and of an ability to
conceive and execute, wholly phenomenal in a
member of his usually indolent, emasculated race.
No sooner, therefore, did he feel his position in
Gorongoza secure, than he at once commenced to
develop a scheme for the subjugation and absorption
of the Barué also. With this end in view, he
negotiated a marriage with the Nyani* Adriana,
daughter of the Makombé of that period, and
succeeded in purchasing at the same time the
interest of certain of the potentate’s principal
headmen, who secretly covenanted on all occasions
to champion his cause. Very shortly afterwards a
caravan was sent out from the adventurer’s aringa
at Gorongoza, theoretically to convey ivory to Tete,
but with instructions to lose no opportunity of
allowing itself to be captured if any of the
Makombé’s people displayed the least disposition
to take possession of it. It was naturally promptly
looted, and Gouveia lost no time in taking advan-
tage of the circumstance for the furtherance of his
own purposes. So strong were the representations
he made, that the aged Makombé, urged thereto
by Gouveia’s friendly headmen, was at length
persuaded to abdicate in the half-caste’s favour ;
despatched an embassy to him bearing a tusk of

* The title Nyani is one applied originally to the daughters of
chiefs, but has now come to be applied to half-caste women, and to
the wives of natives in superior positions.

GOUVEIA’S FORESIGHT 141

ivory filled with earth as a sign of submission, and
requested that he would at once take over the reins
of the ruler’s waning authority. It so happened
that about this time some of the tribes of the Barué
under a chieftain named Makanga revolted.
Gouveia, therefore, without delay, collected the
Makombée’s forces and marched against them. In
the encounter which ensued Makanga was killed
and his rebellious hordes dispersed. These opera-
tions had the effect of greatly strengthening the
Goanese adventurer’s position, and he proceeded to
consolidate it by means which display a very con-
siderable amount of prudence and foresight. Select-
ing five important strategical sites, he immediately
constructed aringas thereon; and with a view to
minimising the probability of treachery by those
placed in charge, he took the precaution of marrying
a wife each time that he established an aringa.
The lady thus honoured was placed in supreme
command of the fortification, and, as his direct re-
presentative, was naturally a person to whom the
utmost consideration was accorded. With such a
chatelaine controlling it, no possibility of deception
could arise, and, more important still, Gouveia
was assured of information of the most reliable
character on all matters connected with the small
garrison and the doings of its component members.

By these means the far-seeing half-caste com-
pletely dominated the Barué country, and received
almost daily reports from the nyanis in charge of
his various centres. His activity was amazing, and
his wealth and influence increased to such a degree
that south of the Zambezi he was practically the

142 THE REGION OF THE BARUE

only power in the land. So impressed became the
Portuguese Government with the necessity of
ensuring his benevolent regard, that he was created
Capitao-mor of the whole of the vast area he
himself had subjugated, and received the commis-
sion of a colonel in the Portuguese army. There
never reigned a king possessed of more unquestioned
power. He made war, and led his usually vic-
torious armies in person. He concluded peace, and
himself made and ratified the conditions of the treaty.

In this world, however, there is an unvarying rule
which after a longer or shorter period brings every-
thing to an end. In 1890 this Goanese freebooter,
who, as we have seen, possessed all the attributes
of an absolute monarch, in the course of one of
his raids, was suddenly defeated and taken prisoner,
whereupon his captains, judging it unlikely that he
would be allowed to escape alive, promptly divided
his nyanis and other appropriable property among
them, whilst the downtrodden descendants of the
last Makombé commenced to take measures to lay
claim to the throne. One of these, Kanga (the
guinea-fowl) by name, who had for many years
been hiding in Manica, returned, and through the
treachery of one of the guards succeeded in
murdering the Myanit Madziamanga at Masse-
guire and possessing himself of the greater part of
Gouveia’s arms and ammunition there deposited.
He was soon joined by a considerable party, and
attacked the remaining aringas, and these, either
through want of ammunition or disheartened by the
capture of the redoubtable Goanese, fell one by one.

In the meantime, the NMyani Adriana, who

DEATH OF GOUVEIA 143

appears to have been singularly devoted to her
large-hearted, much-married spouse, succeeded in
setting him free, whereupon Gouveia fled north-
ward to the Zambezi. As the news of his escape
spread abroad, many of his old captains with their
people came in to “catch his leg,” as it is termed ;
in other words, to return to their allegiance and
sue for pardon. Some he forgave, but others, it is
said, he killed with his own hand.

He now gathered together as strong a force as
possible for the purpose of attacking the rebels,
who were entrenched in an aringa at Inyangone.
Arrived there, however, instead of closely investing
the stockade by night, as was his usual custom, he
allowed the well-armed occupants to attack him
as he approached it by day, with the result that
his men were hopelessly defeated, and he himself
was wounded in the encounter. He endeavoured
to escape by hiding in the high grass, but was dis-
covered and killed by a small boy, who would not
capture him, dreading lest his formidable victim
should cast a spell of witchcraft upon him.

From this time forward the Barué returned to
the rule of a Makombé, the lawful heir of the
chieftain whose position had been usurped by
Gouveia, and thereafter Portuguese influence ceased
until, in 1902, Captain Joao de Azevedo Coutinho
broke his power and dispersed his people in a well-
organised and brilliantly executed expedition, which
will doubtless remove from the tribes of that
country the smallest further inclination to assert
their independence as they have so constantly done
in the past.

144 THE REGION OF THE BARUE

Passing through the Barué in 1907 from Tete
to the Pungwe River, I was enabled to make some
notes upon it, and form some impressions of a
region in which I had for some years been greatly
interested.

Properly speaking, it forms the water-parting
between the Zambezi on the one hand, and the
Pungwe on the other, and consists of an elevated,
rocky, upland plain, highest at its north-western
end, and sloping gradually towards Gorongoza in
the south-east. It was at one time, doubtless,
very densely peopled, but its population, driven
into British territory by Coutinho in 1902, has
not altogether returned; indeed, I consider it
extremely improbable that in its former density
it ever will.

The upper expanse of country points to volcanic
origin, some of the mighty masses of granite,
hundreds of feet high, seeming to indicate that
they have been exposed in the early history of the
world as the result of terrific upheavals of nature.
Some of these masses rise to a considerable height
above the plateau, as in the case of M’handa,
Chitendéri, and Zemelan’gombé, and display every
variety of astonishing shape and angle. Near Mun-
gari, the residence of the courteous Capitéo-mér
Captain José Rodrigues Lage, to whose energetic
policy this entire region owes so much, a most
singularly shaped peak rises. This monster, whose
name M’sunga means, I am told, a cake of tobacco,
rises in the form of a perfect cone for fully 900
feet, and upon the apex of the cone an immense
block of granite, shaped exactly like an afternoon

WITCHCRAFT 145

tea-cake, except that its top appears perfectly flat
and has a diameter of about two miles, has been
so accurately poised that at all the points from
which I viewed it the mountain presented the same
regular form and appearance. I was further in-
formed that nobody had ever been to the top of
M’sunga, a statement which did not surprise me
in the least, as from the moment the cone-shaped
body of mountain is ascended there appears to be no
means of scaling the rounded, outward-protruding,
lower edge of the crowning “ tea-cake”; but there
is quite a gruesome story connected with M’sunga
which may account for the superstitious Barué
people having made no serious attempt to climb
it. This is to the effect that many years ago,
whilst Shipapata was Makombé, there lived at
Mungari, then a royal borough, so to speak, a
dreadful old woman named Dzango. For years
she had been suspected of witchcraft, and there
were few who did not believe she changed herself
into various animal shapes and devoured the flesh
of the newly buried dead. At length one of
Shipapata’s wives, quite a young woman, and one
to whom he was much attached, was mysteriously
taken ill and died, and the mutterings against old
Dzango increased in volume. Several days after
the burial, a chance passer-by observed to his horror
that the dead woman’s grave had been desecrated,
and lost no time in fleeing to the village and spread-
ing the ghastly news. This was conclusive. Here
at last was clear evidence of witchcraft, and who in
Mungari wielded the dread power but old Dzango,
at whose door so much misfortune had in the past

10

146 THE REGION OF THE BARUE

been laid? Whilst the uneasy villagers discussed
excitedly the disquieting news, and speculated as
to who would be the next victim to figure at
Dzango’s unspeakable feasts, one Bofana, who had
been hunting round M’sunga, came in carrying a
small bundle, which on being opened displayed to
the dismayed spectators the head of the missing
corpse. His story was that, sitting down to rest
under the summit of M’sunga, he had seen some-
thing fall from the top, as though blown over by
a gust of wind, and picking it up he found to his
horror that it was the head of Shipapata’s favourite
wife ; but though to some extent yielding to the
forces of nature, did they see the marvel of the
eyes? Then to their amazement the people saw
that the eyes still lived, and seemed ceaselessly
to search among them for one who was not present.
Then they shouted, “It is the witch she seeks;
bring Dzango.” The old woman was speedily
found and dragged to the spot. The instant she
appeared the corpse’s eyes assumed such a terrific
expression of menacing accusation that Dzango
then and there fell on her knees and begged for
mercy. She confessed that for years she had been
an eater of human flesh, and had exhumed the
body of Shipapata’s wife, whom, owing to an un-
controllable longing to eat her, she had killed by
witchcraft. The body was taken by her in two
pieces to the top of M’sunga by a road she only
knew, and there devoured. So overwrought were
the horrified villagers by these appalling disclosures
that Dzango was at once taken forth and put to
death by being placed in the path of a procession

A HEALTHY REGION 147

of black warrior ants, which ate her alive on the
outskirts of the village.

On the south-east side of the Barué, low down
towards the western foothills of Gorongoza
mountain, and where it is watered by a number
of streams which fall into the Pungwe River, the
country is fertile, thickly populated, and rich in
native crops. It must be, moreover, extraordinarily
healthy, as there is here no marsh land, properly
speaking, or stagnant water to propagate the
malarial mosquito. The whole region is covered
with forest, varying in density and luxuriance of
growth with the elevation, and consequent poverty
or richness of soil. Thus on the plateau, and in
the higher altitudes, the soil, which is nothing
more than disintegrated granite débris, the
weathering through the ages of the vast rocks
which here abound held together by a modicum of
organic matter, produces nothing more impressive
than stunted acacias, small baobabs, clumps of
euphorbias and feathery bamboos, with an under-
growth of dwarf iron-wood and protee; whilst
down on the banks of the low-lying stream-beds
some few forest trees of great size and undoubted
value may be noted.

From Mungari, for twenty or thirty miles,
the Barué is possessed of only a few isolated
mountainous features such as M’sunga and one
or two unimportant hills. The forest, however,
opposes a tiresome limit to one’s range of vision,
except on the summit of some elevated ridge or
shoulder; but Inyangone once passed, and the
bold rocky escarpment of Sajawé reached, the view

a,
148 THE REGION OF THE BARUE’

across the wide plain cut by Zemelan’gombé on
the one hand, and quaintly shaped Gonda on the
other, is so superb that even my usually impassive
native escort could not behold it unmoved. Zeme-
lan’gombé is without question the most imposing,
as its situation is the most beautiful, of the many
isolated mountains of this interesting region. At
its foot lies, to the northward, a valley so perfectly
lovely as almost to baffle description, so completely
does it realise one’s preconceived ideas of an
ideal “land of the mountain and the flood.”
And not brusquely, not harshly. The majestic
proportions of the mighty mountainous mass are
decently clothed with a deliciously appropriate
dress of suave, undulating greenery, the angles of
granite only showing where they break through
the rounded coverings of the massive escarpment
and crown the harmonious whole with an appro-
priate, glittering, sunlit diadem. At the foot of
the huge upheaval, a placid, silvery riband of water
flows rapidly northward to join the main stream of
the Zambezi on its way to the sea. In some
places this crystal-clear watercourse rushes over
a rocky bed down between high, red banks, through
which, in the flight of the ages, it has pierced a well-
worn furrow. Farther on it bends itself gracefully
over a lip of smooth-worn rock, and plunges, jade-
green at the summit to pinkish white at the base,
down some steep descent, and foams through the
rock-filled basin below, throwing up a continuous
crystal spray to irrigate the masses of ferns and
water plants which cling to the fissures and cracks
in the granite of the skirting boulders. On the

‘gauva GHL AO YAAIY VANHAT FHL

A MOUNTAIN CASCADE 149

very summit of this same watershed I crossed one
stream—lI believe a branch of the Muira River—at
a spot which was so exquisite in its wild beauty
that for several hours I was unable to tear myself
away, and must accord it a separate description.

I stepped down into the rocky bed of a stream
perhaps twenty or thirty yards wide. At that
time, the height of the dry season, the water
filtered down the channels which it had worn in the
granite floor ; and you could walk along it stepping
over the little runnels as they crossed your path.
Every now and then a curious stony cell would be
passed several feet in depth, full to the brim of
water so brilliantly clear that at certain angles the
rocky tank would have appeared empty save for
the tiny fish which appeared, against the snowy sand
of the bottom, to be almost suspended in a void.
Continuing on, a dull increasing roar became more
and more noticeable, and at length we reached
a spot where the stream gathered itself together
and went foaming over such a ledge as I have just
described, but only to be caught a few feet lower
down by a projecting boulder, and, as it were, turn
itself completely over in its downward leap. The
fall, some forty feet deep, terminated in an almost
perfectly circular basin probably thirty yards
across, surrounded for two-thirds of its diameter by
a projecting lip of verdant marsh, from which
a fringe of falling water trickled over like countless
strings of diamonds on to a shelving bank ex-
tending to the water’s edge, but hidden under one
unbroken covering of tenderest green maidenhair-
fern. The pool itself was surrounded by magnifi-

150 THE REGION OF THE BARUE

cent teak trees, so venerable as almost to meet
overhead, in which green parrots and a pair of
quaint hornbills sat tranquilly regarding us. The
beauty of that mountain cascade was one so
curiously apart, so entirely incomparable with any-
thing I had ever seen in the African highlands,
that I fruitlessly wasted every film in my camera
in the chastened light, which was all too dim for
the purpose, in my efforts to obtain a picture.

Unhappily the Barué is not well watered, and
only the lower portions of the great district can be
said to promise anything in the shape of agri-
cultural importance. At the present time its
principal—indeed I believe I am right in saying
its only—export consists of beeswax, of which the
output must be very considerable. Almost all
over the country you cannot go many miles with-
out seeing suspended in the trees the native
beehive, which consists of a hollow cylinder, the
outer bark of a certain tree which is taken skilfully
off when it has reached a diameter of about eighteen
inches, and then made into a hollow tube three or
four feet long. This is smeared inside with the
juice of the sugar-cane, and attracts the wild bees,
which then come and deposit their honeycombs ;
and as these insects are exceedingly numerous in
all parts of the country, it must naturally follow
that their wax is plentiful.

The summits of some of the mountains, notably
Zemelan’gombé, M’handa, and some others, possess
extensive plateau-country, where cool weather
rules the whole year round, and frosts in the
winter are not infrequent. I was informed by an

AN ANCIENT BURIAL GROUND 151

old headman named M’passo, that when he was
a boy it was the custom, on an alarm being given
of the approach of the Vatuas, for all the people
to take refuge on the former, where they would
often remain for weeks at a time as a result of these
visitations. There is on this plateau, as on several
others, an ancient burial ground, and perhaps on
this account, since the discontinuance of Vatua
alarms, nobody has ascended the mountain unless
some of his or her ancestors or influential con-
nections were buried there, and then only on such
an occasion as that of marriage or some other of
vital import, when, accompanied by an old man
who M’passo did not wish to name to me, but I
suspect to have been some villainous witch-doctor,
and who is the only remaining individual to show
the way up, the two would ascend for the purpose
of propitiating the spirits of the dead, and with
a view to obtaining a favourable augury of the
success or otherwise of the forthcoming event.

There is scarcely any open grass-land in the
almost unbroken forest, which one would suppose
would attract a greater rainfall than apparently this
district receives. In the south-eastern portions,
one crosses here and there inconsiderable “ Tandues,”
or expanses of coarse grass-land, covered with that
useless growth the Stipa, which reaches a height of
nine or ten feet, and showers barbed seeds upon
you when its seed-vessels ripen.

There are in the Barué two military posts,
both established since the 1902 campaign ; that of
Mungari already referred to, and that of Katandikas
near the Rhodesian frontier which I have not

152 THE REGION OF THE BARUE

visited. The Mungari post is a well-constructed
quadrilateral stockade of considerable strength,
surrounded by a glacis and ditch of sufficient width
and depth, and mounting two Hotchkiss quick-
firmg guns. It contains quarters for the native
troops, with accommodation for the officers and
non-commissioned officers. There are, in addition,
stabling and quartermaster’s stores. Surrounding
the small fortress is a wide stretch of well-kept,
open ground, and, five or six hundred yards away,
the nicely arranged, well-built residence of the
Capitaéo-mor, and the shops of the small “ banyan”
trading community. Through Mungari runs the
main road from Tete to Macequece (pronounced
Massikess) on the Rhodesian frontier, a week-long
journey, with a good road and plenty of water all
the way. This is really the only road through the
Barué, if one except the native-made paths which
my expedition followed when I visited the district
in 1907. It is, however, the middle portion of this
fine, neglected area which claims the greatest
attention. Here the rainfall is heaviest, and the wide
district of which this elevated plateau land consists
becomes, therefore, a distributing centre for such
slight irrigation as the low-lying expanses receive.
These latter retain the water through the winter
months in the sandy stream beds, where the
precious fluid is often only hidden from view by
a few inches of moist sand. Marshes, of course,
there are none, and wells are not abundant.
Personally, judging from the appearances which
presented themselves, I should be inclined to
estimate the average rainfall at about 40 inches,

THE RAINFALL 153

rising to 60 inches in very wet seasons. There are
also indications that much heavier rains have fallen in
the far distant past, but it would be hard to account
for this present decreased volume by anything for
which man may be held responsible. In portions
of Central Africa with which I am familiar, the
rainfall has, without question, greatly decreased
by reason of the wholesale destruction of the forests
which attracted it. The natives cut down the trees
over a considerable area, and, as soon as the trunks
are sufficiently dry for the purpose, set fire to them,
the resulting piles of snowy ashes going far to
increase the richness of the soil. After having
gathered in one or two crops, the clearing is
regarded as exhausted, and a move is made to
another locality where again the forest is sacrificed.
I consider that this process of consistent denudation
which has been going on through the ages is re-
sponsible for many an unproductive, arid waste, for
once destroyed, the greater forest growths have dis-
appeared for ever ; they are replaced by the smaller
stunted trees which are of no value as attractors of
rain. This, however, cannot be said of the higher
elevations of the Barué, which are still covered
with an exuberant growth of forest. The trees, it
is true, are not, as a whole, very impressive in point
of size, but this is accounted for, as I have
previously pointed out, by the phenomenal unpro-
ductiveness of the stone dust which here does duty
for soil.

The geological formation is not unlike that of the
region of Manica, of the Shiré Highlands, and of
various other portions of the same volcanic plateau

154 THE REGION OF THE BARUE

to which so many thousands of square miles of the
Angoni country belong. It is one of course which
has been but little explored, either from the pro-
spector’s or any other point of view. The most
prominent feature consists of constantly occurring
masses of granite rocks traversed by quartz reefs.
These appear not only in the form of isolated
mountainous masses, but crop out of the soil like a
bare stone floor for areas many acres in extent.
Then again, surrounding the mountain bases, are
strewn rounded boulders from two or three to
many thousands of tons in weight. In some of
these felspar occurs porphyritically, exhibiting a
singular system of curious veins probably caused, as
it has been suggested to me, by the conditions in
which they were originally cooled. The varieties
of granite most commonly met with contain clear
grains of quartz without cleavage, also orthoclase
and brown and black mica. Aplite shows itself in
the form of small veins, and appears to consist of
orthoclase and quartz without additional accessory
minerals. The colour is of a dull yellow, the veins
coarse-grained, compact, and much stained, perhaps
by solutions of iron. Tourmaline granite is
extremely common, as is shor] rock, whilst, in some
of the stony masses which I examined, magnetite
occurs with small visible garnets, as also large
masses of what has been described to me as
pegmatite. Here, however, the quartz particles
are embedded in the darker felspar and betray
considerable cleavages. In some of the outcrop
surrounding Ngaru, hornblende is met with, whilst
some of the porphyrites are probably not dissimilar

ANITE FORMATIONS,

SOME TYPICAL G

p. 154)

GEOLOGICAL FORMATION 155

from those which are so characteristic of certain
portions of the Manica gold mines. These are, for
the most part, of a reddish brown, and inclined to
be amorphous.

In some of the stream beds the curious formation
known as “ pudding-stone” is found. This singular
type of rock is said to have been formed by the
fluid granite moulding itself in the cooling process
upon fragments of dark felspar.

Between the Muira River and Inyangone, some
geological variations occur, isolated patches of
hornblende, schist, and gneiss presenting them-
selves, whilst, as stated elsewhere, the general rocky
system becomes very rugged, especially to the
northward of the village of Nkornuam’penembe.
I observed on passing through this district in 1907,
considerable evidence of old workings, and was
informed that nearly all the streams contain more
or less gold dust in their alluvium. One small
stream, I remember, cut through several dykes of
aplite as well as of ophitic diabase. More basic
dykes appear in this part of the Barué than I
observed on any other portion of my journey.
From Macorea, for ten or fifteen miles to the south-
ward, the hills still, generally speaking, preserve
their granite formation, but the surrounding region
from which they rise might be correctly described,
I think, as consisting to some extent of schists
crossed by diabase. Thence to the Vunduzi River
a slight change takes place in the general aspect.
Thus in the stream-beds bands of quartzite appear,
striped with iron oxides; argillaceous chlorite,
tale, and mica schists are observable, whilst many

156 THE REGION OF THE BARUE

of the hillocks are of gneiss formation. The group
of conspicuous rocky hills surrounding Nyasuma
and Maevi are extremely rugged, terminating in
a range of glistening white gneiss grits. These
present a most fascinating appearance, many of
the rocks, doubtless in process of upheaval, having
been tilted out of their positions and projected
into a series of curves at angles of fully 60°.
Bold anticlinal outlines are presented by others,
whilst anon one is confronted by the positions
of other rocks for which it were idle indeed to
attempt to account.

That the greater portion of the Barué, partaking
of the general characteristics exhibited by sur-
rounding areas, is mineralised in greater or lesser
degree does not, to my mind, admit of doubt.
Unfortunately its comparative inaccessibility ren-
ders the task of the prospector more difficult than
it would be in adjoining territories, whilst the
serious want of water in some of the districts would
naturally constitute a disadvantage which any
future mining industry would find it extremely
difficult to surmount. Still the singularly liberal
character of the mining regulations, of which a
digest is appended to this chapter, gives one reason
to hope that means may be found to exploit those
parts of the district which hold out the greatest
prospect of future importance.

Taken as a whole, the extensive and beautiful
region we are considering is one in which, if we
except the aridity of the central and north-western
portions, it can be said that there are no really
harsh or desert-like expanses. It is true, as I have

GRANITE UPHEAVALS 157

pointed out, that the dense forest is almost entirely
absent, if by such a term we seek to describe large
tracts covered by those immense tropical trees
which other parts of Africa possess in such
amazing quantity and variety. These only exist
in unimportant numbers in the lower, warmer, and
better-watered localities; but in spite of this I
should be inclined to describe it, having regard to
its position and elevation, as a well-forested region,
and one possessed of many beauties which are all
its own. Foremost among these are the mighty
granite upheavals. Any adequate description of
the astonishing shapes these giants appear in would
require far more space than I can devote to the
subject. Some take the form of an inverted basin,
or, more accurately still, of an almost perfect hemi-
sphere, so accurately rounded that in the far
distance they look like mighty cannon balls half
sunk where they have fallen. Others again thrust
a vast monolith of solid granite—one mighty un-
broken whole—through the surface of the ground
to a height of eight hundred or a thousand feet,
and appear to be perpetually surveying the startled
plain below with an air of mild surprise.

These immense, forested, mountainous uplands
often seem to me to furnish so many vast and
striking instances of the inconspicuousness of the
presence of the human race in the great African
continent ; of the puny, inconsiderable character of
the labour which man has devoted to the task
of winning for the service of his kind the tree-clad
fallow immensity which nature surrounds with so
many almost insurmountable prohibitions. I dare

158 THE REGION OF THE BARUE

say there will be many among my readers who will
say, “Oh, but surely you are losing sight of South
Africa, with its teeming millions of active workers,
its thousand industries and vast cultivated areas.”
But indeed I do not forget these things, any more
than I forget how small a portion of the great
continent the corner we have in our mind’s eye
when we speak of South Africa really is. For
over two centuries Europeans have been in South
Africa; they have fought for the country and
established themselves in cities; they have dug
and delved and pecked and blasted for the gold
and precious stones it contains; they have set
up governments and buildings which they have
adorned and gilded and frescoed—some of the
former remain, of course, and some are already
well-nigh forgotten; but, when we come to travel
through South Africa, and leave the outskirts of
those populous centres where greed and rascality
wear an aspect which is almost a complete disguise,
what do we see? But little to point out with
exultation, I fear, as the outcome of the sacrifice
of so much blood and treasure and principle and
toil. If, therefore, we find in the southern portion
of the country so small a result, so inconspicuous an
evidence of our efforts to establish an occupancy
leaving some outward indication of its efficacy
on the country as a whole, what shall be said of
those remoter and vaster regions to the northward,
which are only now becoming dimly and perhaps
impatiently conscious of the commencement of
European intrusion? Their slumber has been a
long one, and their awakening is not yet—perhaps,

A BAOBAB WITH VIEW OF ZAMBEZI.

FREEDOM FROM MOSQUITOES 159

due to the conditions of climate, their inclusion
among the centres wherein Europeans may make a
permanent home may be never wholly possible ;
and, therefore, they will remain throughout the
centuries abiding examples of our puny impotence
in the face of tropical Africa’s impassable re-
strictions.

There is one thing regarding which the Barué
has my whole-hearted felicitations. From the
moment I entered its wide expanse to that at
which I left it, I never once heard the hateful hum
of the misbegotten mosquito, that veritable curse
of almost every portion of Central and South
Central Africa. It is, I suppose, too high, and
there is scarcely any surface water in which this
ill-devised creature can propagate its devilish
species.

Since the military operations which, in 1902,
swept the bulk of the native population across the
border into South-Eastern Rhodesia, this vast
district has been administered so far as possible by
military authorities. It was at one time proposed
that the Mozambique Company should be per-
mitted to undertake its governance, but difficulties
presented themselves which that body did not see
its way to surmount. Still, even with the slender
resources placed at his disposal, Captain Lage, the
Capitao-mor of the Barué, has laboured devotedly
to bring the district into line with adjoining areas,
and the roads which now render travelling easy
and pleasant, and even some of the bridges, are
quite equal, and in some cases superior, to those
found in the adjoining Mozambique Company’s

160 THE REGION OF THE BARUE

territory ; and I have little doubt that when the
Barué is systematically prospected, an adequate
Land Department established, and administration
proceeds on somewhat broader lines than at present,
we shall hear more of this region, in which there
are, I consider, infinite possibilities of most im-
portant future development.

Of course the paramount consideration in this
development is the preservation of the native as its
principal producing element, and, therefore, the
question of native rights is one of the utmost im-
portance. Doubtless in the present aspect of the
country, this difficulty is minimised by the small-
ness of the native population, which probably does
not exceed 80,000 souls; but it may be, as time
goes on, many of the families which fled from
Coutinho’s columns will return to their old haunts,
as they find peace and order continuing unbroken
there.

Throughout Portuguese East Africa there is
nothing resembling our system of native reserves.
The negro comes and goes at will, and but little
heed is paid to the localities he selects for his
native villages. Of course, as I have pointed out
elsewhere in these pages, the result of this is to
gradually deforest the more fertile regions, and,
by degrees, to restrict the (at present) sufficient
if decreasing annual rainfalls. In spite of this
tendency, however, which would doubtless be
exceedingly difficult to check, there can be no
doubt that for many generations to come these
periodical migrations are not destined to be fraught
with much inconvenience, so vast are the expanses

NATIVES AND THE FUTURE 161

still untouched in South Central Africa. No
hostile feelings can ever again arise, I should
conceive, from questions of the sufficiency of
land. Of this there is much more than enough
for both white and black, and assuredly the tribes
of Zambezia as a whole, to say nothing of the
Barué and adjoining areas, are not sufficiently
numerous to experience either inconvenience or
resentment from the all too gradually flowing tide
of European immigration which is so sluggishly
rolling through this little-known portion of the
country. What is really required, both in our
own colonies and in the sphere of which I am
treating, is ability to organise a coherent system
capable of retaining the native in the country and
at the same time of increasing his usefulness as an
essential agent of our civilisation.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VI

The following is a convenient digest of the Mining Regu-
lations in force in the Region of the Barué:

Area of Claims.—(1) For precious stones, a square of 10
metres each side. (2) For precious metals, a square of 100
metres per side. (3) For dredging, a rectangle of a maximum
area of 2,500 hectares, no side to exceed 5,000 metres. (4)
For all other mineral deposits, a rectangle not exceeding 100
hectares.

Cost of an ordinary mining licence is 5,000 reis (£1), and
for a special mining licence 50,000 reis (£10).

With an ordinary licence the prospector can peg (a)
precious stones, 10 claims; (4) precious metals, 10 claims ;
(c) any other class of mineral, 1 claim.

With a special licence, however, of the claims (a) and (d)
500 may be pegged, 1 dredging claim, and (or) 5 claims of |
any other class of mineral.

11

162 THE REGION OF THE BARUE

Discoverers’ claims, until sold, and coal and iron mines,
are exempt from taxes, which are of two kinds, fixed and
proportional ; but all mines are free of the latter during the
first two years.

The fixed tax is 500 reis (2s.) per hectare for claims other
than those for precious metals and stones ; 2,500 reis (10s.)
per hectare for claims of precious stones, and 100,000 reis
(£20) for dredging claims.

The proportional tax is one of 4 per cent. on concessions
other than those for precious stones or metals, and 2 per cent.
on the latter assessed on their value at the mine’s mouth.

Machinery and mining implements pay a nominal duty of
1 per 1,000 ad valorem.

CHAPTER VII
ZAMBEZIAN FLORA

In dealing with the wide subject of the flora of
so extensive a region, it should perhaps be stated
at once that although tropical, striking, and beautiful
to a degree, it nevertheless falls far short of the
wonders and splendours whose fame has reached
us from the moist heated valley of the Amazon, or
indeed from such rainy regions as those traversed
by the muddy waters of the Congo or Niger. Each
has doubtless its own botanical beauties and floral
phenomena, and even if the Zambezi valley cannot
compete with those more favoured localities, still
there are sufficient examples of a world of unusual
varieties to claim our attention and to awaken our
admiration.

It seems, I must confess, a task of no small
difficulty to compress into the limits of a few book
pages any adequate idea of the immense number
of families here represented, when assuredly a whole
volume were all too small for the purpose; and
that difficulty is vastly increased when account is
taken of the smallness of the attraction or interest
contained in the barbaric clumsiness of the terrible

scientific names brutally conferred upon the most
163

164 ZAMBEZIAN FLORA

beautiful and delicate section of the whole wide
field of natural science. Conceive if you can the
class of mind which would endow a pretty delicate
creeper with such a name as Tryphostemma
sandersoni, or that graceful if somewhat common
form among the Ficoidee the Mesembryanthemum
edule. An especially unhappy fate in the hereafter
should be reserved for the perpetrators of wrongs
such as these, and we cannot help feeling a natural
regret that we shall not have an opportunity of
witnessing the punishment which must naturally
overtake them. Mesembryanthemum! Why, it is
like handling some rare butterfly with the kitchen
tongs.

Africa has, so far as its southern and south
central portions are concerned, an unfortunate and
wholly unjust reputation. People who have visited
these parts of the continent will tell you that there
are no sweet-smelling flowers, or song birds, or
rivers with water in them. These libels, however,
are circulated without malice, and remind one of
the description given by some wanderer of im-
perfect perception who, being interrogated as to
what had impressed him most on his travels through
South Africa, is reported to have replied that the
rivers contained no water, the birds never sang, the
flowers were scentless, and the name of every dog
was “ Voetsac,” * but that when you called him he
ran away. The person who gave the foregoing as
the fruit of his intelligent observations must have
been one of the many who travel during the depth
of the African winter season, and therefore naturally

* Voetsac, meaning “ Get out,” “ Clear out.”

SCENES OF GORGEOUS BEAUTY 165

see nothing of the beautiful exuberant wealth of
colour with which the hot breath of spring and the
short fierce deluges of the early rains clothe the
entire face of the country. Nobody travels on
the Zambezi after September if he can possibly
avoid doing so. By the end of October the heat
is appalling throughout the entire region, but the
individual who finds himself capable of sustaining
its climatic rigours reaps a rich reward in the extra-
ordinary beauties which the country holds out tohim.

Every glade has now its attraction, and some
an infinite variety of them. Imagine, then, a forest
opening, the sky a deep Mediterranean blue, and
the strong sunlight turning the shimmering, newly
born greenery of the tree tops into a tender, semi-
transparent, fairy-like canopy, the bushes at their
feet bright with the canary-coloured racemes of a
showy Calpurnia mingling with the waxy-white
blooms of the fragrant thorny Oncoba. Farther
on one’s eye is caught by a bright smudge of
transparent blue, where a big-bloomed convolvulus
with a pale lemon centre has draped itself so closely
around and about the thorny dwarf iron-wood trees
as completely to conceal them. New tender grasses
are beginning to spring from the sorry, blackened
roots left by the winter fires, and the starry, wistful,
upturned faces of several kinds of Dianthus, of
Frankenias, and fragrant Canavalia, are uplifted
like so many gems in a setting of newly sprung
verdure. A little later on, when the rains have
become fairly frequent and regular, we shall see in
its turn, and in most prodigal abundance, the
waxy-white umbels of the exquisite Crinum. This

166 ZAMBEZIAN FLORA

lily, which in the highlands of the interior possesses
a strong, almost sickly perfume through which you
may journey at times for days, loses its scent in
the low-lying plains bordering the great rivers, and
becomes almost if not entirely odourless. It rises
to a height of rather over a foot from the ground,
and its clusters, or umbels, of blooms are almost
transparent white with longitudinal lines of salmon
colour and a pale yellow centre. An uncommon
pink gentian, I think the Exvacum quinquinervium, is
also found in the grass-lands, with four more members
of the same family if of less attractive exterior.

I suppose, from such knowledge as I possess of
the wide and constantly expanding subject of
African flora, that taking the Zambezi valley as a
whole, the three botanical divisions most commonly
represented are the Leguminose, Apocynacee, and
Compositz, the Malvaceee running them very close.
The first named includes many valuable food pro-
ducts, whilst its range also comprehends timber
trees of the utmost commercial value. The second
named extends over the interesting and valuable
indigenous rubber-producing vines, and includes
multitudes of rambling shrubs, from the fragrant
and beautiful Acokanthera spectabilis and Adenium
multiflorum, that extraordinary shrub which does
not flower until it sheds its leaves, to the poisonous
Strophanthus and the Carissa acuminata. Of the
forty different species of Landolphia vines belonging
to the order of the Apocynacee, I am unaware of
more than ten which yield rubber to a profitable
extent, and of these the ZL. florida and the
L. petersiana are the dry-country species. The

THE BAOBAB 167

remainder, including probably the most valuable,
namely L. kirkii, are dwellers in moist forests and
rocky mountainous ravines, where their girth is
increased and strengthened by the dense tree
growths and the constant irrigation of the perennial
torrents from the marshy plateaux above. A curious
range of tropical growths is covered by the last
order mentioned, extending from those common
and often troublesome weeds the Seda tribola and
the S. cordifoha, through the wild cotton-producing
Gossypium anomalum which appears on the borders
of forest country and abandoned native gardens,
to that horrible remnant of a disordered dream the
gigantic, useless baobab (Adansonia digitata). ‘This
last loathly monster, which, with its smooth, grey,
diseased-looking bark, and gouty, unsightly, naked
limbs, to say nothing of its spongy, useless, un-
acceptable apology for wood, is usually an indication
of valueless, stony, uncultivable soil. Its flowers,
which depend from long stalks, are of a dirty white,
with yellow centres, and remind you, for their
short blooming season, of so many inartistic electric-
lamp reflectors. These in due course give place to
huge seed vessels containing a white, sour-sweet,
powdery pulp, of which a beverage may be concocted
vaguely recalling an inferior sherbet which has
ceased to effervesce. In many parts of South
Africa this vegetable monster, whose trunk some-
times exceeds 80 feet in circumference, has come to
be known as the “Cream of Tartar Tree.” In the
neighbourhood of the Lupata Gorge, the baobab
is very well represented, as it is for many days to
the westward.

168 ZAMBEZIAN FLORA

Of palms there are five varieties, and these in-
clude the beautiful and valuable coconut, to which
I have made somewhat lengthy allusion in a
previous chapter. This splendid growth often rises
to a height of 80 or 90 feet from the ground, and
at all stages of its long and useful career presents
an appearance at once striking and ornamental.
Then comes the Borassus flabelkfer, of which,
on the lower courses of the Zambezi, immense
numbers may be seen. This palm also grows to a
great height—60 or 70 feet perhaps—and its huge,
green, fan-like fronds may often be seen covered
with the depending, stocking-like nests of a bright
chrome-yellow weaver which, at the elevation thus
chosen, has no ‘cares or anxieties regarding the
safety of its growing family. The Borassus is dis-
tinguished from, I believe, all other palms by a
curious globular swelling which occurs almost in
the middle of the trunk or stem, a singular charac-
teristic which, I have noticed, is much more pro-
nounced in some localities than in others. The
Hypheene is extremely like the last-named palm,
but I do not think it grows to quite so great a
height; moreover, the fruit, much loved by elephants
for its spicy, pungent outer rind, is smaller than
that of the Borassus, and occurs in large bunches
containing a dozen nuts or more, each enclosing a
hard white kernel faintly resembling some imita-
tion of ivory. All along the coast line, and far
into the interior, the smaller palm Phenix reclinata
grows at all points, and is much esteemed alike for
its fibrous fronds, which provide the native with
cordage for all purposes, and for the singular excel-

THE RAPHIA 169

lence of the palm-wine which it yields when tapped.
In several extensive districts of South Central
Africa, the face of the country appears to be
covered with disused telegraph poles. On a nearer
approach, however, they are seen to be the trunks of
countless phoenix palms denuded of their fronds and
with all the sap sucked dry—mere melancholy mum-
mified remnants of their former graceful selves. ‘The
Sura or wine yielded by this palm is very refreshing
when it is newly drawn and carefully strained, but
it quickly ferments and produces intoxication, an
advantage much appreciated by the native. We
now come to a very beautiful variety, and one not
so common as any of those hitherto described.
This, the delicious, glaucous-green Raphia, whose
long tender fronds are of a more delicate hue than
those of any other of the members of the palm
families, is perhaps the least numerous of any.
The solid centres of the fronds—their stalks so to
speak—are of great service by reason of their light-
ness and strength. They are largely used for native
building purposes. The Raphia does not grow to
a great height, perhaps rarely more than 25 feet,
and its seeds, like those of the other indigenous
African palms, are entirely useless; but it would
be difficult to imagine a more attractive ornamental
growth, or one with a greater claim to protection.
Wild date palms are also extremely delicate and
lovely in appearance ; their fronds are small, even
as their trunks are comparatively slender. They
abound on the banks of rivers and streams, their
stems bending over the water as though anxious
that the transparent verdure of their delicate

170 ZAMBEZIAN FLORA

greenery should be duly appreciated by passers-by.
The dates, unfortunately, are quite inferior, and
only possible to the omniverous native.

The number of lovely flowering trees and shrubs
is very large, and, together with the different
members of what may be called the grotesque
families, form a class of wide interest. Let us
imagine it is early December in the plains; the
heat is oppressive, and the air humid from the
exhalations which the sun’s rays are drawing from
the rain-sodden ground. You perspire at every pore,
and there seems no limit to the amount you could
drink if you once gave way to the hourly increasing
temptation to commence. There is a soft sweet-
ness in the atmosphere, the subtle mingling of the
scents of many flowers. Above your head the sus-
tained hum of scores of tiny brown bees tells of
their activity among the sickly smelling blooms
of a gayly coloured Baphia. A brilliantly glossy
Ficus, I think the F’. cordata, with clear, dark
green foliage, throws into relief at its foot a bright,
almost scarlet Desmodium, displaying a corolla so
brilliant against the cool greenery of its sheltering
neighbour that one almost involuntarily winks at
the piquancy of the contrast. Farther on 4 lbizzias,
that well-known feathery-foliaged shade tree, are
growing in close proximity to a group of Acacias,
displaying masses of fragrant mustard-coloured
flowers, shaped almost exactly like the tiny balls of
velvety plush used as an edging for winter drawing-
room curtains. T'rachylobiums occur at many
points, whilst several papilionaceous trees are
covered with a perfect blaze of yellow on the one

HYPHGENE PALMS.

p. 170]

STRANGE CREATIONS 171

hand and the transparent purple one sees in the
Bougainvillea creeper on the other. <A beautiful
stately growth is the Spathodea, which also at this
season of the year clothes itself in a brief glory of
deep red flowers, sheltering beneath it to some
extent a massive rock-like growth of Candelabra
euphorbia. This grotesque, I will not say unlovely
plant, possesses no leaves whatsoever; but in some
faint degree suggests a quaint form of cactus, since
from one common trunk or stem a multitude of
vertical branches rise into the air to a height of 20
or 80 feet, something like the branches of an old-
fashioned candelabrum. It is said with I know
not how much truth that the white milky juice
produces blindness on touching the eye. A little
beyond, your attention is caught by a Dracena,
another of Nature’s bizarreries. The branches of
this remarkable plant, which also rises to a height
of some 380 feet, descend downward, and then
upward again, forming a sort of huge pothook.
From the extreme end of this pothook a tuft of
long narrow leaves sprouts, surrounding a short-
lived white flower. I was often tormented by my
inability to recollect what these tufted extremities
reminded me of, until one day a small boy, who
had not been in the hands of the barber for some
time, came into the room of a house in which I
was staying. Then 1 saw in the obstinate little
bunch of mutinous hairs at the end of where his
parting ought to have been the best simile for the
extremity of a Draczna’s branch I could possibly
have been furnished with.

Another humorous creation is the Kigela (I

172 ZAMBEZIAN FLORA

think the K. pinnata). This valueless prodigy
also grows in the plains, in company with small
acacias and attenuated trachylobiums, and is readily
distinguished by the immensity of its heavy, sausage-
shaped seed vessels, which, hanging at the extremity
of a lengthy stalk, often measure three or four feet
long by eighteen inches in circumference, and are
of great weight. They contain a number of hard
seeds, embedded in a fibrous substance not unlike
a bath loofah, but much coarser, and of no use for
that purpose. The tree itself, a poor, scabrous-
trunked, sickly production, looks like some de-
spondent consumptive, whose misdirected energies
have been wasted in the production of a fruit of
which it is evidently ashamed.

Then look at the Aloe. Here is another instance
of Nature’s playfulness. It was evidently intended
to startle wayfarers by its poorly executed resem-
blance to some prehistoric reptile. It writhes over
the surface of outcropping slabs of granite, its
thick, fleshy limbs (I cannot call them leaves) in
their red spots on a green base still trying, in the
face of much discouragement, to carry on the old
snake deception, and by now resigned to failure.
I have never seen it in flower, but other writers
state that during this period the Aloe is trans-
figured, and the warm waxy-red of its bloom is
so vivid and alluring that you forget in contem-
plating it the unattractive features of the unlovely
growth from which it sprang.

By the side of a small stream-bed you see
massive Khayas,* their great limbs overhanging the

* The African Mahogany, an excellent timber tree.

TIMBER TREES 173

sandy centre, all festooned with long loops of
monkey ropes and lianas. These beautiful trees
possess fine hard timber, and attain to great height
and girth, as also does the Mwangele of the Sena
people, which I believe to be a species of Parkia.*
Apart, however, from their majestic appearance
and great utility, neither of these trees possesses
any pretensions to brilliant flowers or very striking
appearance; but now that we have begun to
enumerate the vast numbers of different varieties
of timber trees, we see at a glance as we pass
through the forest that the task is too formidable—
there are far. too many. Teak trees (Oldfieldia)
are found in the same country as the Ebony (Dios-
pyros), and not very far off you are sure to identify
a Parinarium of immense height, with a top so
extraordinarily rounded that with its vast circular
dark green mass of foliage, rising from a stem as
straight as a mast, it looks in the distance like
some gigantic candle-lamp with a darkened globe.
Some of these trees rise to a height of probably
over 100 feet. Of other timber trees—and when
I speak of timber trees I refer to varieties at least
large enough to furnish girth sufficient for the
cutting out of a native canoe—there are at least
thirteen or fourteen different species, some possess-
ing great hardness, with a fineness of grain which
takes a perfect polish, and would, I consider, if
their fine qualities were known, be in great demand
among cabinet-makers.

A very beautiful feature of the constantly vary-
ing African forest scenery is the Bamboo. This

* JT have since ascertained this tree to be the Adina microcephala,

174 ZAMBEZIAN FLORA

graceful growth, which occurs in dense clumps or
thickets, some of considerable extent and with canes
of great thickness, is found all over the Zambezi
country, and there are few more desirable halting-
places than the shimmering, fairy-like bamboo glade,
with the bright sunshine playing on the long, lancet-
shaped, silvery leaves, and dappling the moss-grown
carpet beneath with luminous spots of light. Here
is another intensely useful plant, and even the
leaves possess astonishing virtues when prescribed
for an out-of-condition horse, which they fatten
more quickly than anything else that has come to
my knowledge. Indigo bushes are also occasionally
seen, but are not so common as in the Mozambique
district, where they are very numerous, and often
rise to a height of four or five feet. Livingstone
speaks of having met with it on Lake Nyasa, and
our dear old clerical historian, Fr. Joio dos Santos,
writing in the sixteenth century, says at that time
the indigo was utilised by the Arabs then settled
in East Africa, who extracted the colouring prin-
ciple by methods not unlike those still employed,
and dyed the textiles of Miluane, so called because
they were worn by the people who lived in a country
through which a river of that name passed.
Among the Liliace, the most singular family is
perhaps that of the fibre-producing Sansevierias.
This odd-looking growth sticks boldly out of the
soil like some dark green rod which has been
thrust into it. It is quite startling in its down-
rightness. It seems to say, “Here I am; there
is nO nonsense or ornamentation about me, and
I require nothing whatever, thank you.” The

MALEVOLENT VEGETATION 175

extracted fibre varies much in value ; probably the
best is obtained from the §. kirkit, or the S.
longiflora. Another variety which I have seen is
probably the S. sulcata, but the specimens I ex-
amined had not arrived at anything like maturity.

At every turn you get examples of the wide
order of the Composite, stretching away upward
from that common weed the Adenostemma, with
its small bundles of pale mauve blooms, a common
and unpleasantly prickly sow-thistle (Sonchus),
many showy annuals, a horrible pest the Bidens
ptlosa, whose setee adhere to your clothes and
provoke language in no way connected with bo-
tanical research, and finally an endless array of
rambling bushes and shrubs, some bearing small
yellow flowers, which last but a short time; and
as their brief period of existence corresponds with
the hottest time of the year, they escape, for the
most part, the attention of mankind, in common
with a thousand other beauties and graces of that
uncomfortable season of the African year.

Having now, all too briefly and inadequately,
sketched the attractive and beneficent among
Nature’s works in the world of trees and flowers, let
us spend a moment in contemplating from a safe
distance what I can only regard as the malevolent
vegetation of the Zambezi—that wide class of
noxious weed and spiteful thorn tree which, in the
invariable nature of things, easily outlives the more
graceful and desirable, in obedience to that ill-
devised law which ordains universally that immor-
tality, or such immortality as the vegetable world
can attain to, shall be expressly reserved for such

176 ZAMBEZIAN FLORA

members of that branch of the creation as possess
no sort of possible excuse, either in the direction of
utility or good looks, for being spared.

First and foremost come the thorn-bearing
growths—those abominations apparently expressly
created for the purpose of heightening human per-
fection, that perfection which we are told comes of
trial and chastening. I am happy to say that the
thorny, flat-topped acacia, the “ wacht-ein-beitche ”
of South Africa, is very sparsely represented. In
the Lower Zambezi I have, however, seen occasional
trees in the dryer regions covered with devilish,
sharp-pointed spikes four inches or more in length.
Anything more forbidding than this spiteful plant
it would be difficult to imagine, and I never see
one without speculating upon what my feelings
would be if, my empty rifle discarded and a
vengeful buffalo in hot pursuit, this vegetable
porcupine appeared in my path as the sole means
of escape. I think I should resign myself to the
horns of my pursuer in preference to self-immolation.

I have already made some allusion to the
poisonous, milky juice of the Candelabra euphorbia,
but there remain to be enumerated half a hundred
different species of thorn-covered trailers, some
armed with almost invisible points, which, never-
theless, caught across the shin, exercise about as
sympathetic a contact with the skin as the fine edge
of a newly sharpened file. A small bush with
extraordinary tough limbs tears your putties to
pieces with a weapon which is as sharp and curved
and steely as a small fish-hook. Another larger
bush, of whose name I am ignorant, takes small

EVIL PLANTS 177

pieces of flesh out of any portion of your person
which may be exposed to it in passing, and if it find
itself unable to do this, will suddenly tweak your hat
from your head, and hold it suspended in mid-air,
waiting with fiendish pertinacity for an opportunity
to wreak its bloodthirsty vengeance on your fingers
when you release it. Smaller growths, respecting
whose names and orders I must confess to feeling
but little curiosity, afflict you when trodden upon
or crushed beneath you as you seat yourself for
the midday meal with odours so truly awful that
hunger gives way to a wild longing to escape their
foetor. Several lilies, probably nearly akin to the
destructive, poisonous South African “Tulp,” are a
great danger in the early portion of the rainy season
to horses and cattle, which should never be allowed
to graze at that season of the year; whilst another
abomination is the Hrythrina tormentosa, whose
sole excuse for existence consists in its impenetra-
bility when used for fencing purposes. I cannot
conceive it possible for any person or animal to
pass through such a hedge with anything left but
his bare skeleton.

Before exhausting all the vials of my wrath upon
these undesirable members of the vegetable king-
dom, however, I must reserve the most vituperative
of all in a special paragraph to do inadequate justice
to the loathly cow-itch bean. This unspeakable
pest, which could only have been devised in a
moment of boundless vindictiveness towards the
human race as a whole; this foul, useless weed
known to science as the Mucuna, grows in great
quantities in old native gardens, on the top of the

12

178 ZAMBEZIAN FLORA

river bank, on the outskirts of grass-patches, any-
where, in fact, where it sees any probability of
being able to fulfil its hideous destiny. This is
to drive people mad. About July the bean-pod,
covered with almost imperceptible, hair-like spines,
looks as though made of some inferior, rust-
coloured velvet, and is quite dry. When trodden
upon or disturbed, an impalpable cloud of these
tiny hairs rises into the air and settles upon
passers-by. For afew moments you feel nothing,
THEN, suddenly, you experience a burning, itching
irritation which yields to no sort of treatment I
have yet discovered. It is as though the whole of
the part affected had been deeply bitten by the
most venomous fleas in the entire Tring collection.
I have seen natives tear off their clothing and
plunge madly into the river, regardless of the pre-
sence of numbers of crocodiles. Men marching in
single file display as much solicitude in warning
those who follow of the presence of the dreaded
Mucuna as they would of that of some poisonous
snake.

In my descriptions of Zambezian flora, I have
hitherto said little of the many varieties of flowering
shrubs and climbers found in these districts, espe-
cially of those of the wide Leguminosz order known
to botany as Pseudarthria, with their wonderfully
luxuriant efflorescence of sweet-smelling flowers,
the tiny corolla pale salmon-pink, ovaries and calyx
dull reddish-crimson. The Adruses also abound,
both the A. precatorius and the A. pulchellus,
displaying through their half-opened seed vessels
pretty scarlet seeds, each marked with a single

THE HIGHER UPLANDS 179

shiny black spot. I have been told that this order
abounds in India also, where its seeds are much
used as ornaments by the various races. A very
pretty trellis creeper is the Clitorea ternatea, with
its quaintly shaped, crushed-strawberry shaded
flowers. It thrives as well in the garden as in the
wilds, many houses I am acquainted with having
reclaimed it for use against verandahs and out-
buildings; its greenery faintly recalls that of the
well-known Virginia creeper.

In the more elevated regions of this part of
Africa, the flora indicates marked changes the
higher one goes. Thus, on the way up to the
Angoni plateau, and having somewhat wearied, it
may be, of the consistent, the almost tiring beauty
of the maze of valleys and mountains, and anon
more valleys still, bewildering in their bold magni-
ficence as in their multitude, one turns with
something of relief to observe the details by the
way. The general characteristics are not unlike
what one might expect to find on Scottish uplands ;
bracken, gorse, and low bushes, with patches of
trees down in the hollows bordering the stream-
beds. Then there are shrubs resembling heath or
St. John’s wort, and wide expanses of familiar
bracken, and one becomes aware, with a sigh of
real pleasure, that the hateful thorn bushes of the
plain are left behind. Among the short rich grass
you see clover growing, and the entire effect is
pleasantly homelike. It would not be using the
language of exaggeration to say that the flower
display of the higher uplands during the brief
period of the African spring is as amazing in its

180 ZAMBEZIAN FLORA

brilliant colouring as it is striking in the richness
of its varieties. It would be impossible to imagine
anything more beautiful than these bright, and at
the same time exquisitely harmonised colour effects,
and it would be a task in itself to enumerate a
fraction of the many flowering plants which literally
strew one’s path, among which the more easily
recognised are pale mauve irises, deep red gladioli,
pink anemones, gentians, pretty miniature sun-
flowers of the coreopsis family, sulphur-coloured
hibiscuses, leafless amomums—their blooms on a
level with the ground—marguerites, mallows, a
delicious white clematis, and a hundred more.

The grasses and rushes of Zambezia must com-
prise in their wide range considerably over a hundred
species, the greater portion of which are probably
but little if at all known. The largest variety of
the former must, I suppose, be the wild banana,
found growing somewhat above the elevation of
the plains, and away from their intense heat. They
are handsome plants, and their tender transparent
green leaves afford a refreshing contrast to their
usually somewhat grey and sombre neighbours.
They often grow to a size considerably larger than
the varieties cultivated for the sake of the fruit.
It is perhaps not generally known that the latter
only bear one bunch of bananas, and should then
be cut down to make way for the younger plants.
The juice of the banana is said to be a remedy for
dysenteric attacks. We now come to the beau-
tiful, spiteful Spear Grass (Phragmites communis),
which surrounds nearly all our inland waters. Here
we have a bright grass-green growth, which springs

SPEAR GRASS 181

to a height of ten feet or more, its snowy, plume-
like flower heads dancing on its wind-swept, billowy
greenery like foaming wave-crests. The extremity
of each blade is armed with a sharp, needle-like
point, the whole being sufficiently stiff to enable
it to penetrate your clothing and draw blood in
a most merciless fashion. Its brakes form the
favourite midday haunt of the buffalo, and one or
two other great game beasts, and the difficulty of
their pursuit into these well-defended fastnesses
can perhaps be sufficiently well imagined.

The dense covering of vegetable growth beneath
which the land conceals itself during the rainy season
includes certain canes and grasses of great thickness
and denseness, and of extraordinary height. There
is one in particular which occurs along the banks
of the more elevated stream-beds, of whose real
name I am ignorant or at least uncertain, but
travellers who are familiar with the Shiré River
will recognise it under its native name of “ Bango.”
This reed grows to a height of something over
twelve feet, and its canes, some almost an inch in
diameter, are utilised by the natives in the manu-
facture of mats of all sorts, and for all purposes,
from the small floor covering only sufficiently large
to enable one person to repose upon it, to a piece
eighteen or twenty feet long which is used for
drying the newly washed coffee berry. A smaller
growth, a species of Stipa, covers hundreds of square
miles of country, and is much used for thatching
purposes. This undersized variety only grows to
an inconsiderable five or six feet, and has an un-
comfortable habit of shaking down upon you, as

182 ZAMBEZIAN FLORA

you pass beneath it, avalanches of seeds from its
bunchy heads which adhere to clothing, and, by
means of a sharp barbed point, work their way
through it until they scratch and irritate the skin.
Another still smaller variety possesses razor-sharp
blades, which, drawn across the skin as in the case
of swinging one’s arm in the act of marching,
administer painful if not very deep cuts, and are
the occasion of much annoyance.

I have, however, never been able yet to identify
the grass which has caused me the most suffering ;
but it is one of comparatively low growth, and is
found—or at least found me—in high, upland,
forest country. This abomination—the Mucuna
of the Gramincee—detaches as you march through
it an invisible but highly irritating dust, which
penetrates between your boots and leggings, or
works its way through the joints of your putties,
and, aided thereto by the dampness of your per-
spiring limbs, sets up a strong and rapidly developing
inflamed rash. On one occasion, whilst I was
hunting elephants in Cheringoma, I awoke one
morning after an almost sleepless night from this
cause, to find my feet and ankles so swollen that
I appeared to be suffering from incipient elephan-
tiasis, and for two whole days was unable to take
the road. I have, however, only enumerated the
most spiteful (and therefore the most easily re-
membered) of the Zambezian grasses. Others
there are, and their name is legion, from a graceful
flowering growth similar in appearance to the well-
known Pampas grass, down to a tiny, fairy-like
variety often seen in somewhat poor soil, whose

GRASSES 183

closely interwoven seed-bearing heads are so delicate
that you appear to be walking over acres of a thick
diaphanous carpet of intangible mauve.

There can be no doubt, however, that African
grasses may be confidently catalogued amongst
those of her annoyances which often amount to
a danger. Their principal objection consists in
their pertinaceous inexplicable reappearance in the
most carefully tended gardens after every shower
of rain, and their danger in the fact that where
neglected they shut the air from the soil and enable
it to bottle up its miasmatic exhalations below
the surface, so that when the time comes for the
husbandman to turn over and cleanse his land,
he is almost as sure of fever as he who scorns a
mosquito net and scoffs at quinine.

But apart from grasses, be they kindly or spiteful,
repulsive or attractive, there yet remain to be con-
sidered the beauties of the marsh, a locality which
I am well aware does not suggest in its name alone
the probability of the presence of interesting forms
of life, but which, in Africa at least, possesses them
none the less.

Once through the reed-surrounded margin, in
which you have doubtless sustained some loss of
blood from the sharp-pointed blades of the inevit-
able spear grass, your eye is immediately plucked
to the pale blue water lilies, whose fragrant heads
dot the surface of the shallow water, their broad
green leaves affording secure foothold to long-
limbed stilts, and other species of nimble-footed
water fowl, which run confidently from one to the
other, their eyes fixed upon the water. Sharing

184 ZAMBEZIAN FLORA

with these the surface of the marsh, a curious
member of the Limnacee order, the bright green,
lettuce-like Pistia may be seen, its long semi-
transparent roots reaching deep down into the
water. It is not unlike some gigantic form of
duck-weed, and no Zambezian inland water or
marsh is complete without it. In the backwaters
of the great river itself it is not uncommon, and
when torn from its moorings by some freshet of
the early rains, small floating islands of pistia heads
may be met borne upon the current on their way
to the sea.

But the glory of the marsh is the Papyrus, and
some of these great rushes grow to an immense
and most impressive size. I have found them in
the Bungwes, or vast expanses of marsh south of
Luabo, nine or ten feet high, their pellucid, tubular
stems, full of transparent juice, five or six inches in
circumference, and of a pale apple-green. Over-
hanging the water at a variety of angles and curves
the papyrus displays its large green head, often so
heavy as to rob the plant of any rush-like straight-
ness. These are all sizes, the larger attaining to
the dimensions of the largest-sized household mop,
from the rounded surface of which long, gossamery
filaments, reminding you of diaphanous, apple-
green, silky threads, and cleft at the extremities,
stick out like soft bristles. It was from the pith
of this remarkable growth that the writing paper
of the ancient Egyptians was made, although we
can only form hazardous guesses at the processes
through which it passed to emerge in the form
which then did duty for paper.

DOMESTIC GROWTHS 185

We now come to domestic growths, or those
destined for the use of the tribes, and planted on
the outskirts of their numerous villages. Of these,
first and foremost we find the staple Millet
(Sorghum vulgare). This cereal, known through
South and South Central Africa as “ Mapira,” is
very extensively cultivated wherever the soil is
even moderately productive. This is the native
food of the country par excellence, and in addition
to a food stuff, is used, boiled and fermented, in
the production of beer. It is closely run on the
Shiré River, and in some of the highlands, by
maize, which latter, however, requires a richer and
damper soil. Among the maize and millet gardens
large quantities of pumpkins are sown, several
varieties, notably the Luffa egyptica, the Cucumis
figaret, the Cucurbita maxima, and the C. pepo, as
well as the calabash gourd (Lagenaria vulgaris),
sprawling about amidst the dry grass, “ Cobbler’s
peg” weed, and other low types of vegetation
which are allowed to grow with the village food
stuffs. Rice is only found in large areas near the
coast, but another cereal planted for its oil is the
Eleusine coracana, or “ Meixuera.” At a time
when settlers in these districts of Africa have been
seriously exercised to discover profitable forms of
export, it has surprised me that efforts have not
been made in favourable localities to plant maize,
and that other profitable product the common
Ground-nut (Arachis hypogea) in large quantities.
For maize the demand in European markets is
large and increasing, and many years must pass, I
doubt not, before ground-nuts will show any

186 ZAMBEZIAN FLORA

symptom of becoming a drug in the markets of
Hamburg and Marseilles.

Another important native food stuff is the
Manioc or Cassava. Its roots, pounded and washed,
are dried and made into an appetising and nutritious
flour, whilst that excellent tuber the Sweet Potato
is also grown in large quantities. On the outskirts
of every village you are certain to find groves of
edible bananas, and, close by the huts themselves,
luxuriant castor-oil plants (Riconus communis), at
times covered with the seeds from which is ex-
pressed in crude form that oil of our childhood
days whose memories haunt us still. Many kinds
of beans are grown, but especially one which
occurs on a low cultivated bush whose odour
attracts to it numbers of beetles which may be
seen all day long droning in circles round the
bunches of pods. A sedulously cultivated growth
is the Chillie Pepper bush, whose bright red corns
furnish the African with the most important of his
few condiments. For cooking he uses the oil of
the Sesamum seed, as that of the Meixuera above
referred to, and a pleasing relish is imported into
his diet by tomatoes, which likewise grow in great
profusion. The African’s vices, or some of them,
are ministered to by the snuff and cigars—he rarely
smokes a pipe—concocted from the really excellent
tobacco plants cultivated for the purpose, and by
the hemp (Datura) which he also smokes from
a gourd, and which induces fits of lung-shaking
coughing.

Among the fruits produced for native consump-
tion or sale, the most common is the banana of

[981 “a
‘C1aId HOI V

EDIBLE FRUITS 187

various kinds. From time to time the Paw-paw
(Carica papaya) makes its appearance in the
villages, whilst pine-apples and, rarely, oranges
and lemons occur in some of the centres established
near the older Portuguese settlements. Near the
coast a very striking growth is the Cashew
(Anacardium occidentale) naturalised from India,
as also the Mango (Mangifera indica). They fruit
about the end of the year, and, from the former,
both fermented and distilled beverages of an
extremely intoxicating character are obtained. In
the Mozambique district the natives are for weeks
on end almost unobtainable for labour at this time
of year, passing their time in the most abandoned
drunkenness.

When one comes to reflect upon the large
number of the foregoing native necessaries, which
are now known to have been introduced from the
Nile, from Southern Asia, Arabia, Portugal, and
even America, in comparatively recent times, one’s
mind loses itself in futile speculation as to what
the unfortunate negro found to live upon before
all these things were obligingly brought to him.
We have seen from the ancient works of the
earliest observers, that on their arrival in Africa
a large number of the tribes—including all the
warlike ones—were addicted to the horrible practice
of cannibalism, and I think we may regard our-
selves as to some extent furnished with an
explanation of the conditions from which this
unimaginable practice sprang. The wretched
people had not sufficient food. By this I do not
mean that the prehistoric Ethiopian subsisted in

188 ZAMBEZIAN FLORA

a state of continual famine; but if, with all his
present food stuffs and the manifold resources held
out by their number and variety want even now
appears, what, we ask ourselves, could have been
the condition of the tribes of ancient times, when
the staple of that day, fish, dried game meat, or
what you will, became scarce, and hunger stared
him in the face? I have little doubt that on being
assailed by the first premonitory pangs he sprang
to his feet, seized his weapons, and went off on a
hunting raid which had for its object nothing less
than the human game whose flesh kept body and
soul together until the return of better times. It
is a ghastly idea, 1 admit, but neither more nor less
improbable than many other wild and _ hazardous
theories regarding him which on examination have
been found to possess sufficient foundation as
such.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VII
LIST OF PLANTS, ETC., OBSERVED IN ZAMBEZIA

AcANTHACEE AcaNTHACEZE—continued,
Brillantaseia pubescens Barleria repens
Thunbergia dregeana B. meyeriana
T. kirkii Hypoestes aristata
T. alata H. verticillaris
Hygrophila spinosa Rhinacanthus communis
Dyschoriste verlicillaris AMARANTHACEE
Ruellia prostrata Amaranthus spinosus
Phaylopsis longifolia Achryanthes aspera
Crabbea hirsuta Cyathula globulifera
Barleria spinulosa Celosia trygina
Crossandra nilotica Sericocoma chrysurus
Asystasia coromandeliana Pupalia atropurpurea
Justicia protracta Erva lanata
J. betonica Alteranthera sessilis

J. natalensis Gompbhrena globosa

LIST OF PLANTS

AMPELIDEE
Vitus quadrangularis
. capensis
. cuneifolia
. lanigera
. thunbergii
. integrifolia

sa<<<<

ANACARDIACER
Rhus insignis
R. glaucescens
R., villosa
R. longifolia
Mangifera indica
Anacardium occidentale
Sclerocarya caffra

ANONACEE
Anona senegalensis
Uvaria caffra
Artobotrys monteiroie

ApocyNnacEz
Strophanthus petersiana
Voacanga thonarsii
V. lutescens
Adenium multiplorum
Plumeria rubra
Rauwolfia natalensis
Acocanthera spectabilis
A. venenata
Carissa acuminata
C. arduina
Landolphia florida
L. petersiana
L, kirkii
L. watsoni
Diplorrynchus mossambicensis

ARALIACEE
Cussonia spicata
C. umbellifera

ASCLEPIADEE

Raphionacme splendens
R. densiflora

Secamone frutescens
Microstephenus cernuus

189

AscLEPIADEZ—continued
Xysmalobium involucratum
Asclepias densiflora
A. physocarpa
A. sphacelata
Pachycarpus concolor
Sarcostemma viminale
Demia extensa
D. barbata
Cynanchum crassifolium
Tylophora springefolia
Pergularia africana
Ceropegia mozambicensis
C. sandersoni
Riocreuxia torulosa
Brachystelma natalense
Stapelia gigantea

BIGNONIACEE
Tecoma capensis
Kigelia pinnata

BrxinEz
Encoba spinosa
Aberia longispina

BoraGinEz
Cordia caffra

BurseracE&
Balsamodendron africanum

“ CaMPANULACES
Lobelia erinus
L. decipiens

CappaRIDACEs

Cleome monophylla
Marua angolensis
Cadaba sp.
Capparis citrifolia
C. corymbifera
C. zeheri

CaRVOPHYLLACEE

Dianthus prostratus
Silene burchellii

S. gallica

Stellaria media

190

CaryorHyLLacE£—continued
Spergula arvensis
Drymaria cordata
Polycarpea corymbosa

CrLasTRacea&
Celastrus angularis
C. buxifolia
C. procumbens
C. penduncularis
Eleodendron capense
E. laurifolium
E. velutinum
E. ethiopicum
Salacia kraussii

CHENOPODIACEE

Chenopodium murale
Salicornia herbacea

ComBRETACER
Lumnitzera racemosa
Combretum erythrophyllum
C. sonderi
Quisqualis parviflora

Composit
Ethulia conyzoides
Vernonia kraussii
V. natalensis
V. corymbosa
V. dregeana
V. angulifolia
Adenostemma viscosum
Ageratum conyzoides
Mikania scandens
Erigeron canadense
Nidorella auriculata
N. linifolia
Conyza incisa
C. ivefolia
Blumea lacera
B. natalensis
Laggera alata
Guaphalium luteo-album
G, purpureum
Helichrysum adenocarpum

ZAMBEZIAN FLORA

Composirm—continued

. fetidum

. cymosum

. decorum

. gerrardi

. kraussii

. latifolium

. rugulosum
Athrixia gerrardi
Xanthium spinosum
X. strumarium
Siegesbeckia orientalis
Eclipta erecta
Wedelia biflora
Melanthera brownei
Spilanthes africana
Bidens pilosa

B. bipinnata
Gynura cernua
Senecio vulgaris

S. picridifolius

S. speciosus

S. lancens

8. angulatus

8. ruderalis
Osteospermum scaposa
Haplocarpha scaposa
Gazania uniflora
Berkheya zeyheri
Dicoma anomala
Gerbera piloselloides
G. kraussii

Lactuca capensis
Sonchus olcraceus
Lannea bellidifolia

jeomen er eengsoeeynee

ConvoLvULACEE

Ipomea angustifolia

I. digitata

I. obscura

I. palmata

I. purpurea

Hewittea bicolor
Jacquemontia capitata
Convolvulus farinosus
Evolvulus alsinoides

LIST OF

CRaASSULACEE
Crassula rubicunda
C. expansa
C. quadrifolia
C. dregeana
Bryophyllum calycinum
Kalanchoe crenata
K. rotundifolia

Crucirer&
Cardamine africana
Sisymbrium capense
Brassica strigosa
Lepidium sativum
Senebiera integrifolia
S. didyma

Cucursitacea
Peponia mackenii
Lagenaria vulgaris
Luffa egyptica
Spherosicyos meyeri
Momordica charautia
Benincasa cerifera
Cucumis figarei
C. hirsutus
Citrullus vulgaris
Cephalandria indica
Cucurbita maxima
C. pepo
Zehneria scabra

Drosrracez

Drosera burkeana
D. ramentacea

Exsenacex
Royena pallens
R. villosa
Euclea lanceolata
E. divinorum
Maba buxifolia

EvprorsBiace®
Euphorbia pilulifera
E. indicata
E. grandidens
E. tirucalli
E. cervicornis

PLANTS

Evuryorsiacka—continued
Synadenium arborescens
Bridelia micrantha
Phyllanthus glaucophyllus
Antidesma venosum
Jatropa hirsuta
J. gossypifolia
J. curcas
Croton sylvaticus
Acalypha petiolaris
Ricinus communis
Manihot utilissima

191

FIcomEx
Mesembryanthemum edule
Aizoon canariense
Sesuvium portulacastrum
Erygia decumbens
Molugo glinus
M. cerviana
Limeum viscosum

FRANKENIACER
Frankenia pulverulenta

GENTIANER
Exacum quinquenervium
Sebea aurea
Belmontia grandis
Chironia baccifera
Neurothica schlechteri
Faroa involucrata

GERANIACEE
Monsonia biflora
Geranium ornithopodium
Pelargonium capitatum
P. grossularioides
Oxalis corniculata
O. convexula

Hatoracex
Serpicula repens
Gunnera perpensa

HypericinE&

Hypericum lalandii
H. lanceolatum

192

ILiciInnz

Ilex capensis

LaBratTs&

Ocimum basilicum

O. suave

Moschosma reparium
Pyenostachys reticulata
Plectranthus petiolaris
P. tomentosus

Syncolostemon ramulosum

Hyptis pectinata
Mentha aquatica
Stachys ethiopica
Leunotis leonurus
L. nepetefolia

Laurinez

Cryptocarya acuminata

Leecuminosa&

Crotalaria capensis

. globifera

. Macrocarpa

. natalitia

. striata

. lanceolata
Argyrolobium uniflorum
A. ascendens

A. racemosum
Medicago lupulina
M. denticulata

M. laciniata
Melilotus parviflora
Trifolium africanum
Lotus arabicus
Psoralea pinnata

P. obtusifolia
Indigofera dregeana
I. eudecaphylla

. hirsuta

. vestita

. micrantha

. velutina

I. polycarpa
Teplirosia canescens
T. discolor

aacaaa

=——

ZAMBEZIAN FLORA

Leauminos£—continued

T. macropoda

T. longipes
Mundulea suberosa
Millettia caffra

M. sutherlandi
Sesbanea aculeata

S. punctata
Eschynomene uniflora
Smithia sensitiva
Arachis hypogea
Desmodium hirtum
D. incanum

D. dregeanum
Pseudarthria hookeri
Abrus precatorius
A. pulchellus
Clitorea ternatea
Glycine javanica
Teramuus labialis
Erythrina caffra

E. humei

E. tomentosa
Canavalia obtusifolia
C. ensiformis
Phaseolus trinervius
Vigna burchelii

V. buteola

V. marginata

V. vexillata
Dolichos lablab

D. biflorus

D. axillaris
Rhynchosia minima
R. caribea

R. hirsuta

Eriosema parviflorum
E. cordatum
Dalbergia armata
Baphia racemosa
Calpurnia laciogyne
Sophora tormentosa
Cordyla africana
Cesalpinia bonducella
Cassia delagoensis
C. mimosoides

LIST OF PLANTS 193

Lecuminos#—continued
C. obvata
C. tomentosa
Bauhinia articulata
Afzelia cuanzensis
Tamarindus indica
Entada scandens
Acacia pennata
A. arabica
A. kraussiana
A. spinosa
Albizzia lebbek
A. factigiata

LenTIBULARINEE
Utricularia prehensilis
U. stellaris
Line
Erythroxylon emargitanum

LocaniacEz
Nuxia oppositifolia
Buddleia salviefolia
Strychnos spinosa
S. atherstonei

LoranTHackzé
Loranthus dregei
L. kraussianus
Viscum continuum
V. obovatum

LytTHracE&
Nesea floribunda
N. erecta
Sonneratia acida
MaALpaiciacE&
Acridocarpus natalitius

Matvacez&
Malvastrum spicatum
M. capense
Sida triloba
S. carpinifolia
S. cordifolia
S. spinosa
Abutilon indica
A. glaucum

Matvacka—continued
Urena lobata
Pavenia odorata
P. microphylla
Hybiscus trionum
H. vitifolius
H. physaloides
H. furcatus
H. tiliaceus
H. calycinus
Gossypium anomalum
G. herbaceum
Adansonia digitata

MELAsTROMACES
Dissotis pheotricha
D. incana
D. eximia
Barringtonia racemosa

ME.IAcEz
Melia azedarach
Trichilia emetica
Ximenia caffra
Apodytes dimidiata

MENISPERMACEE
Cocculus villosus
Cissampelos pariera
C. torulosa
Stephania hernandiflora

Morineackz&
Moringa pterygosperma
MyrsInEz
Myrsine melanophleos
Embelia kraussii

Myrtack&
Eugenia cordatum
E. owariensis

NyMpHEAcEx
Nymphea stellata

OLEACEE
Jasminum multipartitum
J. streptopus
J. walleri
Schrebera alata
Olea verrucosa

13

194 ZAMBEZIAN FLORA

ONaGRARICE
Jussieua diffusa
J. pilosa
Trapa bispinosa
PAaPAVERACEE
Papaver gariepense
Argemone mexicana
Fumaria officinalis

PassIFLOREZ
Tryphostemma sandersoni
Ophiocaulon gummifer

PEDALINES
Sesamum indicum
Ceratotheca triboba

PotyesLex
Polygala capillaris
P. confusa
P. myrtifolia
P. rarifolia

PoLyconacks
Oxygonum dregeanum
Polygonum lanigerum
P. tomentosum

PorTuLackE&
Portulaca oleracea
P. pilosa
Talinum caffrum
Tamarix articulata

RaNuNCULACE®
Clematis kirkii
C. stanleyi
C. grata
Thalictrum rhyncocarpum
Ranunculus pinnatus
ReaMNEx
Zizyphus jujuba
Z. mucronata
Berchemia discolor
Colubrina asiatica
Helinus ovatus

RaIZOPHORACE
Rhizophor mucronata
R. racemosa
Ceriops candolliana

RuaizopHoRAceEz—continued
Bruguira gymnorrhiza
Weihea africana
Cassipourea verticillata

Rosacez
Rubus rigidus

Ruprace#

Oldenlandia decumbens
O. caffra

O. macrophylla
Mussenda arcuata
Randia dumetorum
Gardenia thunbergii
G. citriodora

G. gerrardiana
Oxyanthus latifolius
Tricalysis sanderiana
Pentanisia variabilis
Vangueria infausta

V. edulis

Fadogia lasiantha
Pavetta gerrardi

P. lanceolata
Spermacoce stricta
Richardia scabra
Mitracarpum scabrum
Rubia cordifolia

Rutacex#

Toddalia lanceolata
T. natalensis
Clausena inequalis

SALVADORACES
Salvadora persica

SapINDACEZ
Cardiospermum halicacabum
Schmidelia monophylla
S. rubifolia
8. alnifolia
Sapindus capensis
Dodonea viscosa

SaPporacEz
Chrysophyllum natalense
Sideroxylon inerme
Mimusops caffra
M. obovata

LIST OF

ScRoPHULARINER

Nemesia cynanchifolia
Halleria lucida
Auastrabe integerriba
Manulea parviflora
Striga coccinea

S. forbesii

Buttonia natalensis
Sopubia dregeana

SeLaGINEz

Hebenstreitia dentata
H. comosa

Selago hyssopifolia

S. racemosa

SoLanacEsz

Solanum auriculatum
S. sanctum

S. nigrum

Physalis peruviana
Withania somnifera
Nicandra physaloides
Lycium acutifolium
Datura stramonium

STERCULIACER

Dombeya multiflora
Hermaunia filipes
Maherna sp.
Waltheria americana

Tmtackz

Grewia columnaris
G. caffra

PLANTS

Tin1ackx&—continued

G. occidentalis

G. pilosa
Triumfetta pilosa
T. rhomboidea

T. tomentosa
Corchorus olitorius
C. acutangulus

UMBELLIFERZ
Hydrocotyle asiatica
H. umbellata
Alepidea amatymbica
Apium graveolens
Ammi majus
Carum carvi
Sium thunbergii

UrticacEz
Celtis kraussiana
Trema bracteolata
Chetacme aristata
Cannabis sativa
Ficus cordata
Urtica urens

VERBENACE

Lippia nodiflora

Priva dentata

Premna viburnoides
P. senenis
Clerodendron glabrum
Avicennia officinalis

ZYGOPHYLLEEZ
Tribulus terrestris

195

CHAPTER VIII

BIRDS—-INSECTS—-REPTILES

I THINK perhaps the best method of offering some
description of the teeming Avi-fauna of this part
of Africa will be to arrange it, so far as possible, into
three divisions, and study in turn the bird life of
the hills, the rivers, and the plain, for each of these
localities possesses its own families, and each forms
an interesting background in which to consider
them.

As we have seen, the mountainous regions, or
to be more precise, the elevated tablelands and
plateaux, are in many respects not unlike those of
Europe: rolling uplands covered with short grass,
bracken, gorse, and clover ; but few trees, and these
of more or less stunted growth. Here we find
birds of sombre plumage, their feathers displaying
few of the exuberant colours so characteristic of
those of the lower altitudes. It is as though at
the commencement of the great Scheme of Things
care had been taken that where, in the harmonious
arrangement of the whole, brilliant-hued members
of one branch of the creation were non-existent or
few, no brightly coloured stragglers from other

branches were permitted to intrude, and_ thus
196

EAGLES 197

destroy by their unnecessary and embarrassing
presence the general smoothness and consistency
of the whole effect. In the highlands, therefore,
coinciding with the subdued tints of the plateau
scenery, we have a bird life chiefly distinguished
by the soberness of its plumage, and the in-
significance of its claims to the possession of
fine feathers.

We will commence with the raptorial families,
which, although not by any means confined to hill
country, yet naturally suggest themselves for first
consideration by reason of their wild, untamable
nature, which accords so closely with the environ-
ment we have chosen for them.

First and foremost in this class we find that
magnificent variety the Warlike Crested Eagle.
I do not know why the adjective warlike should
have become so constantly associated with this
bird, for, to the best of my belief, there is no
evidence that he displays a more pugnacious
disposition than other members of his order, but
his scientific name, Sprzcetus bellicosus, is doubtless
responsible for the reputation he has received. He
stands nearly four feet high, and his wing plumage
of glossy black, turning to grey on the belly and
thighs, is somewhat toned down by an admixture of
rich chocolate-brown on the back and body feathers.
His head, surmounted by a thick crest of dusky
feathers, terminates in a massive, powerful, hooked
beak, whilst his talons are probably larger and
more powerful than those of any other African
eagle. If Spizcetus is the most impressive of this
branch of bird life, assuredly the next in point of

198 BIRDS

majesty, with many pretensions to beauty and
grace, is the misleadingly named Fish Eagle
(Halietus vocifer). But little inferior in size to
his warlike relative, this cheery soul, whose shrill
screams echo not unmusically over these waste
places of the earth, takes life much less seriously.
His garb of reddish brown to dark slaty grey on
back and wing covers, is relieved by a shirt-front
of snowy white, and is a true index to his gay,
loquacious temperament. The conversations sus-
tained by two or more of these birds, soaring mere
specks in the blue vault, will keep you entertained
by the hour. You can almost get some inkling of
their meaning, and quite follow the eagerness of
their interrogations, the one of the other, as to
whether they are likely to get a meal to-day or not.
They are quite omnivorous, and whether the find be
the corpse of a fish, a fowl, or an elephant, they are
quite ready to sink the claim to monopoly implied by
their name, and lend a willing beak to the cleansing
of the bones of any deceased animal. The Helotarsus
ecaudatus, or tailless Bateleur Eagle, and another
smaller though equally handsome bird, are very
common, whilst the large Gypohierax, or Vulturine
Kagle, may frequently be distinguished hovering
among birds of prey as they circle over a newly
killed beast. Among the buzzards are the dis-
gusting bare-necked or so-called Turkey Buzzards,
Buteo desertorum, the B. augur, and another
probably the Asturinula. The Swallow-tailed Kite
and the Egyptian variety are exceedingly common,
and hover all day long over the back premises of even
populous settlements with great confidence, a source

KITES AND FALCONS 199

of much misgiving and anxiety to small chickens,
amongst which they work considerable havoc. Their
pale chocolate and grey plumage may often be seen
making a conspicuous contrast with the bluey-white
of sea-gulls as they wheel about the sterns of vessels
at anchor in many of the East African waters.
But the Kite realises his day of plenty on the
arrival of a swarm of locusts, into which he dives
from above, grabbing the large green insects,
tearing them to pieces, and devouring them in full
flight. Among falcons the small Falco minor is
generally distributed, as also F’. ruficollis, but, so
far as I am aware, these are the only varieties
hitherto reported. His Excellency the Governor-
General of the Province of Mozambique (Major
A. Freire de Andrade) recently showed me a
remarkably fine young specimen of what I believe
to be a most interesting, if not wholly new, species
of Secretary Bird, which had been obtained in the
southern portion of the province. This specimen
appeared to me to be much larger than the ordinary
Accipitrine, whilst possessing in some degree most
of the peculiarities of that variety. I was also
informed that the same bird is found in the Sena
district of the Zambezi, where, and in the neigh-
bouring areas, are also found Serpent Hawks,
two true Vultures (Gyps kolbw and Neophron
perenopteros), and an Osprey.

Coming now to the Galliformes, the mountain
plateaux in certain districts abound in quails, I
think the Coturnix, as also a very fine partridge,
similar to but rather larger than the English bird.
Of the latter there is also a somewhat smaller variety,

200 BIRDS

exhibiting singularly beautiful marking, brownish
black on back and wings, blue-grey on belly and
sides, with bright red beak and legs. Both these
birds are strong fliers, and rise boldly when not
too much shot at. Guinea-fowl are not found in
the higher elevations, so that the quail and the
francolins mentioned may be regarded as the only
game birds usually met with in the higher portions
of this part of Africa.

There are many song birds, foremost among
these perhaps being the buntings. These cheery
little creatures, of greyish plumage relieved by
generous splashes of bright yellow, have a very
sweet song, as also certain finches, of which there
are several varieties in Zambezia. But the most
entertaining, I think, of all the smaller genera,
and one common both to the mountain and the
plain, common indeed anywhere, and _ perfectly
happy whilst he can find somebody to amuse with
his quaint antics, is the perky Crested Bulbul, justly
classified strepitans. He possesses but little in the
way of bodily finery, but he has a good, loud,
strident voice, and boundless energy. He comes
to your window in the early morning, accompanied
by his equally voluble spouse, and together they
carry on a chattering dialogue, mainly, as it would
appear, relative to figures, since his principal re-
marks appear to be based upon variations of the
Portuguese phrase “ Dois mil e quinhent’s ” (2,500).
These are accompanied by brilliant gymnastic feats,
and by a constant flirting of the wings and tail,
and erecting and depressing of his impudent crest.
He is a hustling, inconsiderate, impertinent rascal,

WARBLERS 201

but vastly entertaining. Among other song birds
of the higher elevations one or more larks occur.
I believe they may be included among singing
birds, for, although I have never seen one in the
act, yet I have heard in their midst songs so similar
to that of the British variety, that, with the utmost
confidence that justice is being done, I unhesita-
tingly accord them the benefit of the doubt. There
is, moreover, a beautiful song thrush, not resembling
our home bird, it is true, but capable of whistling
sweetly. Warblers of many kinds fill the woods
in springtime with their cheery notes. Among
the weavers, the Widow-bird (Vidua paradisea) is
a striking example. He is so called from two long,
jet-black feathers so absurdly out of proportion to
his size that you wonder how he can fly at all.
This bird, whose remaining colour scheme is worked
out in pale red and dark cream, is usually ac-
companied by a dozen or more females, who are
doubtless proud of their lord’s singular distinctive
adornment.

I have never seen in Zambezia the Sparrow,
attributed by other observers to neighbouring
portions of South Central Africa, and I doubt
very much if it is to be found here. Both in North
Africa and also in some of our Southern African
Colonies this bird is common—too common—but
there is evidently some disturbing influence which
has luckily checked its penetration into the central
portions of the great continent, where, however,
another member of the sparrow family is by no
means unknown.

The lower elevations of the territories bordering

202 BIRDS

the Zambezi display a vast number of bird families.
In the absence of ostriches, which are nowhere
found, we will commence with the game birds.
Of these Numida coronata, the common Guinea-
fowl, is very plentiful, as many as thirty being, at
times, seen in a pack. Who has not blessed this
noble bird, when, hungry from a long day’s march,
it has redeemed his frugal menu from a vagueness
bordering on famine. WN. mitrata, the East African
variety, is also to be found throughout the Zambezi
valley, as also the well-known crested bird (Guttera
eduardt). There is probably no more satisfactory
result of a good right and left than that afforded
by a brace of guinea-fowl. They present such a
fine bold outline as they rise with a thunder of
wings from the melon patch or millet field; but
although easily killed, there is no nimbler runner
of his size and weight, and if winged he will often
succeed in evading capture even by the skilful,
fleet-footed native. In addition to the francolins
mentioned as occurring in the higher regions, we
also find the crested variety (F". sephwna), Shelley’s,
and Humboldt’s. On some parts of the lower
river I have seen a specimen of what I believe to
have been the double-banded Sand Grouse; but,
if my supposition was correct, this is the only
member present of the Pterocletes.

Coming to the Sturnide family of the Passeres,
with its exquisite jewel-plumaged varieties, we find
Verreaux’s Glossy Starling, the green-winged Glossy
Starling, and Meve’s. All these birds are so
wonderful in the iridescent sheen of their brilliant
polychromatic feathers as to render it difficult to

THE PASSERES 203

afford the reader any adequate basis of comparison.
The Red-winged Starling (Amydrus moris) has
been reported, but I have never seen one. Another
member of this family, the Red-billed Oxpecker
(Buphaga), serves a useful purpose by removing
blood-sucking parasites from inaccessible portions
of the bodies of the larger mammals.

To the same order of the Passeres belong fully
sixteen different families of weaver birds, from the
striking, black-headed Hypantornis to the bright
chrome-yellow variety whose nests fringe the
overhanging bushes on the Zambezi, and depend
from the stiff fronds of the bordering Borassus
palms. Another lovely example is the bright,
verditer-blue and chestnut Weaver Finch (Pytelia),
as also the yellow-winged Sttagra. ‘There are
likewise spot-headed weavers, red-headed weavers,
buffalo and thick-billed weavers, and doubtless
many more still of which we are ignorant.

In addition to the black-tailed Widow-bird, to
which I have already made some reference, there
are altogether about nine more varieties, which
include the red-collared (Colopasser ardens), the
pin-tailed, the paradise, the purple, the white-
winged, the red-shouldered Urobrachya, and others.
Of waxbills, bishop birds, and finches there are
literally scores, whilst any adequate description of
the multitudes of larks, buntings, seed-eaters,
siskins, pipits, wag-tails, and creepers would fill the
remainder of this book and exhaust the patience of
my readers at one and the same time.

Among the Nectariniide there are at least nine
kinds of sunbirds, so indescribably lovely in the

204 BIRDS

jewel-like sheen of their exquisite rainbow-hued
colouring as to resemble large humming birds. Of
these probably the most amazingly vivid is the
Coppery Sunbird (Cinnyris cupreus), to which, as
to the malachite (Nectarina), the scarlet-chested
(C. gutturalis), and Bradshaw’s, no description in
words could possibly do justice.

Of Oreoles there are, I believe, three: Anderson’s
(Oriolus notatus), the black-headed (O. larvatus),
and the African Golden Galbula.

Among the Laniide, about ten different families
of shrikes inhabit the region of Zambezia, of which
the Zambezi green variety (Nicator gularis) and
the Helmet Shrike (Sigmodus retzii) are the best
known. These birds frequent the forest country,
and are, so far as I am aware, but sparsely repre-
sented in the high, mountainous uplands.

Of the many varieties of warblers and chats, it
would be impossible to give a detailed description,
whilst of thrushes, that known as Peters’ Thrush
is probably the best represented. A nightingale
(Erithacus philomela), but little, if in any respect,
differmg from the European variety, is heard by
night, and brings back to me as I write many
recollections of tranquil evenings spent either on
the shade-deck of a Zambezi steamer, or on the
verandahs of houses of hospitable friends, whilst
the night turned from after-dinner darkness to later
moonlight, and the shrilling of the crickets was
heard in the grass.

The European Swallow, the White-throated,
Pearl-breasted, Wire-tailed, Larger Stripe-breasted,
Monteiro’s, and the Eastern Rough-winged, are

VARIOUS FAMILIES 205

among the Hirundinide which have been identi-
fied, together with the South African and the
Banded Sand Martins. These, with the Palm and
Reichenow’s Spine-tail Swifts, are too well known
to need description.

Nightjars are common throughout the country,
those occurring being the Caprimulgus fossti, or
Mozambique variety.

It has been, I am aware, the practice to insist
upon what some observers have permitted them-
selves to describe as the near relationship existing
between such assemblages of birds as those included
in the orders of the Alcedinide, Meropide, and
Coraciide, better known as the kingfishers, bee-
eaters, and rollers. Now, although such a state-
ment may lay me open to charges of inexcusable
ignorance of my subject, I must confess I have
never been able wholly to follow or accept the
motives which have led to the grouping of these
varieties. If the three separate families which I
have just named be regarded as closely allied from
the mere circumstance of the common possession
of a foot so formed as to constitute the sole ap-
parent link of relationship, why not add to their
number the members of the Burcerotide or horn-
bills, which, without question, possess feet of a
character which should similarly qualify them for
inclusion in the wide family of the Syndactila.

Woodpeckers, though numerous, are, I believe,
the representatives of only two varieties, Hartlaub’s
Cardinal and the Bearded Woodpecker. Smith’s
(Campothera smatht) is said to occur in some parts
of the more densely forested country, but I have

206 BIRDS

not yet seen a specimen, or received very satisfac-
tory evidence of this bird’s presence.

Then there come the cuckoos, among which we
have the European (Cuculus canorus), the Didric,
Red-chested, Black and Grey, the loud-voiced
Burchell’s (Centropus burchelk), and the variety
known as Klaas’ Cuckoo. Without these birds,
especially the Centropus, Africa would lose an
immensely cheering influence. In my recollection
of journeys in the interior, the memory of the call
of the last-named connects itself irresistibly with a
sweltering afternoon sun, the sweet, dry smell of
heated grasses, and a heat radiation which lent a
trying, tremulous movement to all distant sur-
rounding objects. Then from some neighbouring
clump of bush would come pealing forth the sweet,
bell-like call of the Centropus Cuckoo, descending
the scale for seven or eight notes a semi-tone at a
time, to be answered probably by some distant
acquaintance in complete accord with the senti-
ments he expressed, and couched in precisely
similar terms. They are handsome birds with their
dusky heads, yellowish white breasts, and pale
cinnamon wing feathers. I understand that their
bullying, domineering habits render them ex-
tremely unpleasant neighbours to the smaller
members of the bird creation.

Smith’s Grey Lourie and the purple - crested
variety are the principal members of the Musco-
phagide. Livingstone’s Lourie is alleged to exist,
but I do not think conclusive proof of its presence
north of Southern Rhodesia is forthcoming. These
birds, though possessed of attractive plumage, and,

OWLS 207

in some cases, even brilliant colouring, are clumsy,
useless, ungraceful creatures, whose mission in life
is to lie in wait for you when you are looking
for guinea-fowl and partridges, for the express
purpose of flushing with all the fuss and bustle
of an immature pheasant, simply for the absurd
object of needlessly bringing your gun to your
shoulder.

Owls are a great feature. I imagine there must
be fully six different varieties. To begin with, sup-
pose yourself picking your cautious way through a
piece of dark forest, the heavy shadows of the
dense foliage gathered into a dim twilight. You
suddenly look upward to the fork of some moss-
grown tree, and a thrill runs down your spine at
the sight of a large, apparently semi-human face
glaring down upon you with an expression of angry
indignation. This is the Eagle-Owl (Bubo lactus),
probably the largest of all. If you approach him
still closer, he will spread his great wings and sail
away, noiselessly flitting before you like some eerie
forest phantom until he gets well out of sight, when
his horrible cry, which has been compared to the
last wail of a man in mortal agony, will come
echoing through the woods to give you one parting
farewell shudder. Another variety, somewhat
smaller in size, is the Spotted Eagle-Owl, whilst,
in addition, the hooting Barn Owl, in all respects
similar to the British bird, is found, together with
Pel’s Fishing Owl, and a barred variety (Glaucidum
capense).

It is a great pity that South Central Africa
should be so neglected by the parrots. It is true

208 BIRDS

that in some of the East African ports specimens of
the well-known grey bird may be purchased, but,
so far as our present information goes, this bird is
apparently a West African species, and seldom if
ever seen east of the Congo forest country, those
mentioned as found in captivity on the east coast
having almost certainly been conveyed overland
from one side of the country to the other. I do
not think the statement is justified that these birds
are never found so far to the eastward as Lake
Tanganyika. Some writers have hazarded the
definite statement that they are wholly absent on
that lake, but, on the other hand, travellers have
assured me to the contrary, and I look upon the
distribution of the grey parrot as by no means
definitely and correctly ascertained even yet.

In Zambezia we have the so-called Nyasaland
Love-bird (Agapornis), Meyer’s Parrot, and the
brown-headed Poecephalus. These birds may often
be seen in the evening, and are readily distinguished
by their flight, not unlike that of a teal, by their
curious strident whistle, and by the circumstance
that they almost invariably fly in pairs.

That singular type the Mozambique Nightjar
(Caprimulgus fossit), which rises noiselessly from
almost under your feet in the daytime, and flits
away for a few yards to quickly alight again, pos-
sesses a colour scheme which harmonises so perfectly
with the ground that it is extremely difficult to
detect. I have seen no trace of the more northerly
standard-wing variety (Cosmetornis), which occurs
in Nyasaland, and is distinguished from the first-
named by the singular elongation of one of the

THE COLUMBA 209

wing feathers, which floats streamer-like behind
as it flies.

The Columbe are everywhere, and consist of two
large pigeons, a green and a speckled variety, and of
at least four doves. These beautiful, graceful birds
in one form or another are with you throughout the
African day. They awaken you at dawn with their
pleasant cooing, usually on the way back from the
morning drink, and before they hie them to the
native millet gardens, where it must be confessed
they do a good deal of damage. It has been stated
that the large Stock Dove (Columba pheonota) con-
fines itself to high altitudes, but this is inaccurate,
as I have shot this shy variety in the forests of
Shupanga on a level with the River Zambezi. He
is a splendid creature, considerably larger than the
English wood pigeon, with very distinct speckles
on his pinky-grey plumage. There are, in every
part of the country, multitudes of pretty ring
doves, and a very small fruit-eating pigeon, whose
wing covers of vivid green flash past you like
jewels when he is in the air. His prevailing
colours are hard to give an idea of, but alternate
between bright sea-green and vivid golden bronze.
His black wing feathers are edged with dark
yellow.

Mention must not be overlooked of that cheerful
omnipresent passerine the ubiquitous Scapulated
Crow. He is everywhere, and almost as full of
diablerie as Mark Twain’s Blue Jay. The black
plumage which this bird shares with all the members
of his order is greatly relieved by the white collar
of feathers which surrounds his neck. His cawing

14

210 BIRDS

is, I think, somewhat more vociferous than the
more tranquil sound of his English relative, but
otherwise goes far to recall it. He is easily tamed,
and a most diverting creature to possess in the
back premises. Many years ago, when I was serving
at Quelimane, I possessed one of these birds, which
formed a sincere attachment for a fox terrier,
somewhat infirm of temper, which belonged to the
house. When the servants placed the dog’s meal
in the accustomed place, the crow was assuredly
watching with an appreciative twinkle in his
bright, black, beady eye. What ensued was an
almost daily occurrence. The terrier, running some-
what to flesh, would cross the terrace leisurely to
enjoy his repast, casting around him a glance of
misgiving as he sought the whereabouts of his
daily tormentor. Suddenly there would be a rush
of wings, a hoarse, triumphant croak, and an ex-
asperated yelp, as the winged thief, after waiting
until his four-footed friend was quite close at hand,
would swoop down and secure in an instant the
most succulent morsel.

In addition to the foregoing common variety,
there is a large raven which is rarely met with on
the lower plain. ‘This fine bird is of deep, glossy
blue-black, and much larger than his British
congener. ‘These, and another form which I have
not yet encountered, and concerning which there
appears to be still some doubt, are, it would seem,
the only passerines represented.

All over the southern half of the continent the
beautiful Crested Crane (Balearica) is found,
sometimes in large flocks. In Cheringoma I have

THE CRESTED CRANE 211

seen considerable numbers together on the vast
plains bordering the Urema River, and again in
the low country south of Luabo. I have possessed
several, and can imagine no more charming orna-
ment for the grounds of a country house. Stand-
ing nearly four feet in height, this majestic
creature’s prevailing hue is of pale French grey
on back and breast, darkening to a dull purple
at the tail and wing extremities. The wing covers
and the inner wing feathers are snowy white,
whilst the eyes, in which there is a perpetual ex-
pression of ill-used astonishment, are set in a white
cheek surmounted by a round greenish tuft ter-
minating in a semicircular aureole of spiky feathers
running from front to back. They are not only
ornamental, but most useful in a large garden,
effectually ridding it of all insect pests. Their
tameness is quite extraordinary, as is the singular
and touching attachment they form to any place
to which they may grow accustomed, whilst their
curious dances are difficult to behold unmoved.
In this respect they share the inexplicable habit
of the huge Marabou (Leptoptilus), and are ad-
dicted to fits of sudden unaccountable posture-
making, in the course of which they spread their
wings as though for flight, and execute a number
of more or less intricate steps, bobbing, curtseying,
and sweeping round in circles, with all the grace
and precision of a practised dancer. A pair of
these birds which dwelt in my gardens at Quelimane
were a source of continual amusement to me, and
if I could avoid it I never missed the spectacle
of the struggle between them and the small boy

212 BIRDS

who was nightly charged with the task of con-
ducting them to their sleeping place. The birds
appeared to enjoy the fun as much as I did, for
the skill with which in turn they made their
guardian pursue them without drawing a step
nearer to the roosting place might have been the
result of a prearranged plot between them.

That immense, hideous, dingy offal-eater, the
bald-headed Marabou Stork (Leptoptilus crumeni-
Jjerus), appears all over the lower country, con-
sorting with vultures and eagles and other birds
of prey. He is the largest, as he is the most
repulsive, of all the Ciconiide, and his sole claim
to consideration consists in the exquisite white
plumes which he carries beneath the long, coarse,
slaty grey feathers of his usually bedraggled tail.
These are so beautiful as, in my opinion, to entirely
surpass (in delicacy at least) the larger feathers of
the Cape Ostrich. The Marabou is a shy bird,
and must usually be shot with a rifle; the few
specimens which I have secured were obtained by
means of a ‘303. It seems to me that a shot-gun
would be almost as useless against this creature’s
armour-like plumage and massive bones as it would
be against an ostrich.

Whilst dealing with this natural division, mention
must be made of that wonderful representative
the rare Saddle-billed Stork (Mycteria). Here we
have beauty and bizarrerie inextricably blended,
grace and gaucherie curiously united. The Saddle-
billed Stork always appears in company with his
mate, and is of the purest white on breast, back,
and belly ; the extremities of wing and tail are

WATER-FOWL 213

apparently jet-black ; the head, throat, and wing
covers are of vivid bronzy green, whilst the fore-
head and beak are banded yellowish white, black,
and vivid crimson. He stands about three feet
high, and is an altogether striking and attractive
personality.

The marsh and river, which are, of course, the
favourite feeding and resting places for all three
of the last-named varieties, possess quite a feathered
world of their own. Here you may see the Great
White Stork consorting on terms of perfect amity
with the Great Purple, the Grey, and the Goliath
Herons; the Black-headed and Rufous-bellied
Herons are also present, surrounded by four different
kinds of snowy Egrets, and two or three varieties
of Bittern. On the river estuaries Flamingoes
turn whole acres of unsightly mudbanks into so
many expanses of sun-dancing pink. Along the
edge of the water, upon which Spur-winged and
Knob-nosed Geese are resting among multitudes
of duck, teal, widgeon, and sheldrake, multitudes
of shore-birds run hither and thither; wattled
plover and grey-speckled water dikkops are found
in company with white-fronted sand __plovers.
Black-winged stints and avocets pursue their prey
with redshanks, greenshanks, sandpipers, and wag-
tails. Near the coast a fine Curlew (Mumenius)
mixes with maybirds, whimbrels, and sanderlings,
whilst both the Ethiopian and the Painted Snipe
are extremely numerous in the marshes which lie
a little way back from the river. The Spur-
winged Plover (Lobivanellus albiceps) is another
curious form which during some periods of the

214 INSECTS

year obtains its sustenance in the midst of the
driest plains, just as at others he is a sure find on
the banks of our rivers. He has been called the
“‘Crocodile’s Friend,” as explained in a previous
chapter, not only because of his friendly warning
to the slumbering saurian of the approach of any
hostile influence, but also from the useful and kindly
services which during sleep he is said to perform,
in removing from between the crocodile’s teeth
such morsels of his diet as may have lodged be-
tween them. I have heard this statement as often
made as contradicted, but whether true or not it
is not one which is distinguished by any particular
superfluity of attractiveness.

In addition to the birds hereinbefore enumerated,
there are many more which I have perforce over-
looked from considerations of space, and doubtless
more still whose classification in the ornithological
groups of contemporary scientists is as yet unac-
complished ; but I fancy I have written sufficient
to assure those of my readers in whose minds
doubt may have been awakened as to the exist-
ence of a very diversified local Avi-fauna, that
Zambezia, among other African regions, possesses
no mean claims to consideration, and merits closer
examination.

In the portion of South-East Africa which gives
its name to this book, one’s admiration constantly
goes out to the many families of beautiful butter-
flies spread throughout the length and breadth of
the land. Some of these appear singly, as in the
better watered localities, where their thirst is easily

BUTTERFLIES 215

quenched ; others may be seen in groups and
clusters like some bright-coloured flower-bed, ab-
sorbing the moisture from the ground where your
path leads you through wet, marshy hollows. I
have seen square yards of tremulous-winged sulphur
or agitated mauve where the pretty short-lived
insects, regardless of my presence, unrolled and
eagerly plied their watchspring-like trunks in
sucking in the precious fluid that damped the
surface.

A common form, perhaps the most common of
all, is a very beautifully, if somewhat soberly,
marked, or perhaps it would be better to say “ pro-
tectively ” marked, grey variety. This insect is
found sunning itself in the path, the centre of the
native village, or fluttering round the impedimenta
outside the tent. When at rest on the ground,
were it not for the movement of its wings, it would
be practically indistinguishable from its surround-
ings. Another large common variety is the rapid-
flying, tailed Papilio, of dull red, covered with
green spots and stripes. This form is found in
every part of Africa which I have as yet visited.
Large white butterflies, and others of similar size
and pale yellow, are daily visitors to such patches
of flowering plants as your garden may possess ;
whilst in the forest country of the interior mag-
nificent specimens may be seen flitting in and out
of the blossoming papilionaceous trees and sweet-
scented baphias. One royal purple insect of large
size with yellow spots is frequently seen, as also
a bright crimson Tyndareus, which, like many of
the varieties whose sustenance is derived from the

216 INSECTS

blossoms of the high forest trees, seldom descend
to low levels.

Moths are extremely numerous and very trouble-
some. I never hear them mentioned without my
mind instantly conjuring up a really trying, fluffy,
white variety, which, should you be under canvas,
or taking your dinner on the shade-deck of a river
steamer, makes a point of coming and plunging
eagerly into your soup or your wine, and leaving
on the surface, after it has been fished out, an
unattractive, white, dusty scum from its thickly
covered wings. The caterpillars of this moth, for
those who care for such creatures, are very gor-
geously coloured. [I am not sure whether this is
one of the species, of which there are several,
covered with tiny spines, making them very dis-
agreeable to handle, and which have the same
properties as those of the fiendish Mucuna bean
described in a previous chapter, and set up an
irritation which is hard to bear. They are, I
consider, for this and other reasons, best left
severely alone.

The Ant is such a curse as to deserve an entire
paragraph to himself. First and foremost comes
the blind white Termite, commonly known as the
“White Ant,” whose curiously shaped _hillocks,
often reaching a height of fifteen feet or more, are
seen all over this part of Africa. When once this
pest enters your house, you may consider that
lamentation and woe are upon you. Their activity
is extraordinary, and nothing is safe from them.
Clothing, wooden furniture, saddlery, leather trunks,
anything not of metal becomes literally scored and

ANTS 217

often eaten completely through by them, and the
sole means of securing clothing in a country where
they abound consists in keeping it in air-tight, steel
uniform cases, or tin trunks. The White Ant
presents itself in its most serious aspect, however,
when it directs its efficient destructive energies
against the timbers in the roof of your dwelling.
These it will hollow out, leaving only the shell
remaining, and often a cursory glance at this would
not reveal the havoc wrought, or hint at the
imminence of the coming catastrophe. They dislike
light, and as they make their way up the wall or
across the flooring, hide themselves under a tiny
tunnel of red earth. They dislike sandy localities,
doubtless finding the soil too friable to unite and
form the covering so indispensable to their move-
ments. The only remedy I know of is a liberal
application of paraffin ; but should the insects have
fairly established themselves, your efforts to ex-
terminate them will be fruitless until you succeed
in discovering the queen ant. A terrible large red
variety builds its nest in a shrub. A singular
structure this is, about the size of a small football,
and made of large leaves stuck together with some
mysterious, glutinous compound, of which the
seething masses of ants inside alone know the
secret. The bite of this frightful creature is terribly
painful. Another variety called the Ponera is often
avenged after death by the disgusting smell with
which it surrounds you when you crush it. Then
come the black “ Warrior” ants, which move from
place to place in a thick, black mass, like a long,
living cable. The numbers which take part in

218 INSECTS

these migrations will be to some extent appreciated
when I explain that this procession, which marches
some ten or twelve abreast, between stationary
double lines apparently of spectators three or four
deep, is often twenty or thirty yards or more in
length. Woe betide the tent, house, or other
habitation which may oppose the line of march ;
it is immediately overrun, and everything eatable
(and little comes amiss to the “ Warrior”) disappears
as though by magic. Should you be abed, you
will disappear also—through the door, tearing off
your clothing, desperately intent on removing the
murderous, apparently red-hot mandibles buried
torturingly in your tender skin. I have been in-
formed by credible sufferers that the “ Warriors”
do not bite you immediately they come in contact
with your person; they wait until you are almost
covered with them, when an ant of high rank, an
Adjutant-General, or somebody of that kind, gives
a signal, whereupon they all bite together—and
you awake. J have noticed in the forest country
another immense ant of dull, dingy black, fully an
inch in length. He belongs to a solitary variety,
and I do not think is particularly malevolent in his
mode of life. There are also many other ants
common to this part of Africa, some so minute
that you only begin to notice them when you find
them assembled in countless thousands in your
sugar-bowl or jam-pot. Another cross to bear in its
season is the winged variety, which in the early
rains, and usually early in the evening, comes forth
from some secret hiding place and streams in
through the window, surrounding your lamps in

BEETLES 219

swirling clouds. As soon as they touch the glass
or shade, however, so badly are they put together,
they at once shed their wings, and run helplessly
about, to be ignominiously swept into the dust-pan
and carried away.

Beetles of many kinds abound, from the immense
variety the size of a well-proportioned mouse which
occurs in the forests and lays its eggs in elephants’
dung, to the tiny, lustrous, aniline green copra-
beetle which is a devourer of the product of the
coconut palm and—other things. Then that dis-
gusting form the Cockroach. If you should come
dispassionately to reflect on the raison d’étre of
many of these futile forms of the lower insect
world, you are forced sadly to the conclusion that
they are nothing more nor less than a blot upon
the creation. Particularly so is this the case with
the noisome, loathly Cockroach, which has formed
such an attachment to man that he has said in
effect, “ Where thou buildest thine abode, there
shall be mine also, I will eat of thy bread, and of
everything else that is thine for ever.” And he
has kept his word. I speak with a full sense of
my responsibilities when I say I have never known
a house in this part of Africa from which this
creature could be excluded. It is true that modern
mosquito-proofing keeps out the horrible insect
during its flying stage—that period when life was
one long martyrdom, and you heard every few
moments as you sat at dinner the flop of some
two-inch foetid monster as it alighted on the table
before you, or on the nape of your neck behind.
I have seen ladies hurriedly leave the table to stamp

220 INSECTS

wildly on the floor outside. I have seen strong
men turn pale as they rushed from the room, one
hand clutching nervously at the breast or shoulder
of the snow-white dinner jacket to hold prisoner
for a season that which was beneath. All this we
owe to the cockroach, even as we owe our scarified
book-bindings, gumless envelopes, ruined starched
things and tainted food. Could there be anything
more mischievous, more malicious, than this mal-
odorous quintessence of foulness ?

I must confess that, try as I may, I cannot
awaken to that condition of mind which professes
to see strange beauties and graces in the insect
abominations with which poor Africa is so richly,
so undeservedly endowed. In the early weeks of
the rains or summer season the land teems with
myriads of these creatures, which, with youth on
their side, and the natural yearning for the com-
mission of sins so unfailingly a characteristic of
that bright period, make life to humanity one long,
painful purgatory, ruinous to patience and temper
alike.

Take for example the Mosquito. I do not
know, neither does it much matter, how many
varieties of this murderous gnat there may be. I
seem to have seen fully a dozen or more. These
leave you no peace from the moment they secure
ingress to your habitation, either by night or day.
Then think of the countless blood-sucking forms
of other kinds, the Diptera, Glossinz, Leptide,
Muscide, and several others, to say nothing of
wingless blood-suckers such as the Ticks. The
present known forms obtaining a living by this

Mantis.

Locust about one-half size,

Tree cicad.

A‘noisy nuisance, the Dolichopod.

SOME INSECT PESTS.
p. 920)

CERATOPOGON 221

horrible means are grouped under one genus and
called the Ceratopogon, and comprise ONE HUNDRED
AND ELEVEN described species. The sucking habit,
misogynists will learn with satisfaction, is almost
universally confined to the females. As a rule, the
larve of the naked-winged forms of this genus are
aquatic, being laid in star-shaped clusters of alge
containing from one hundred to one hundred and
fifty eggs. The larve of these species are worm-like
creatures which lie always on the surface of the
water. No prolegs appear on the prothoracic
segment, and they wriggle through the water like
minute eels. The pupa is shorter than the larva,
possesses conspicuous respiratory horns on the
thorax, is brownish in colour, and also remains on
the surface. If, therefore, care be taken to remove
stagnant water from the vicinity of the dwelling-
house, and sprinkle paraffin into the tanks and
uncovered water receptacles, much may be done
to decrease the appalling pest which mosquitoes and
their numerous allied forms constitute to dwellers
in tropical Africa.

Then there are those dreadful forms of Glossina
the Tse-tse fly (G. morsitans), and the G. palpals,
to which latter has been traced the germ of the
dreaded sleeping-sickness now, it is said, gradually
approaching Lake Nyasa from the northward. In
the former type, the life history differs greatly from
that of nearly all the varieties of the Muscide ;
thus, instead of depositing its eggs in horse or cow
dung, the female Tse-tse produces one single larva
at a time, which is nourished in the oviduct of the
mother until full-grown. On extrusion it turns at

222 INSECTS

once into a pupa. It has been said that the Tse-tse
fly is not found far away from game, preferably
buffaloes, but on this erroneous idea I shall have
more to say in my chapter dealing with the
Zoology of Zambezia. It would, I have thought,
be interesting as an experiment to determine how
far the venom of their bite may be varied or
lessened by the change of diet produced by the
disappearance of the buffalo from some of their
haunts. Fortunately the other form (G. palpalis)
has not yet, I believe, been reported. The Tse-tse
is a small, smoky-brown insect, not unlike the
common domestic variety, and, speaking from
memory, rather less than half an inch long ; but a
striking indication of its identity is afforded by the
wings, which, in the position of rest, close one over
the other like the blades of a pair of scissors.
Their destructive effect on horses, cattle, dogs, and
in fact all domestic animals, is most remarkable ;
donkeys appear to suffer but little, however, less
indeed than mules, whilst the human animal is
only temporarily inconvenienced by the momentary
inflammation which the venom of their puncture
induces. The Tse-tse is not active by night, and
thus after sunset horses and cattle may be removed
from one place to another in comparative safety.

Large horse-flies and gad-flies are numerous in
the summer, and inflict painful punctures.

Among the Mantide, one very large praying
Mantis, of bright transparent green, is often observed.
There are several varieties, of which the one men-
tioned is perhaps the commonest. He is a bar-
barous creature, catching and devouring flies and

HORNETS AND SPIDERS 223

other insects much as a small boy devours apples,
in a succession of bites.

Bees, wasps, and hornets are very well repre-
sented, especially the latter, which build their mud
cells on the moulding of your ceilings, on the backs
of pictures, in the folds of curtains, and elsewhere.
Some of these insects are exceedingly venomous,
and are armed with a sting whose application is not
soon forgotten. One variety, of deep black with
bright yellow legs, in the course of the formation
of the cells of his nest fills them with the corpses
of spiders, and other grubs, for the support of its
young, which thus enjoys its first meal before
pushing its way out of the place of its deposit.

Venomous spiders, scorpions, and centipedes are
quite numerous; I am happy to say, however, that
they are usually too startled by their contact with
humanity to have much aggressive disposition left,
and lose no time in getting out of the way.

Locusts and grasshoppers are also with us, as
many varieties of cricket. The first-named at
times appear in immense devastating swarms which
lay the country bare for miles, and do often irre-
parable damage.

Although in the foregoing I have only succeeded
in giving the faintest and most inadequate idea of
the teeming insect life of the Zambezi Valley, for
the scant justice I have done this wide subject
there is an excellent reason, namely, my in-
tense and bitter hatred of the greater number of
the members of this branch of natural science.
If we except the exquisitely coloured varieties of
Zambezian butterflies (some of these even losing

224 REPTILES

much of one’s admiration for them by reason of the
foulness of their diet), I do not know of one single
family of the insect genera that I would not cheer-
fully see blotted out for ever. Were this possible,
life in the tropics, at present so precarious, would
lose half its dangers and three-fourths of its incon-
veniences, and man, the expressly appointed over-
lord of creation, would feel that at last his position
was moderately tenable.

In all the course of the Zambezi and its numerous
tributaries, the Crocodile, that veritable curse of
most African waterways, is found in large numbers,
and often attains to great size. Their numbers are
accounted for by the quantity of eggs deposited by
the female, amounting sometimes, it is said, to sixty
or seventy. These hatched in a sand-bank by the
heat of the sun’s rays, the young immediately take
to water. The Crocodile of the Zambezi is the
nilotic variety, possesses thirty-four teeth in each
jaw, and these being hollow, are renewed periodi-
cally by others contained within them. As they
develop to full size, they push out the teeth
within which they grew, to be in turn displaced at
a later stage of the reptile’s career. From this
peculiarity it has been inferred that the crocodile
may be the longest-lived member of the creation.
I have never seen one of these creatures which
measured more than 17 or 18 feet in length,
although that has been reported to have been
greatly exceeded. In the males four glands of
musk are secreted, one on each side beneath the
Jaws, and one on either side in the region of the

CROCODILES 225

groin. The glands are about the size of a small
olive, and their scent remarkably strong. In some
parts of the country it is believed that the powerful
odour of the male has a desirable effect in attracting
the female to him. The fore-feet of a crocodile
resemble a human hand, and are armed with claws
measuring two or three inches in length, which are
doubtless employed for holding their ghastly food,
whilst it is mangled and torn with the teeth. The
general supposition that the crocodile disposes of
his victim like a snake by immediately swallowing
it is quite erroneous, the practice being to drag the
prey at once under water, drown it, and then hide
it away under a shelving bank or among tree-roots
until it has become decomposed. It is then de-
voured. From the fact that the sixty-eight formid-
able teeth fit exactly into each other like those of a
rat-trap with a slight backward rake, and also that
when once he fixes on his prey the crocodile scarcely
ever relaxes his hold, it will be readily understood
that, once their terrific jaws have closed, escape,
except by miracle, is practically hopeless. I have
seen natives taken by crocodiles, once on the Shiré
River, and once on the Zambezi, and the sudden-
ness of the catastrophe precluded all attempt at
help or rescue. In one case the man taken, with
that amazing carelessness of which natives are so
constantly guilty, was standing in the shallows,
not much more than ankle-deep, washing at sunset,
and not more than fifty yards away from the
verandah of the house in which I was staying. I
turned to address some remark to my host, and
looked back towards the river just in time to hear
15

226 REPTILES

a piteous scream of terror and see a commotion in
the deep water a few yards from where the native
had been standing. It was such as might have
been produced by some monstrous fish swimming
at great speed towards mid-stream, when it
gradually died away. That was all. Cases have
also occurred of people being hurled off their feet
and taken, even though standing some feet away
from the water. There is a sudden, lightning-like
rush, a shriek, a momentary splash, and—-silence.
I have killed scores of these horrible monsters, and
whilst I can spare a cartridge I will never lose an
opportunity of killing them, and I beg all of my
readers, or such of them as may by chance find
themselves in crocodile-haunted waters, to earn
the blessings of the natives by forming the same
resolution.

Of poisonous serpents Zambezia does not possess
many varieties. There are two Mambas, the black
and green ; a tree-cobra, probably the Dendraspis ;
several vipers, the common puff-adder, and one or
two more snakes whose venom is doubtful. The
first-mentioned are without doubt an African
variation of that dreaded snake the Indian cobra,
and, so far as the black variety is concerned,
equally deadly. Personally I have never seen or
heard of a casualty occurring which was attribut-
able to this reptile throughout my service in
Africa ; but in the fatal cases recorded, his bite has
usually caused death in about twenty minutes.
This creature has also the power of projecting its
venom for some distance. A friend of mine in
South Africa, who witnessed an instance of this

SNAKES 227

rare faculty, informed me that the mamba spat out
the poison in a long jet, as though it had issued
from a fine yet powerful syringe. There is yet
another snake in this part of Africa which has the
same power, but of whose correct name I am
uncertain. Going back to the mambas, however,
I am aware of several cases in which these reptiles
have administered serious nervous shocks to un-
offending mortals, as in the case of a lovable old
mission lady in Nyasaland, who turned down the
sheets preparatory to getting into bed to disclose
the unlooked-for spectacle of a coiled mamba
occupying the exact position which should have
been hers. But, as I have stated, actual
casualties attributable to them are few. They
create a good deal of havoc among live stock, and
during the breeding-season are exceedingly fierce,
attacking passers-by, it is said, without provocation.
The tree-cobra is also greatly dreaded by the
natives, as, indeed, are snakes of all kinds. I have
seen in the Barué very large puff-adders, some
quite a yard in length. They are exceedingly
venomous, although, unlike the mambas in this
respect, recoveries from their bites are by no
means uncommon. I remember many years ago
hearing a description of a snake in Nyasaland
which, so far as I am aware, still remains un-
classified. This monster, stated to be some six or
eight feet long, of disproportionate thickness, and
gorgeous colouring, was a tree-dweller, and reputed
to possess the singular feature of a red comb on
its head, together with the wholly unreptile-like
power of uttering a strident call. Had my inform-

228 REPTILES

ant been any other than a minister of the gospel,
I should have hesitated to place myself in the
position of one addicted to “snake stories”; but
incredible as the foregoing particulars may appear,
the fact remains that the natives of the adjacent
regions were in great terror of a snake they used
to describe to me in a manner which left no doubt
on my mind that it was the same my clerical
friend had encountered. They had also a name
for the creature, which I regret I have forgotten.

Pythons are not very numerous, but in the
higher elevations may sometimes be encountered
in the cool moist forest, especially where rocky
ravines slope down to water. I have only seen
two, one of which I succeeded in shooting. They
reach in some cases a length of eighteen or twenty
feet.

Many very beautiful, gaily coloured lizards are
common, and ply, with every encouragement, let
us hope, their laudable calling of decimating various
forms of insects. Chameleons are also extremely
numerous, and in some cases reach a surprising
size. The Great Varanus, or Iguana, is the largest
of the former varieties. He is, of course, a
carnivorous form, I believe the only one; but
among the rest there are several in which smalt-
blue and crimson, bright yellow, green, and
steel-grey are the distinguishing colours, and their
general appearance is at times startlingly gorgeous.

Among the Cinyxes, both land and _ river
tortoises are included ; the latter, the soft-skinned
type, being very spiteful, and almost dangerous to
handle by reason of the fierceness of their bite.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VIII
ZAMBEZIAN AVI-FAUNA

Corvin
Corvultur albicollis . . White-necked Raven
Corvus scapulatus Pied Crow
C. capensis Black Crow
SrurNIDE

Creatophora carunculata

Lamprotornis mevesi .

Lamprocolius chloropterus .

Cinnyricinclus leucogaster
verreauxi

Wattled Starling
Meve’s Glossy Starling
Green-winged Glossy Starling

Verreaux’s Glossy Starling

ORIOLIDE

Oriolus auratus .
O. larvatus

African Golden Oriole
Black-headed Oriole

PLocEIpz£

Hyphantornis ae
H. cabanisi

H. spilonotus

H. auricapillus .
Sitagra ocularis .

S. xanthoptera .

S. capensis olivacea
Sycobrotus stictifrons .
Amblyospiza albifrons
Ploceipasser pectoralis
Pytelia nitidula .

Lagonosticta rhodopareia
L. niveoguttata .

Estrilda astrilda arenes
E. incana .
E. angolensis

229

Black-headed Weaver-bird
Cabani’s Weaver-bird
Spotted-backed Weaver-bird
Shelley’s Weaver-bird
Smith’s Weaver-bird
Yellow-winged Weaver-bird
Eastern Cape Weaver-bird
Spot-headed Weaver-bird
Thick-billed Weaver-bird
Stripe-chested Weaver-bird
Hartlaub’s Red-faced Weaver-
finch
Heuglin’s Ruddy Waxbill
Peter’s Ruddy Waxbill
Cavendish Waxbill
South African Grey Waxbill
Blue-breasted Waxbill

230

BIRDS

Procripa—continued

Spermestes nigriceps .

Quelea cardinalis

Pyromelana capensis
proximans .

Urobrachya axillaris .
Coliopasser macrurus .
C. procne .

C. ardens .

Vidua paradisea .
Hypochera funerea

H. funerea nigerrima .
H. funerea amauroptera

Petronia petronella
Serinus sharpei .

Mirafra africana

Macronyx croceus

M. amelie . i
Anthus pyrrhonotus .
A. rufulus .

Promerops gurneyi

Nectarinia famosa
Cinnyris microrhynchus
C. shelleyi .

C. cupreus .

C. leucogaster

Rufous-backed Weaver-finch
. Cardinal Weaver
ap-
. Smaller Black - and - yellow
Bishop-bird
Red-shouldered Widow-bird
Zambezi Widow-bird
Great-tailed Widow-bird
Red-collared Widow-bird
Paradise Widow-bird
Black Widow-finch
Purple Widow-finch
Steel-coloured Widow-finch

FRINGILLIDE

South African Rock Sparrow
East African Yellow Seed-
eater

ALAUDIDE

Rufous-naped Lark

MoraciILiip&

Yellow-throated Long-claw
Pink-throated Long-claw
Cinnamon-backed Pipit
Lesser Tawny Pipit

PRoMEROPIDE
Natal Long-tailed Sugar-bird

NECTARINIIDE

Malachite Sunbird

Short-billed Sunbird

Shelley’s Sunbird

Coppery Sunbird

South African White-breasted
Sunbird

ZAMBEZIAN AVI-FAUNA

231

NEcTARINIIDE£—continued

C. venustus

C. gutturallis :

C. amethystinus belie,

C. olivaceus

Anthrothreptes collatis diy
podilus

Yellow-breasted Sunbird
Scarlet-chested Sunbird
Bradshaw’s Sunbird
Olive-coloured Sunbird

Zambezi Collared Sunbird

ZOSTEROPIDE

Zosterops virens .

Green White-eye

Parws

Parus pallidiventris

P. niger

P. niger xanthostomus
Egithalus caroli .

Pale-bellied Tit

Black Tit

Zambezi Black Tit
Andersson’s Penduline Tit

Lanup#£

Lanius collaris .
Nilaus brubru

N. nigritemporalis
Telephonus senegalus .
T. minor .

Dryoscopus mossambicus
Laniarius starki.

Nicator gularis .
Sigmodus tricolor
Prionops talacoma

Fiscal Shrike

Brubru Shrike

Black-browed Brubru Shrike

Black-headed Bush-shrike

Eastern Three-streaked Bush-
shrike

Mozambique Shrike

Southern Grey-headed Bush-
shrike

Zambezi Green Shrike

Zambezi Helmet-shrike

Smith’s Helmet-shrike

CRATEROPODIDE

Crateropus jardinii

C. kirkii.

Andropadus debilis
Phyllostrophus strepitans

P. flavistriatus
Criniger milanjensis

Jardine’s Babbler
Kirk’s Babbler
Slender Bulbul
Reichenow’s

Bulbul
Yellow-streaked Bulbul
Milanji Bulbul

Bristle - necked

232

BIRDS

SyLvup&

Phylloscopus trochilus
Acrocephalus palustris
A, beticatus

A. schenobenus .
Locustella fluviatilis .
Bradypterus brachypterus .
B. babecula
Eremomela helenore .
Camaroptera olivacea .
C. brevicaudata .
Sylviella pallida .
Cryptolopha ruficapilla

Chlorodyta neglecta .

Cisticola erythrops

Willow Wren

Marsh Warbler

African Reed Warbler

Sedge Warbler

River Grasshopper Warbler

Stripe-throated Reed Warbler

Babbling Reed Warbler

Zambezi Bush Warbler

Green-backed Bush Warbler

Buppell’s Bush Warbler

Zambezi Crombec

Yellow - throated Fly - catcher
Warbler

Eastern Black-breasted Bush
Warbler

Rufous-fronted Grass Warbler

C. rufa Fraser’s Grass Warbler
C. terestris Wren Grass Warbler
C. chiniana Eastern Grey-backed Grass
Warbler
C. lugubris Buff-fronted Grass Warbler
C. natalensis Natal Grass Warbler
C. muelleri Muller’s Grass Warbler
Turpipz
Turdus libonianus tropi-
calis . Peters’ Thrush

Erithacus philomela .
Myrmecocichla formicivora.
Pratincola torquata
Saxicola pileata livingstonii
S. enanthe .

S. falkensteini

Cossypha bicolor

C. natalensis

C. humeralis

Cichladusa arcuata

The Eastern Nightingale
Ant-eating Chat

South African Stone Chat
Livingstone’s Wheatear
European Wheatear
Falkenstein’s Chat

Noisy Robin Chat

Natal Robin Chat
White-shouldered Robin Chat
Morning Warbler

ZAMBEZIAN AVI-FAUNA 233

Turpip2—continued

Erythropygia zambesiana . Zambezi Ground Robin
E. leucophrys_ . ‘ . White-browed Ground Robin
E. quadrivirgata ‘ . Rufous-breasted Ground Robin

MuscicaPipe£
Bradyornis grisea. . East African Flycatcher
Musicapa grisola ; . Spotted Flycatcher
Bias musicus—, ; . Black-and-white Flycatcher
Platystira peltata . . Green-throated Flycatcher
Pachyprora molitor . . White-franked Flycatcher
Erythrocercus livingstonii . Livingstone’s Flycatcher
CaMPOPHAGIDE
Campophaga nigra. . Black Cuckoo Shrike
C.hartlaubi ; . Hartlaub’s Cuckoo Shrike
Graucalus pectoralis . . Black-chested Cuckoo Shrike
HirunpInip&
Cotile paludicola : . South African Sand Martin
C. cincta . ‘ ‘ . Banded Sand Martin
Hirundo rustica. : . European Swallow
H. albigularis . : . White-throated Swallow
H. dimidiata. F . Pearl-breasted Swallow
H. smithi . . ' . Wire-tailed Swallow
H. griseopyga . . . Grey-rumped Swallow
H. cuccullata . : . Larger Stripe-breasted Swallow
H. monteiri : ; . Monteiro’s Swallow
Psalidoprocne orientalis . Eastern Rough-winged Swal-
low
Pirripz

Pitta longipennis : . Central African Pitta

Ururipe
Upupa africana . . . South African Hoopoe
Trrisoripz

Irrisor erythrorhynchus . East African Kakelaar

234 BIRDS
CypsELIDE
Tachornis parva Palm Swift

Chetura stictilema

Reichenow’s Spine-tail

CapriMULGIDE

Caprimulgus fossii
Cosmetornis vexillarius

Mozambique Nightjar
Standard-wing Nightjar

Coractip&

Coracias garullus
C. caudatus

C. spatulatus
Eurystomus afer

European Roller
Moselikatze’s Roller
Racquet-tailed Roller
Cinnamon Roller

MeErorip&

Merops apiaster .

M. persicus

M. boehmi

M. nubicoides :
Mellitophagus meridionalis
M. bullockoides .

European Bee-eater
Blue-cheeked Bee-eater
Bohm’s Bee-eater
Carmine-throated Bee-eater
Little Bee-eater
White-fronted Bee-eater

ALCEDINIDE

Ceryle rudis

C. maxima i
Corythornis cyanostigma
Ispidina natalensis
Halcyon orientalis

H. chelicuti

Pied Kingfisher
Giant Kingfisher
Malachite Kingfisher
Natal Kingfisher
Peters’ Kingfisher
Striped Kingfisher

CoLiups

Colius striatus minor .
C. erythromelon.

Natal Speckled Mouse-bird
Red-faced Mouse-bird

Bucrerorips£

Bucorax cafer

Bycanistes buccinator.
B. cristatus

Lophoceros melanoleucus

Brom-Vogel
Trumpeter Hornbill
Zambezi Trumpeter
Crowned Hornbill

ZAMBEZIAN AVI-FAUNA 235

Bucerorip“2—continued

L. epirhinus
L. erythrorhynchus
L. leucomelas

Hapaloderma narina .

Campothera smithi
Dendropicus cardinalis
D. cardinalis hartlaubi

Indicator minor .

Lybius torquatus
Tricholema leucomelas
Stactolema leucotis
Barbatula extoni
Trachyphonus cafer

Cuculus canorus.

C. solitarius
Chrysococcyx klaasi

C. cupreus . :
Coccystes glandarius .
C. jacobinus

C. hypopinarius .

C. cafer ‘
‘Centropus burchelli
Ceuthmochares australis

South African Grey Hornbill
Red-billed Hornbill
Yellow-billed Hornbill

Troconip&

Narina Trogon

Picip#

Smith’s Woodpecker

Cardinal Woodpecker

Hartlaub’s Cardinal Wood-
pecker

INDICATORIDE

Lesser Honey-guide

Capironip#&

Black-collared Barbet
Pied Barbet
White-eared Barbet
Exton’s Tinker-bird
Levaillant’s Barbet

CucuLip£

European Cuckoo
Red-chested Cuckoo
Klaas’ Cuckoo

Didric Cuckoo

Great Spotted Cuckoo
Black-and-white Cuckoo
Black-and-grey Cuckoo
Levaillant’s Cuckoo
Burchell’s Coucal

Green Coucal

MuscorHacip£

Gallirex chlorochlamys
Schizorhis concolor

Zambezi Purple-crested Lourie
Grey Lourie

236

BIRDS

Psirracip£

Poeocephalus fuscicapillus .

Brown-headed Parrot

P. meyeri . Meyer’s Parrot
Agapornis liliane Nyasaland Lovebird
STIGIDz
Strix flammea Barn Owl
Busonip2
Asio capensis Marsh Owl

Bubo maculosus .

B. lacteus .

Scops capensis
Glaucidium capense
Scotopelia peli .

Spotted Eagle Owl
Verreaux’s Eagle Owl
Cape Scops Owl
Barred Owl

Pel’s Fishing Owl

FaLconip#

Falco biarmicus .

F. ruficollis
Tinnunculus rupicolus
T. amurensis

T. dickinsoni.
Aquila wahlbergi
Eutolmetus bellicosus
Haliztus vocifer
Helotarsus ecaudatus .
Circzetus pectoralis

Asturinula monogrammica .

Buteo jakal
Milvus egyptius .
Elanus ceruleus .
Astur tachiro
Melierax gabar .
Circus cineraceus
C. macrurus

C. ranivorus

South African Lanner
Red-necked Falcon

South African Kestrel
Eastern Red-legged Kestrel
Dickinson’s Kestrel
Wahlberg’s Kestrel
Martial Eagle

Sea Eagle

Bateleur

Black-breasted Harrier Eagle
African Buzzard Eagle
Jackal Buzzard
Yellow-billed Kite
Black-shouldered Kite
African Goshawk

Gabar Goshawk

Montagu’s Harrier

Pale Harrier

South African Harrier

ZAMBEZIAN AVI-FAUNA 237

Gyps kolbii
Otogyps auricularis
Neophron percnopterus

Serpentarius secretarius

VULTURIDE

Kolbe’s Vulture
Black Vulture
Egyptian Vulture

SERPENTARIIDE

Secretary Bird

PHALACROCORACIDE

Phalacrocorax africanus

Pelecanus roseus

Mycteria senegalensis .

Leptoptilus crumeniferus

Pseudotantalus ibis

Scopus umbretta

Ardea goliath

A. cinerea .

A. melanocephala

A. purpurea

Herodias alba

H. brachyrhyncha

H. garzetta

Bubulcus ibis

Ardeola ralloides
Erythrocnus rufiventris
Butorides atricapilla .
Nycticorax griseus
Ardetta payessi .

A. sturmi .

Reed Duiker

PELECANIDE

Eastern White Pelican

CiclonlubD&

Saddle-bill
Marabou
Wood Ibis

ScoPipz

Hammerkop

ARDEIDE

Goliath Heron

Grey Heron
Black-headed Heron
Purple Heron:

Great White Egret
Yellow-billed Egret
Little Egret

Cattle Egret

Squacco Heron
Rufous-bellied Heron
Green-backed Heron
Night Heron
Red-necked Little Bittern
African Dwarf Bittern

238

BIRDS

IpipIpz

Ibis ethiopica
Hagedashia hagadash.
Plegadis falcinellus

Sacred Ibis
Hadada
Glossy Ibis

PLATALEIDE

Platalea alba

African Spoonbill

PHENICOPTERIDE

Phenicopterus roseus .
P. minor

Greater Flamingo
Lesser Flamingo

ANATIDE

Plectropterus gambensis
B. niger

Nettopus auritus
Dendrocycna viduata .
Alopochen egyptiacus
Anas undulata .
Nettion punctatus
Pecilonetta eryihrorh mucha
Nyroca erythrophthalma
Thalassiornis leuconota
Erismatura maccoa

Spur-winged Goose
Black Spur-winged Goose
Dwarf Goose
White-faced Duck
Berg Gans

Geelbek

Hottentot Teal
Redbill

South African Pochard
White-backed Duck
Maccoa Duck

TRERONIDEZ

Vinago delalandii
Columba, pheonota
Turtur ambiguus
T. capicola

T. senegalensis .
Ena capensis

Delalande’s Green Pigeon
Speckled Pigeon
Bocage’s Red-eyed Dove
Cape Turtle Dove
Laughing Dove
Namaqua Dove

Prerociip#£

Pterocles bicinctus

Double-banded Sandgr ouse

PuasiaNIp£&

Francolinus sephena .
F, shelleyi .

Crested Francolin
Shelley’s Francolin

ZAMBEZIAN AVI-FAUNA 239

Puastanipz—continued

F. natalensis .
Pternistes humboldti .
Coturnix africana

C, delagorguei
Numida mitrata.
Guttera eduardi .

Natal Francolin
Humboldt’s Francolin
Cape Quail

Harlequin Quail

East African Guinea-fowl
Crested Guinea-fowl

TurRNiciD£

Turnix lepurana

Crex egregia
Ortygometra porzana .
O. pusilla .
Limnocorax niger
Gallinula chloropus
G. angulata

Porhyrio madagascariensis .

Fulica cristata

Tetrapteryx paradisea
Balearica regulorum .

Otis melanogaster

Kurrichane Hemipode

Ra.iip#

African Corn Crake
Spotted Crake
Baillon’s Crake
Black Crake
Moorhen

Lesser Moorhen
King Reedhen
Red-knobbed Coot

GRuIpz

Blue Crane
Crowned Crane

Orps2

Black-bellied Knorhaan

O. kori Gom Paauw
EpicNEMID£
Edicnemus capensis Dikkop

E. vermiculatus .

Water Dikkop

GLAREOLIDE

Rhinoptilus chalcopterus
Glareola pratincola

G. melanoptera .
Galactochrysea emini .

Bronze-winged Courser
Pratincole
Nordmann’s Pratincole
Emin’s Pratincole

240

Actophilus africanus .

Xiphidiopterus albiceps
Stephanibyx coronatus
Egialitis asiatica

E. hiaticola

E. tricollaris

E. marginatus pallidus

E. pecuaris :
Himantopus candidus.
Recurvirostra avocetta
Totanus nebularius

T. stagnatilis

T. glareola

T. hypoleucus
Pavoncella pugnax
Tringa minuta .

T. subarquata
Calidris arenaria
Gallinago nigripennis.
Rostratula capensis

Hydrochelidon hybrida
H. leucoptera

Rhyncops flavirostris .

Podicipes capensis

BIRDS

Parrip&

African Jacana

CHARADRIIDE

White-headed Wattled Plover

Crowned Lapwing

Caspian Plover

Ringed Plover

Three-banded Plover

Tropical White-fronted Sand
Plover

Kittlitz’s Sand Plover

Black-winged Stint

Avocet

Green Shank

Marsh Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Ruff

Little Stint

Curlew Sandpiper

Sanderling

Ethiopian Snipe

Painted Snipe

STERNIDE

Whiskered Tern
White-winged Black Tern

RuyYNCHOPIDE

African Skimmer

Popicirepip&

Cape Dabchick

CHAPTER IX
ZAMBEZIAN ZOOLOGY

THE wide plains and forests bordering upon the
Zambezi River are still the permanent abiding
places of large quantities of wild animals, and those
families of great game beasts which have come most
to interest sportsmen are still to be found in great
numbers and of many varieties.

The forests of Shupanga, especially those portions
which fall within the concession of the Luabo
Company, are particularly rich in many interesting
types; and although it may be feared that for
several reasons they do not tend at present to
increase very greatly in numbers, many years must
of necessity elapse before these districts come to
share the shot-out condition of those farther to the
southward.

It may be taken, I think, as a general principle
that the most acceptable districts to the best known
and most keenly sought game animals are those in
which forests and open plains alternate at low ele-
vation. As I have previously pointed out, almost
the whole of the country we are considering is
forested more or less; but where the tree-covered
expanses lift themselves somewhat above the level

241 16

242 ZAMBEZIAN ZOOLOGY

of the basins of the rivers, they leave the animal
kingdom behind, if we except a few types to whose
habits and mode of life a higher altitude is, for some
reason, in each case essential. Taken as a whole,
therefore, there is not much to be said for the hill
country. Its depressing stillness, undisturbed, save
at long intervals, by any living form, somewhat
detracts from its rather vague beauties. Of course,
with certain migratory families such as the elephant
and others, which have their own times and seasons
for visiting well-remembered parts of the country,
either for the enjoyment of certain fruits or for
other purposes, high or low elevations are alike
indifferent. They come and go with remarkable
regularity, and appear to be fully conscious of the
significance of the seasons of seed-time and harvest ;
but taking the great mass of the families repre-
sented, they are found as a rule in the lower-lying
plains.

I do not consider that the mammalian portion of
the fauna of Portuguese Zambezia displays any very
striking distinctive features, any more than does its
avi-fauna, whilst any peculiarities induced by purely
local conditions are of so slight a nature that few, if
any, have been hitherto observed. The principal
peculiarity would appear to connect itself with the
fact that unaccountable breaks occur in regard to
certain forms of birds and beasts found both to the
north and south which here are wholly absent. Of
these, some of the most striking examples are the
Oryx, still existing in certain parts of British South
Africa and in Somaliland, as also that curious form
the Aard-wolf, of which, in Zambezia, 1 under-

CURIOUS FACTS 243

stand, no trace has as yet been found. The
Tsesseby (Damaliscus lunatus), existing a hundred
miles to the southward, and again, I believe, in
certain districts of the Nyasaland Protectorate, is,
so far as I am aware, wholly absent from the basin
of the Zambezi. Added to these the Giraffe,
Situtunga, the Lechwe and Puku among the
Cobus family, certain monkeys, and a multitude of
birds, headed by the Ostrich, are here entirely non-
existent in conditions in which their absence is, to
my mind, wholly inexplicable. Yet, curious as it
may appear, all the animals enumerated are found
to the north or south, and some to both. Expla-
nations of these surprising facts are perforce
speculative to a degree. Naturalists, in order to
account for the distribution of the world’s fauna,
are willing, with a most engaging irresponsibility,
to reconstruct the great Scheme of Things, and
turn land into water and continent into sea. Forms
and species change, doubtless, and even where no
particular degree of outward and visible alteration
may have proclaimed itself, conditions and neces-
sities of life may have proved unattractive or
insufficient, necessitating wholesale migrations ;
but putting aside the many unacceptable theories
which have been propounded to account for the
localisation of the game families, I consider it may
be explained, at least in the cases of some of the
species mentioned, by prolonged periods of drought,
or of long-extended conditions unfavourable to the
growth or development of some favourite article
of diet, and this may have caused them to wander
off in search of it to distant portions of the country,

244 ZAMBEZIAN ZOOLOGY

whence, in the ordinary nature of things, they never
returned.

On the plains and more open country several
species of large antelopes appear, sometimes in
large herds, and foremost among them are eland,
waterbuck, wildebeeste, and reed-buck ; sable
antelopes in large numbers abound in the low,
forested hill country ; also, it is said, roan are not
unrepresented. Hidden with them in the trees we
also find the shy, beautiful kudu, the graceful
impala, Lichtenstein’s hartebeeste, bush - buck,
duiker, oribi, and several smaller forms to which
more detailed reference will be made hereafter.

Elephant, rhinoceros (R. bicornis), zebras, and
buffaloes are still found in fair quantities, and the
sobbing grunt of the amorous hippopotamus is
heard on all the streams and marshes throughout
the country. There are, in addition, several pigs,
namely, the hideous wart-hog, and two bush-
pigs.

We now come to the great order of the Carnivora,
which embraces many families, the foremost mem-
bers of which are naturally the lion and leopard.
These are sufficiently numerous to be a source of
considerable danger and loss of life among the
native races, Europeans at times falling victims to
them as well. The spotted hyena is also widely
distributed, whilst servals, civets, genets, three
ichneumons, Jackals, hunting dogs, several weasels,
two otters, a wild cat, and a badger, exhaust the
list of the predatory forms so far as our present
knowledge extends.

The Rodentia are represented by a number of

BLACK RHINOCEROS,

244]

p.

RODENTS 245

rats, prominent among which are the common
black variety, a bush rat, two or three ground rats,
a long-tailed cane rat as large as a good-sized
rabbit, two hares, and about six different squirrels,
one of which is of such remarkably brilliant colour-
ing that I think it must be the Scirius lucifer.
Among the lower sub-orders of the Ungulata, I am
only aware of one rabbit, which IT believe to be
Bruce’s Hyrax.

From the foregoing formidable list it will be at
once evident that in those natural fastnesses to
which the game beasts’ arch-enemy man can still
penetrate only at the cost of considerable time,
trouble, and expense, the more important African
mammals are still fairly numerous both in numbers
and varieties; and before proceeding to describe
them in greater detail, I shall once more add to
the many I have already expressed, an earnest
hope that steps may be taken ere long to protect
these beautiful and interesting creatures from that
senseless, indiscriminate slaughter which has for so
many years been permitted to decimate their
former countless numbers, to reduce certain families
to the verge of extinction, and to remove from vast
areas of the continent of Africa a charm which can
never be replaced.

As I have just stated, Elephants are not un-
common. They must have existed a few decades
ago in considerable numbers, but as the original
primitive means of transport on the river gave
place to steam, and more and more settlers began
to arrive, the great herds were either killed off by
native hunters in the employ of Europeans, or

246 ZAMBEZIAN ZOOLOGY

wandered farther away from the settlements to
localities whither it no longer paid to follow them.
In the forests and marshes of Shupanga they have
found a refuge in which they are but little dis-
turbed, and here they will probably linger for
many years to come. Curiously enough, the
elephant of this part of Africa—and by this part of
Africa I mean the whole of the Zambezi from the
mouth to Coroabassa, and thence south through
the Barué country and the Mozambique Company’s
territory eastward to the sea—although an immense
animal, probably quite as large as, if not larger than,
those found in Uganda or Abyssinia, carries dis-
appointingly small tusks. I have seen considerable
numbers of elephants in all three portions of the
large area mentioned, and shot several, but I never
remember to have seen or heard of tusks of ivory
obtained there which scaled more than fifty or
sixty pounds at the most, and I cannot help
thinking it extremely probable that where the
larger landed associations have not themselves
destroyed these magnificent beasts for the sake of
the ivory, they have been so destroyed for that
reason by natives and other unauthorised persons.
The only domesticated African elephant of
which I have heard, leaving aside the well-known
Jumbo of unsaintly and treacherous memory, is
one which was given as a present by a former
King of Uganda to his brother ruler of Zanzibar.
I was informed by his Highness the present
Sultan that this animal was sent to India, and was
singularly docile, but what its ultimate fate was he
was unable to tell me. Since the days of the Cartha-

THE RHINOCEROS 247

ginians, who used these animals in their wars and
forays, the two elephants mentioned would appear
to be the sole instances of the domestication of this
magnificent beast; but the reported capture in
Rhodesia of a number of young elephants recently,
gives one reason to hope that very shortly we may
hear of some interesting experiments in this
direction.

In the Barué district, and in portions of the dry
thorn country, both north and south of the
Zambezi, about the Lupata Gorge, the Black
Rhinoceros may still be found. He is by no
means numerous however, and, to the best of my
belief, is absent entirely from those areas which lie
to the eastward of Shupanga in the south, or of
a line drawn thence northward to the sixteenth
parallel of south latitude. The larger form of
square-mouthed or so-called white rhinoceros is
not found in Portuguese East Africa. This latter
extraordinary creature, which was at one time so
numerous in South Africa that in certain portions
of the country, as Baker tells us, men like Oswell
and Gordon-Cumming finally got tired of shooting
them, is almost extinct in the southern half of the
great continent. A few are jealously preserved,
I am told, in the Zululand Game Reserve, and a
few are believed to exist in that portion of
Rhodesia lying between Salisbury and the Kariba
Gorge of the Zambezi, but their numbers are
thought to be very limited. It is thus a source of
great gratification, to those who feared for the
preservation of this splendid and most extraordinary
type, to learn that its occurrence to the north of

248 ZAMBEZIAN ZOOLOGY

the Zambezi, for so many years regarded as un-
certain, has now been placed beyond doubt.
Several have been obtained in North Central
Africa during the last year or two, and there is
some prospect that shortly European Museums
may be enriched by still further specimens from
the same locality.

Unlike the Rhinoceros, which from whatsoever
cause most assuredly tends to diminish in number,
no early extinction need be prophesied for that
great amphibious pachyderm the Hippopotamus,
which continues to be extremely numerous in
Zambezia when once the main stream of the great
river is left behind. As I remember the Zambezi
in the early nineties, hippopotami were still
numerous, but the daily passage of the steamers
has driven them into the affluents and marshes
which extend in places for long distances, and,
secure in these impenetrable fastnesses, they will
continue to multiply for many years to come.
When I first arrived in Zambezia in 1894, I heard
many stories of the danger these great beasts were
to navigation in small boats and canoes, and there
is no doubt that the natives are still in great dread
of them. For some hitherto unexplained reason,
they are addicted to a playful habit of upsetting
these frail craft, apparently for the pure enjoy-
ment of watching the struggles of the occupants
in the water. It is a curious fact that there are
very few cases on record of the natives being
molested whilst swimming, although this has
happened. Having caused the capsize, the great
beast does not retreat. He remains on the surface

[sto val

“SANVLOdOddI A

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS 249

calmly regarding the catastrophe with an air of
deprecating surprise which is almost apologetic.

The Hippopotamus has the distinction of
possessing the largest mouth of all the brute
creation, and in weight he comes next to the
elephant, a well-grown, mature male scaling over
five tons. This I had occasion to prove in 1898,
when, having shot one at Quelimane, a large
Norwegian steamer alongside of which I towed it
was unable to raise the carcase on deck by means
of the ordinary steam winches, which would, I was
informed, raise an ordinary lift of five tons with
ease.

Although as a rule a pacific and somewhat
lethargic animal, the Hippopotamus is not a very
desirable neighbour. His appetite requires a great
deal of appeasing, and as he has an especial pre-
dilection for cultivated growths, for maize, millet,
and above all sugar-cane, he is clearly an acquaint-
ance to be sedulously discouraged if your special
mission in life should be in the direction of tilling
the soil.

The African Buffalo, commonly and misleadingly
called the “ Cape Buffalo” (Bos caffer), although
nothing like so numerous as he was before the
great epidemic of rinderpest, which swept through
the country about the year 1896, still exists to
some extent on both banks of the Zambezi, where
there is some indication of a tendency for their
numbers to increase. In the Luabo Company’s
fine Prazo, in Shupanga, and also on the north
bank between the Nkwazi Prazo and the Lupata
Gorge, herds of considerable size may at times be

250 ZAMBEZIAN ZOOLOGY

met with. In those portions of the country which
have witnessed the rapid development of the sugar
industry, and where formerly the great wild ox
was perhaps most numerous, his latter-day repre-
sentatives are gradually retiring, doubtless following
the example of the great varieties we have just
been considering. On the wide N’konde Plains,
which are washed by the southern branch of the
Zambezi delta, I have seen buffaloes in herds of
large size, and here, by reason of the small amount
of hunting which has been hitherto undertaken,
they are fairly tame, some of the older animals
showing at times an unpleasant disinclination to
make way for one. I have known them paw up
the turf, toss their heads threateningly, and trot for
some distance in my direction before suffering
themselves to be dispersed.

I regard the African Buffalo as unquestionably
the most dangerous animal the hunter is called
upon to try conclusions with. Of immense power
and very speedy, his senses of scent, sight, and
hearing are so keen that, when once his resentment
is aroused, the greatest care and coolness must be
exercised to assure success and prevent a serious
mishap. It is perfectly ridiculous of certain writers
on African great game to make definite statements
regarding the Buffalo’s behaviour in given circum-
stances. I have killed a number of these animals
in the course of my experiences, and have witnessed
determined charges by them in circumstances in
which, had I paid regard to the dogmatic remarks
of irresponsible writers, I should have considered I
had nothing to fear. These charges took place

THE AFRICAN BUFFALO.

THE BUFFALO 251

both in bush and in open country, and on one
occasion before I had fired a shot or done anything
whatsoever to irritate the animal. I feel, therefore,
that, as doubtless in the cases of others of the
dangerous types of wild animals, they should be
hunted without any regard to the experiences of
other persons, and each, as it were, upon its own
merits, and with careful retention in the memory
of the vital fact that, from the moment he becomes
irritated, every beast is a law unto himself.

I cannot conclude my remarks on this animal,
however, without some reference to the interesting
controversy which occupied the columns of the
Field during the latter portion of 1907 relative to
the views of such observers as Sir Alfred Sharpe
and Mr. Selous regarding the dependence of the
Tse-tse fly for its existence upon the blood of the
buffalo—or, indeed, upon that of any species of
wild game. The first-named authority expressed
the opinion, held by a number of such well-known
and competent writers upon the great game of
Africa as Major J. Stevenson-Hamilton, Major F.
A. Pearce, C.M.G., and others, that in so far as
nourishment for its singularly unnecessary frame is
concerned, the Tse-tse stands in no greater need of
the blood of mammals than do the various types
of mosquito. This view is in entire accord with
my own experiences, extending over some fifteen
years spent in British Central and Portuguese East
Africa. I am acquainted in the latter portion of
the country with fly-belts of considerable width
wherein game is not only now wholly non-existent,
but wherein none has occurred over a period of years.

252 ZAMBEZIAN ZOOLOGY

Conversely, I am aware of extensive areas populous
with game of many varieties wherein the Tse-tse
has not been noted ; areas, be it understood, where
buffaloes although not permanently present occur
at certain times of year.

There are, of course, many points relating to the
curious predilection of this insect for one part of
the country in preference to another apparently
equally favourable to its development which are
still imperfectly, if at all, understood ; but that it
should be dependent upon any kind of mammal for
its sustenance, or that, as some persons of extreme
views have stated, the beautiful and interesting
game families should be exterminated in order that
the Tse-tse should thus perforce succumb to a
death by famine, is a theory so inconsistent with
the views of well-qualified observers, who have
approached the question with the advantage of a
more scientific environment than was possessed in
the days to which Mr. Selous’ remarkable memory
enables him to throw back his still active mind,
that of a truth one is forced to the conclusion
that their enthusiastically expressed views must
have been largely the outcome of imperfect
understanding.

The Pigs of the country are limited to three, and
of these the Wart-hog (Phacocherus cethiopicus) is
the largest, ugliest, and in many ways the most
singular. In addition there are the Bush-pig
(Potamocherus cherapotamus), and another of
whose identity I am uncertain, but which may be
a slight variation of the bush variety mentioned.

Of the first species, I suppose there is probably

THE WART-HOG 253

no more hideous blot upon the brute creation than
this unlovely creature. His immense head, out of
all proportion to the small, cobby body, is rendered
still more hideous by the four large, projecting,
black warts, which, placed two on either side of
his unprepossessing face, give him somewhat the
appearance, viewed at close quarters, of a perky
gnome with a large ivory moustache. I have read
somewhere that the Wart-hog is more nearly allied
to the Elephant than any other hitherto identified
existing mammal. This is another of his claims to
distinction, and one which his splendid reputed
connection probably views with somewhat mingled
feelings. However, the diminished complement
of incisor teeth in the upper jaw is taken as to
some extent distinguishing him from the ordinary
pig, so that, at any rate, must be such a source of
gratification to him that one wonders he does not
stroll about with his mouth wide open all day
long.

This animal affects sandy, more or less arid
regions, in which he may often be seen grubbing
for roots, or, with his entire family, lying extended
sound asleep in some warm, sunny, sheltered spot.
At night he endeavours to secure himself against
the attacks of predatory beasts by occupying some
hole thoughtfully provided for him by an ant-bear,
or in some natural crevice or small cave.

The Bush-pigs already referred to, which are
believed to be distantly connected with the West
African type, are covered with long bristly hair of
greyish hue, yellow in patches, and possess a
singular white beard, in this respect differing from

Q54 ZAMBEZIAN ZOOLOGY

the Wart-hog, which, with the exception of a mane
of coarse, long, black bristles, possesses but little
if any hirsute covering. The Bush-pigs are, in-
cidentally, most excellent eating, and, consequently,
a welcome addition to the wayfarer’s larder.

Turning to the antelopes, we will at once proceed
to consider the Tragelaphs, the first to claim our
attention being that splendid type Livingstone’s
Eland (Taurotragus oryx). This, the largest of
the ruminants, as it is assuredly the one of all
others which would best repay preservation and
domestication, is, in this part of the country as
compared with those found farther to the north-
ward, of a pale yellowish fawn-colour, with fine white
stripes. The old bulls, especially in the winter
season, change to a dull slaty-grey, and become
almost hairless. The latter, moreover, possess an
extremely large dewlap, and, unlike other trage-
laphine forms such as the kudu, inyala, bushbuck,
and others, both male and female carry horns. In
the country I am describing, the eland grows to a
most commanding size, one which I shot in 1904
in Gorongoza measuring nearly 5 ft. 7 in. to the
highest part of the withers. Their horns are
extremely handsome, a good pair measuring any-
thing from 28 to 32 in., and some, I believe,
considerably more.

Kudu (Strepciseros kudu) are found in the low
hilly country giving on to mountain ranges, and
are, without doubt, not only the most symmetrical
and graceful members of the wide family to which
they belong, but their colouring is the most striking
and pleasing. If one may thus generalise concern-

THE KUDU 255

ing the bodily perfections of this splendid type,
what can one say to do justice to the majesty and
beauty of the noble horns? The largest pair I
have seen measured 60% in. following the curve,
but I consider that any head with horns measuring
more than 56 in. might well be described as a good
one. The Kudu is a shy beast, of very acute
senses of smell and hearing, and his mousy-grey
colouring enables him to conceal himself very
effectually in the tree-covered hill country in which
he is almost invariably found; and were it not for
his striping, which I think is much more pronounced
than in the case of the Eland, his presence would
rarely be detected.

I have not yet heard of the Inyala (7'ragelaphus
angast) as occurring on the Zambezi, although he
is well known in British territory on the River
Shiré, and, therefore, not very far removed. On
the Sabi River to the southward, this interesting
and extremely shy animal is found, a very fine
specimen having been bagged there last year by
my friend the Marchese de Pizzardi.

The only remaining 'Tragelaph is the Bushbuck
(T. scriptus). ‘This attractive little beast inhabits
as a rule thick bush country, and may even be
found at considerable elevation. The females are
of clear chestnut, whilst the males, affecting the
peculiarities of their distant connection the Eland,
become dark slaty-grey, spotted and striped with
white on the flanks and hindquarters, and showing
a distinct stripe from withers to tail. The Bushbuck
requires careful handling, and has been known to
charge fiercely when wounded. The finest pair of

256 .ZAMBEZIAN ZOOLOGY

horns I have seen belonging to this animal were
obtained in the lower Zambezi district by Fleet-
Surgeon Stalkartt, R.N., and measured over nine-
teen inches in length. The Bushbuck’s horns are
almost exactly the same shape as those of his big
brother the Situtunga (7. spekez), with the ex-
ception that the latter possess white tips, which
are not characteristic of the smaller variety. The
amphibious Situtunga does not occur, so far as is
known, within the region bordering the Portuguese
Zambezi.

The Zebra (Hquus zebra) runs in large herds,
and is, so far as I can form an opinion, identical
with the clearly striped Central African form,
wherein well-defined marking runs all the way
down the limbs, and even the tail is striped to the
end. I do not think, unless in the mountainous
northern portions of the Zambezia district which
are still imperfectly known, the smaller type, known
as the Mountain Zebra, occurs; the one generally
known possessing markings in the form of broad,
jet-black stripes on dark cream or pure white.
There is no marking whatsoever between the stripes,
such as distinguishes both Chapman’s and Burchell’s
varieties.

I do not like to include the Zebra among the
game families for consideration in the same way
as the remaining varieties, for, to my mind, this
beautiful creature should never be shot. Not only
is their presence on the plains an ornament which
Africa could ill spare, but, by judicious crossing,
he would, I doubt not, prove an animal of great
importance in future schemes of territorial ex-

THE ZEBRA 257

ploitation. The Zebra, like most other forms of
wild horse, has not much fear of man. In parts
of the country where they have not been disturbed
the herd will stand and observe the passing traveller
at a distance of not much over a hundred yards
without displaying any particular disposition to
stampede. In British as well as German East
Africa, zebra farms have been established at which
a fair amount of success has attended their training,
but their usefulness for purposes of traction has
been greatly marred by some weakness—probably
of the quarters—which, it may be, will not be
successfully eradicated until recourse is had to
crossing with some equine type of more muscular
build.

That dun-coloured, partially striped horse the
Quagega (H. quagga) has not, I am informed, been
reported from any portion of Africa north of the
Zambezi, which river, indeed, he does not approach.
It was recently stated that this form is on the point
of becoming extinct,* unless it be increasing in the
southern portion of the continent.

Of the Cobus family there is, I believe, but one
representative, namely, the common Waterbuck
(C. ellipsiprymnus). YT have always regarded this
handsome antelope as more nearly approaching the
British stag in build, carriage, and appearance than
any other species of African game. Like all
Cervicaprines, the female carries no horns, which
in the case of the male are extremely fine, extending

* Since writing the foregoing, I have it on the authority of that
eminent observer Major Stevenson-Hamilton that the Quagga has
entirely died out.

7

258 ZAMBEZIAN ZOOLOGY

slightly forward at the tips and strikingly annulated.
They reach in some cases a length of from twenty-
nine to thirty-two inches, but, as is the case with
other forms, they vary greatly, a twenty-nine-inch
head being in one locality regarded as abnormally
large where in another it would scarcely attract
attention. The Waterbuck is of dark grey; his
long coarse hair, which, beneath the chin, grows to
a length of three or four inches, gives him the
appearance of a beast meant by nature for a colder
climate. A white ring on the rump is the only
mark he possesses, which, in some of the sub-species
found in British territory to the northward, is pale
yellow or dun-coloured.

Found as a rule in herds of from ten to twenty,
or more, they frequent grassy plains not far from
water, or thin forest giving on to open country.
They are very tenacious of life, and a powerful
rifle is necessary in hunting them. I have been
informed that another Cobus, the Puku (C. vardont),
has been seen in the country south of the In-
yamissengo mouth of the Zambezi; but although
I am familiar with this district, I have never seen
any trace of it. So far as we know at present,
it does not occur until the middle course of the
Loangwa * River is reached, whilst thence onward
to Lake Mweru it is found in immense herds.

The Sable Antelope (Strepciseros niger), although
existing in large numbers, rarely attains to the
impressive horn development which distinguishes
the male in Nyasaland, in Southern Rhodesia,
and in the Northern Transvaal. Here is another

* Or Aroangwa,

‘UTEVS AIVN ONNOX

THE SABLE 259

magnificent creature, and, fortunately, yet common
throughout East and South-East Africa. The
Sable’s chief attraction lies in his vivid colouring,
an old male being quite black on his back and
mane, and snowy white beneath his belly, on his
cheeks, and on the inner sides of his limbs. About
the size of a small Alderney, his shapely head, sup-
ported by a powerful arched neck, is surmounted
by a magnificent pair of deeply annulated horns,
which sweep backward almost in a perfect half
circle, and attain a length of considerably over
40 inches, sometimes measuring 10 or 12 round
the base. It is said that the Sable is one of the
few, if not the only animal a lion is chary of
attacking. He is extremely dangerous when
brought to bay, and so powerful and courageous
that I have sometimes thought there may be some
truth in the statement. The female is somewhat
smaller than her consort, and her horns nothing like
so impressive. Her colouring, moreover, is some-
what less violent, very dark chestnut-brown with
darker tendencies on the back and mane, the under
portions of the body yellowish white, instead of pure
white as in the case of the male. A herd of Sable
presents one of the most interesting and fascinating
of all game pictures—indeed, as they sweep past
one at a short range, a bewilderingly beautiful
vision of strength, swiftness, and symmetry, one
feels instinctively that the camera is the instrument
one requires and not the rifle at all. It is a moment
for the art of the limner, not that of the destroyer.

That larger member of the same family—the
plainer member, as one cannot help thinking—the

260 ZAMBEZIAN ZOOLOGY

Roan Antelope (Hippotragus equinus) is not
numerous. In the low forest country his presence
may often be detected by the destruction wrought
among the ant-hills of the blind white termite,
which he breaks up to get at the salty earth within.
In this way he spoils his appearance to some extent,
as it is extremely rare to find an old male with
horns undamaged by this form of burglary, or else
by fighting, for of all the African antelopes he is
said to be the most pugnacious whilst under the
influence of the tender passion, and cases are not
infrequent of fatal encounters among the young
males. The destruction to the horns, from one
cause or another, is not so general among the
females as among the females of the Sable, but
neither sex of the Roan is in any particular so
interesting or attractive as the former either in
appearance, colouring, or horn measurement.

The Blue Wildebeeste or Brindled Gnu (Con-
nochetes taurinus) occurs occasionally on the
southern outskirts of Shupanga. ‘This curious type,
closely related to the Nyasaland Gnu (C. t. johnstont)
discovered by Mr. H. C. Macdonald in 1895, but
differmg from the latter by the much greater
exuberance of its shaggy mane, and face and neck
hair, as well as by the absence of the inverted white
chevron on the nose, is completely absent from
Nyasaland, but reappears in East Africa endowed
with a white beard under the name of C. alboju-
batus. The long, weird skull of this curious animal
is not unlike that of the Hartebeeste, to which, by
some scientists, it is regarded as nearly related. It
may be, but this is apparently one of the many

WILDEBEESTE AND HARTEBEESTE — 261

points concerning which observers are still consider-
ably exercised. One shining light goes so far as to
trace the Gnu with ponderous precision to an un-
doubted type of specified hartebeeste, and I cannot
help thinking that since the original form still
survives, and appears none the worse for having
severed its connection with its coexisting, aberrant
relative, there is ground for surprise that it should
display no outward and visible sign of its share in
so singular a connection. But nearly all scientists
are like that. I remember reading somewhere that
the unfortunate type of antelope we are considering
had been gravely classed with the Budorcas of
Tibet, whilst in the same page, and only a few lines
lower down, one found the gifted author apparently
prepared to welcome suggestions lending probability
to an affinity between the Wildebeeste of Africa
and the Musk Sheep (Ovibos) of North America.
One’s mind loses itself, therefore, in a wide field of
conjecture as to what the feelings of the wretched
Wildebeeste would be did he but know of half the
outrageous attempts which are so often made to
connect him with families with whom he would prob-
ably in no sort of way welcome proof of alliance.
Let us now turn to the Hartebeeste (Bubalis
lichtensteint), and see how far his appearance at
least lends itself to such theories as those above
quoted. All over the open grass and thinly forested
country the Hartebeeste occurs with wearying per-
sistency, single beasts frequently consorting with
zebras, waterbuck, and other varieties, but not
tending, so far as I have yet ascertained, to produce
any more aberrant types by means of these casual

262 ZAMBEZIAN ZOOLOGY

acquaintanceships. If he were built on more
elegant lines, the Hartebeeste would be an interest-
ing, I had almost written a prepossessing animal ;
but he is too high on the withers and too low on
the croup. Added to this, the beast’s head is dis-
proportionately long and big, and he has a way of
cantering off as though all four of his feet were off
the ground at once. There is a considerable differ-
ence both in the size and colouring of the two
sexes, the males being of a dark rufous chestnut,
whilst the females are much paler in colour and
smaller in size. Both sexes carry horns, which are
not very desirable as trophies. The Hartebeeste is
amazingly tenacious of life, and I suppose probably
every hunter of great game possesses recollections
of having lost them when severely wounded oftener
than any other beast. The chief point in shooting
this animal is that it furnishes you with a supply of
most excellent meat; but unless the head-skin be
taken, and the whole carefully mounted, there is
little to redeem the long, coffin-shaped skull which
hangs from so many East African walls from an
aspect of utter gruesomeness.

An interesting and very beautiful cervicaprine is
the Impala (<f’piceros melampus), found in these
forests in large herds. The Impala is the imper-
sonation of grace and elegance from the dainty,
annulated, lyre-shaped horns to the small, well-
formed, pointed foot. Curiously enough, in Zam-
bezia the horns never attain so great a size as in
British East Africa, where they are also common.*

* This may be due to the fact that the Zambezi species is slightly
smaller than that found in the East African forests.

REEDBUCK 263

Of the brightest chestnut, with white belly, and a
striking black line down the leg, this graceful type
is found, as I have said, in the forests not far from
water, and where the tree growths alternate with
open glades. It seems almost sacrilege to mention
in connection with so fascinating and gentle a
creature that the Impala is remarkably good eating,
as is also that other well-known cervicaprine the
Reedbuck (Cervicapra arundinum), which is, I
fancy, rather larger in size than the species just
mentioned.

The Reedbuck does not run in herds; usually
two or three are seen together, never more than
five or six, and most frequently only one. On
taking alarm, reedbuck bound away with a peculiar
wheezy squeak, and if the hunter have the presence
of mind to whistle shrilly, they will often halt out
of sheer curiosity, thus giving him a chance of a
shot. ‘They are often very trying to a stalker, as
the singular sound they emit when disturbed alarms
the game for a considerable distance. Reedbuck
are about the size of a large English roe-deer, and
are, I am persuaded, undoubtedly a branch of the
Cobus family (unless, that is, they be aberrant
forms of the Himalayan Ibex !). Near the sea coast
they are especially numerous, their spoor being
often visible on the sands.

The Duiker (Cephalophus grimmi) is fairly
numerous, both in the low and moderately elevated
country, preferring always forest to plain. I have
sometimes thought I have seen the so-called red
variety in these districts, but it is somewhat diffi-
cult to distinguish between them, except for the

264 ZAMBEZIAN ZOOLOGY

fact that the latter stands a little higher on his legs.
It is by no means easy in the forest to identify the
Duiker, in the momentary glimpse which is often
all that one is afforded, from the slightly larger
Oribi (Oribia scoparia), which is also not un-
common, has similar peculiarities, and inhabits the
same class of country. These charmingly pretty
antelopes, with the Klipspringer (Oreatragus sal-
tatur), constitute, I believe, the only members of
the Bovide found in Zambezia.*

I have purposely left the Carnivora until last,
as a sort of feeble protest against the vast de-
struction they work among those other useful,
beautiful, and, to my mind, more interesting
families we have just been considering. First and
foremost comes the Lion. In all the course of the
lower Zambezi lions are found. In some places
they are numerous—too numerous ; in others they
occur periodically; but their grunting and, less
frequently, roaring are sounds which are among
the traveller's nightly experiences in certain por-
tions of the country. Though I understand both
the black-maned and the yellow-maned animals
belong to the same species, the latter is the most
commonly reported. South of the Zambezi and
near the Mozambique Company’s boundary on the
Mupa River, lions are particularly abundant, and
many man-eaters occur. To such an extent, in-
deed, do they carry on their depredations that it is
no uncommon experience to pass large, well-built
villages which have been completely abandoned

* Livingstone’s antelope is reported from the Shupanga Forest, but
I have never seen one.

THE REIGN OF TOOTH AND CLAW — 265

owing to the number of people taken. In these
districts it is not unusual for the native huts to be
enclosed in a high palisading designed as a pro-
tection, and interwoven with thorn bushes, but in
spite of these precautions great numbers of casualties
occur.

Leopards, though undoubtedly more numerous,
are much less frequently seen. They are, however,
constantly trapped by the natives, who have several
well-devised means of effecting their capture.
Leopard skins are often brought in for sale, usually
minus the claws, which are extracted and worn as
potent charms against the animal and its depre-
dations. Servals also are fairly numerous, and,
there is no doubt, cause great destruction among
the smaller antelopes, monkeys, and lesser forms.
They are beautiful creatures, often nearly four feet
long, and possessed of a curious lynx-like tuft on
the ears. A Wild-cat (Felis caffra), a Genet, and
a small Civet exhaust the chief members of the
Felide, if one omit the common Cat domesticated
by the natives all Africa over. I do not think any
hunting varieties similar to the Cheetah are known
here. They occur, it is said, in some of the northern
portions of the Province of Mozambique, but I
have not heard that their range extends south of
Angoche.

The Hyena represented here is the spotted
variety (H. crocuta), which is found all over
Central and South Central Africa, with the common
Jackal (Canis adustus).

A serious scourge is the Hunting Dog (Lycaon
pictus), found all over these parts of the continent.

266 ZAMBEZIAN ZOOLOGY

They are said to run in small packs of ten or a
dozen, and to cause much loss of life among the
lesser antelopes.

Three Ichneumons and a small black and white
Pole-cat are found, and, in the rivers, two distinct
Otters.

In dealing with the Monkeys, we are at once
struck by the curious fact that neither of the great
anthropoid apes, the Chimpanzee or the Gorilla
common to Ethiopian Africa, the black and white
Colobus (C. palkiatus), nor, so far as I am aware,
more than two or three Cercopithecus monkeys are
found in Zambezia, whose varieties only include the
Yellow Baboon (Papio babuin), the grey variety dis-
covered by Dr. Percy Rendall in Nyasaland some
years ago (or something so like it that I cannot
detect the difference), and two or three grivets.

The two baboons I have mentioned are every-
where, and are a source of considerable loss and not
a little alarm to the natives, whose gardens they
rob, and whose women and children they frighten.
In out-of-the-way portions of the country where
Europeans are few, they will, when numerous,
scarcely take the trouble to get out of the way in
the case of an individual not furnished with fire-
arms, of whose uses they appear to be perfectly
aware. Cases of attack by baboons are by no
means unknown. Native women regard them
with terror, and state that the baboons have been
known to outrage them. I have heard this state-
ment in so many different parts of Africa, that it is
hard to believe there may not be some foundation
for it, and when you come to consider that this

‘GUVdOuT NVOIUIY AHL : LG] (NV LHSIY doo V

GAME BEASTS 267

animal possesses about thrice the strength and
activity of a Great Dane, and is of about the same
size, it will be understood that he is capable of
much. Their prudence and foresight in throwing
out sentries and outposts when attacking a native
garden are positively uncanny.

The only remaining known members of the order
of Primates are the Lemuroids, two in number,
consisting of the great Galago, and the small
Moholi species, which are very numerous, and with
their thick, greyish white fur and bushy tails are
not unlike some strange mixture between a monkey
and a small fluffy cat.

The Edentates are represented by but one
variety, the Scaly Ant-eater (.Zanis temminck).

The common Porcupine is addicted to leaving
his quills lying in the path, but is seldom seen.

In many parts of Africa—most, as it seems to me
—the preservation of game beasts has been far too
long delayed, and by preservation I mean, of course,
the present measure of very partial protection
which regulations in force extend. In most of
the British South African Colonies game is almost
non-existent, and although our various spheres of
influence nearer the equator are unlikely, by reason
of timely enactments, to be denuded in the future
to the same extent, one must hope that no efforts
will be spared to widen the scope of these salutary
measures until, in a form suitable to given con-
ditions, the whole of Africa may in this way
assume one common responsibility. In British
East Africa, game beasts of many varieties form
one of the most striking features of a panorama

268 ZAMBEZIAN ZOOLOGY

in itself of no ordinary beauty and charm. I am
told that at times, from the trains of the Uganda
Railway, herds upon herds of zebras and gazelles
may be seen, and not infrequently rhinoceroses
and other animals, and I think every credit is due
to the authorities for the timely adoption of such
protective measures as have secured so satisfactory
a result.

But no game laws can possibly prove efficacious ;
no reserves can form the sanctuary they were in-
tended as, unless pains be taken to see that they
fulfil the purpose for which they were designed—
in a word, unless rangers are appointed to bring
offenders, as well European as native, before the
person appointed to administer the law. Then
again there is another difficulty, and one which
must tend in the future very largely to increase,
and that is the responsibilities towards game laws
of landowners upon whose property game occurs.
It is not unnatural that the landed proprietor,
strong in the possession of his titles, should take
it hardly if you tell him that he may not do as
he will upon his own soil. He will resent inter-
ference. Rightly or wrongly, he will in most cases
have none of your visiting game-regulation official,
and then the authorities will have to consider a
position which has not as yet seriously confronted
them, namely, how far the presence of untamed
elephants and wandering rhinoceroses is consistent
with agriculture and husbandry. I suppose in time
we shall make use of elephants. They must be
either utilised or destroyed. All the parts of Africa
in which they occur are not unprofitable waste lands

LICENCES 269

like Knysna Forest and the Addo Bush in Cape
Colony. The rhinoceros must go, and so, I suppose,
must the picturesque but useless hippopotamus.
These two eliminated, therefore, the elephant in
chains, and the remaining game families located in
well-defined reserves, Africa will then present an
aspect towards which all our energies should be
directed, and all our regulations be framed.

Again, touching the question of licences. In the
district of Zambezia, outside the concession of the
Mozambique Company, which has its own game
laws, the regulations in force are those enacted by
the central Government of Lourenco Marques.
They are extremely reasonable, but, in my opinion
at least, they do not fulfil the purpose for which
they were intended, since there is no check on the
number of beasts which a licence-holder has shot.
I have noticed that most of the men who come to
shoot in Africa insist upon taking as much out of
the country as they can, within reasonable limits ;
and so long as there is no supervision, cases will
occur in which the regulations will be broken, and
the number of beasts designated by the licence
exceeded. At Beira there is a rather salutary
measure in force which necessitates the production
by the sportsman of his trophies, together with a
declaration specifying them, and signed by the
district official within whose jurisdiction they were
shot. This has done much, no doubt, to check
illicit slaughter, and I think it might with advan-
tage be adopted in other hunting centres.

270 ZAMBEZIAN ZOOLOGY

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER IX
LIST OF ZAMBEZIAN MAMMALS

Order Primates

Cercopithecus albigularis
C. moloneyi

C. opisthosticus (?)
Otogale kirkii

O. moholi .

Papio babuin

P. pruinosus (?) .

White-throated Grivet Monkey
Moloney’s Grivet

Great Galago
Small Galago
Yellow Baboon
Grey Baboon

Order Uncutatra

Elephas africanus
Rhinoceros bicornis

Equus tigrinus .
Hippopotamus amphibius *

The African Elephant
The Black Rhinoceros
The Zebra

The Hippopotamus

Sub-Order ArriopAcryLa

Bos caffer .
Taurotragus oryx
Cobus ellipsiprymnus .
Hippotragus equinus .
H. niger
Strepciseros kudu
Bubalis lichtensteini .
Connochetes taurinus
Cervicapra arundinum
Tragelaphus scriptus .
/Kpiceros melampus
Cephalophus grimmi .
Ourebia scoparia
Oreotragus saltatur
Phacocherus zethiopicus
Potamocheerus cheeropo-
tamus

The Cape Buffalo
The Eland

The Common Waterbuck
The Roan Antelope
The Sable Antelope
The Kudu

The Hartebeeste
The Brindled Gnu
The Reedbuck

The Bushbuck

The Impala

The Duiker

The Oribi

The Klipspringer
The Wart-hog

The Bush Pig

* This animal is only so placed for the sake of convenience.

ZAMBEZIAN MAMMALS

Sub-Order HyracompEa

Procavia brucei .

Bruce’s Rabbit

Order EpEenrara
Sub-Order Manes

Manes temmincki

Temminck’s Ant-eater

Order Carnivora

Felis leo

F. pardus .

F. serval

F. caffra

Hyena crocuta .
Canis adustus
Herpestes gracilis

H. undulata
Crossarchus fasciatus .
Viverra civetta .
Lycaon pictus

Lutra capensis (?)

L. maculicollis .
Peecilogale albinucha .
Genetta tigrina .

The Lion

The Leopard

The Serval

The Native Cat

The Spotted Hyena

The Striped Jackal

The Slender Mongoose
The Grizzled Mongoose
The Banded Mongoose
The Civet

The Hunting Dog

The Cape Otter

The Spotted-necked Otter
The White-collared Weasel
The Blotched Genet

Order RopEntra

Mus rattus

M. natalensis

M. dolichurus :
Thryonomys swinderenianus
Lepus crassicaudata

Lepus (?) .

Hystrix capensis

Xerus cepapi

X. lucifer (?)
Anomalurus cinereus .
Sciurus palliatus

The Black Rat

The Natal Ground Rat
The Large Cane Rat
The Ground Rat

The Thick-tailed Hare
A smaller variety

The Common Porcupine

The South African Splendid

Squirrel
The Splendid Squirrel
The Grey Flying Squirrel
The Pale Squirrel

Q71

CHAPTER X
EXISTING SETTLERS

Ir would appear from recent reports from the
British Vice-Consul* at Chinde, that the chief
articles of export from Zambezia, neglecting sugar,
of which some account was given in a preceding
chapter, are, in order of importance, Ground-nuts,
Bees-wax, Rubber, Ivory, and various kinds of
beans; and as it is evident that they must be collected
and sent down by somebody, we will now devote
a little space to describing the actual position of
the settler, and give some description of his
circumstances and environment.

We have already seen, in the chapter dealing
with the Prazoes, that a certain number of
Europeans and others exist in those large areas ;
but as they have been already more or less referred
to, we will deal first of all with the British Indian
merchant, incorrectly known to Europeans as the
“ Banyan,” and to the natives as the “Monyé.”
There can be little doubt that this type of Indian
is singularly well equipped for the native trade,
practically the whole of which has for a long time

* Mr. Stanley Hewitt-Fletcher, who is also Agent for the Nyasaland
Protectorate, and has passed many years in these parts of Africa.
272

bs

A TYPIC. :
AL ‘‘ BANYAN.”

THE BRITISH INDIAN 273

past been in his hands. Not only is he wonder-
fully impervious to the effects of climate, but he
possesses that inestimable faculty of easily acquiring
a fluent knowledge of native tongues which at
once places him on a footing of easy, jocular
familiarity with the members of the tribes whose
produce he desires to exploit. He has successfully
monopolised the whole of this class of commerce
in all the extent of the Zambezi Valley, if one
should omit centres like Chinde and Tete, where
one or two European firms and trading companies
maintain agents whose lives must be of a singularly
restful and tranquil description, and whose ex-
periences probably do not include many of those
momentous incidents which, in more populous
centres, invest the pursuit of business at times with
an air of adventurous uncertainty. I should think
it extremely probable that in no part of the world
are there keener traders than the British Indians.
No profit is too small or inconsiderable; no time
too long to devote to the successful driving of a
bargain. His manner of life, domestic in the ex-
treme, is nevertheless so thrifty, so frugal, and his
wants, bounded by a little curry and rice, are so
inexpensive, that few there are who cannot remit a
few rupees to India at the end of the year, to add to
the store which, when business cares and struggles
in the waste places of Africa are over, shall support
them in an honoured old age in Goa or Bombay.
The caste of Indian most frequently seen is the
Mohammedan. A few Parsis are met with, it is
true, but these, with a small admixture of Hindus,
remain in the coast ports, and rarely venture very
18

Q74 EXISTING SETTLERS

far afield—certainly they never establish themselves
among the native villages as do the Mohammedans
or so-called “ Banyans.” It is an interesting sight
(to all but immigration restriction agents) to witness
the arrival of a steamer in an East African port
coming from Bombay. Her fore-deck resembles
a fair, spread all over as it is with the bedding,
personal property, and other effects of the British
Indians, who, in flowing white robes and _ glittering
skull-caps and waistcoats, gaze anxiously at this
land of Africa where all hope to amass a moderate
competence at least. ‘They are accompanied in
many cases by their wives, meek, brown-skinned,
not uncomely women, with long, jet-black, sleek
hair, and many bracelets, anklets, ear and nose
rings of silver and gold, some even enriched with
precious stones of no mean value. Then the
feminine clothing is another perfect joy to one,
especially at the moment of disembarkation, when
each displays her very best and most fascinating
costume. The colours are amazingly vivid, but, for
all that, they seem to blend harmoniously into
artistic wholes, in every way proper and suitable
to the clear, polished reddish-brown of their skins.
The only other occasion on which one is permitted
to feast one’s eyes on the brilliant conflagrations of
colour which their clothing presents is on that of
the procession of the Mohammedans at Ramadan,
when, with flags flying and to the music of their
drums, the true believers march through the streets
singing shrill, unmusical passages from the Koran.
In addition to the type of Banyan mentioned,
another neighbouring tribe of Asiatics from the

A NEW PEOPLE 275

Portuguese Indian Colony of Goa is to some extent
represented. The latter, however, is, as a rule,
indistinguishable from his British neighbour, and
his methods of doing business and mode of life are
essentially the same.

These men intermingle freely with native women,
and a type of half-caste is fairly numerous which
exercises no small influence over the native
tribes among which it has made its appearance.
Kspecially in the more ancient settlements are
these offspring of the Oriental and the African most
frequently to be found, and it is only fair to state
that the Indian parent displays great solicitude
for their education and future welfare. Many of
these men may be found in positions of no small
responsibility, for which their Indian sagacity com-
bined with their African robustness very singularly
fit them. Thus, apart from employment in the
establishments of the British Indians themselves,
it is not unusual to find them occupying posts of
some responsibility in the service of the govern-
ment of the Province of Portuguese East Africa.

Indians who are not actually born on the East
African coast or its hinterland usually arrive there
as young men and engage themselves as salesmen
in the shops and stores of such of their country-
men as are already established. At the end of
such engagement, they endeavour, as a rule, to start
business on their own account, and as there is
rarely an opportunity of doing so in the towns, the
enterprising young “ Banyan” invests a portion of
his savings in the purchase of a small stock of
native barter goods, and, with these borne on the

276 EXISTING SETTLERS

heads of a few native carriers, fares forth into the
unknown, or, at any rate, into some outlying district
where opposition is slight and native villages many.
Here he builds a good-sized hut, and, arranging
his calico, beads, matches, brass wire, and other
tempting wares on roughly constructed shelves,
publishes to the small surrounding community that
the new establishment is now open for the transac-
tion of business, and commends his future to Allah.

His cash turnover is not, it must be confessed,
at first encouraging; but with a natural shrewd-
ness sharpened by his recent commercial training,
considerable transactions in native produce soon
enabled him to realise that, though cash is not yet
plentiful, he has, in a short time, succeeded in
showing a profit in kind. The floor of his hut is
now cumbered with sacks of maize, millet, oil-
seeds; ground-nuts in matting peep from beneath
the Avtanda * upon which his siesta is taken ; a large
mat at one end of the living-room holds a heap
of dirty-looking pieces of valuable bees-wax, and a
not inconsiderable quantity of half-cut balls of
greyish rubber fill up a soap-box in the angle by
the solitary unglazed window. The budding trader
looks around with satisfaction, feeling that his future
is now full of promise. A journey to the nearest
European centre shortly afterwards enables the
entire accumulation to be disposed of, and a credit
opened on the strength of the accruing profits
for a much larger stock. In a year or two the
small native boy who has afforded him hitherto
all the assistance he required proves insufficient to

* An Arab or Indian bedstead.

THE PROSPEROUS “BANYAN” 277

cope with the rapidly increasing volume of trade.
His master must perforce send to Bombay for a
relation to assist him, and makes a point of select-
ing one with a family of children, for, as he truly
says, “Small relations are cheaper than grown-up
strangers, and do almost as much.” ‘Thereafter
you shall see him from time to time engaging more
and more assistants, opening small branch establish-
ments all over the country, and getting gradually
into his hands the threads of a sound business
concern. It is now, however, clearly time for a
move in the direction of the nearest populous
town or trading centre. He must open a large,
important-looking, well-lighted shop, where, whilst
awaiting custom, he can lean over the counter
and estimate his profits as he eyes the towering
shelves full of valuable stock destined to supply
his far-flung branches. At this stage he begins to
remit surplus funds to India, to learn the European
language of the country (English or Portuguese,
as the case may be), and to acquire a working
knowledge of local law and custom. Thenceforward
a valuable stock, with many avenues for its dis-
posal, buttressed by a sufficient bank account, pro-
claims the success of a prosperous merchant ; and
should he not overstep the bounds of caution and
give reckless credit to persons incapable of meeting
their engagements (a weakness not altogether con-
fined to the Indian), he passes through life growing
richer and richer, and in the fulness of time returns
to beloved Bombay, and dies in the soul-satisfying
odour of distinguished commercial success,

The foregoing outline sketches fairly accurately

278 EXISTING SETTLERS

how those Indian merchants who have succeeded
in business attained their object, and some there
unquestionably are who have become exceedingly
wealthy. In addition to the foregoing, who, as I
have endeavoured to show, are engaged entirely in
commercial pursuits, there are in various portions
of the district not a few Indians, usually, I believe,
natives of, or descendants of natives of Goa, whose
Portuguese nationality has enabled them to attain
positions of very considerable responsibility. One
of these, a man of ripe age and considerable
educational attainments, exercises minor magisterial
powers conferred upon him many years ago by
the government, and these he wields with such
judgment and moderation that he has come to
be greatly respected by the surrounding tribes.
This man has, I understand, some slight African
blood-admixture. He is the head of a numerous
family, who all, curiously enough, are engaged in
pursuits of a character somewhat different from those
of the average British Indian. They are consider-
able stock-raisers, and among the few persons of
this race possessing cattle to any important extent.
In addition, the heads of the various branches of
the family possess extensive landed property, and
dwell in large, well-built houses. One of the
juniors of this family entered my service several
years ago, and I have often been struck by the
exceptional intelligence of which he continues to
give frequent and unmistakable indications. Some
time ago, in addition to his ordinary household
duties, he enthusiastically assumed the responsi-
bilities of a chauffeur, displaying an aptitude for

SUPERIORITY OF THE INDIAN 279

mechanics as surprising as it was exceptional, and
has for some time past proved entirely efficient
in the latter somewhat unusual capacity.

Where, however, the Indian—be he British or
Portuguese—displays his superiority over the native
of Africa is in the quickness and accuracy with
which he is enabled to gauge the shallower mental
capacity of the negro, and to profit by the in-
decision of the African’s slower-working mind.
He possesses, in addition, no small amount of
personal dignity, which also goes far to impress
the native, always susceptible to influences wielded
by individuals whose customs and manners of life he
only partly comprehends. ‘These two advantages
have in the past enabled natives of both British
and Portuguese India to accumulate considerable
wealth in the Mozambique Province generally, and
especially in the district known as Zambezia, where
they are especially numerous. It is indeed sur-
prising to note how in the older settlements of
the Province such as Ibo, Mozambique, Parapat,
and Quelimane, the Indian merchant and trader
has succeeded in securing so large a proportion of
the native traffic. His Eastern costume of flowing
white, and the pleasing glitter of his gold-
embroidered cap and waistcoat, add an Oriental
touch to the African settlements which goes far
to heighten their not invariable picturesqueness,
and doubtless duly impresses the native mind with
the superiority of the Asiatic both inwardly and
outwardly. The habits of these men are the last
word of frugality, in some cases almost amounting
to asceticism. Their food consists chiefly of rice

280 EXISTING SETTLERS

with a small quantity of curry. Weak tea is the
favourite beverage, all form of alcohol being
carefully avoided as being contrary to the teachings
of the great prophet of their faith. During the
whole of the month of October, the feast of
Ramadan, they fast from dawn until evening, not
even drinking water until the sun has disappeared.
It is at this season of the year that their very
interesting and not unpicturesque festival pro-
cessions, to which I have made some reference
in the early portion of this chapter, take place.
Another valuable characteristic which the Indian
possesses is his unceasing activity. There is
probably no more hard-working or patient trades-
man engaged in commerce. From an early hour
until nine or ten o'clock at night, his doors are
open to custom. Recreation as we understand it
he disdains, pleasure for him consisting chiefly in
counting his gains and estimating his often not
inconsiderable profits. Even the small boys of
eight or nine years of age are rarely if ever to be
seen amusing themselves as do those of other races.
Already assisting their parents in the shops, they
have even at this early age assumed that air of
grave responsibility which clings to them through
life like their own shadows.

From the foregoing it will have been seen that
the Zambezi Valley is very largely frequented by
Indians, chiefly of the trading classes. On the
recently completed railway from Port Herald to
Blantyre the employment is, I understand, con-
templated of a considerable number of natives of
India, to replace certain of the more expensive

THE GOANESE 281

European employees. This has also, I believe, been
done on the Mombasa Railway with very successful
results, and proves that in clerical as well as other
capacities the class of Indian selected for these
purposes makes a very efficient railway servant.

We now pass to another type of Oriental who
is found in all parts of Zambezia as well as
throughout the Mozambique Province, namely the
Portuguese native of Goa. The Goanese is a
native of Portuguese India, but instead of devoting
his energies to trade and commerce, he is usually
found discharging clerical duties in the offices of
the various European merchants and traders. In
some portions of the coast, notably at Zanzibar
and Mombasa, some members of the Goanese
community have established large commercial
houses, and doubtless do a considerable amount
of business; but in Mozambique they have not
reached this height of importance. Dressed in
European clothes, speaking perfect Portuguese,
and often fluent English, the Goanese makes a
good if not strikingly active settler. Curiously
enough, however, the Goanese possesses a some-
what weedy constitution, is exceedingly susceptible
to malaria and other tropical diseases, and, once
attacked, is a shockingly bad patient, often dying,
I am convinced, from sheer inability to make up
his mind to recover.

Another type of settler whose ministrations are
not of a character calculated to do very much for
the future of Zambezia is the native labour agent
and recruiter. The number of the natives who
leave the Zambezi Valley for work in other parts

282 EXISTING SETTLERS

of Africa is at present not very large perhaps, but
it shows, I understand, an increasing tendency.
I confess I do not see any wisdom in permitting
the recruiting of labourers in portions of the country
where their presence is a present necessity. There
are in Portuguese East Africa, in many districts even
as yet imperfectly known, hundreds of thousands
of natives who at present are mainly occupied in
pursuits of doubtful utility. The Nyasa Company’s
territory, as well as the Mozambique Company’s
concession, are good examples of this, and so is the
district of Mozambique to the south of the Lurio
River. To my mind, therefore, it were much more
logical to provide employment for these hitherto
useless savages at the mines of the Witwatersrand,
in preference to depopulating the Zambezi, whose
tribes are not only perfectly friendly and well-
disposed, but actually necessary to the prosecution
of existing industries.

At Tete itself there are the representatives of
one or two European trading houses. This settle-
ment has now come to be regarded as the half-way
house to the rising colonies of North-Eastern
Rhodesia, North-Western Rhodesia, and one or
two other distant centres in the far interior where
Europeans are struggling to let in the light of
civilisation. From Tete to Fort Jameson, the
capital of the first-named division, a good road ex-
tends, and each year, I understand, shows an increase
in the imports carried over it. The European
trading houses of Tete, and especially the local
branch of the African Lakes Corporation, receive
and forward on the bulk of the cargo and passengers.

“THE LAKES COMPANY” 283

“The Lakes Company,” as this useful commercial
body is called for short, has had an interesting,
indeed an almost romantic career. After the es-
tablishment in 1876 of the Church of Scotland
Mission, which still labours in the Shiré Highlands,
and is known throughout the country as the
“Blantyre Mission” from the circumstance that
its headquarters are located at that place, it was
soon found essential by its supporters in Scotland
to incorporate an association to assist it by con-
structing roads, providing trade goods, provisions,
and necessaries, and by relieving it, in so far as
was possible, of the preoccupations attendant upon
business details. As a result, the original African
Lakes Company sprang into being, and that body
has numbered among its employés several men of
great strength of character and resource, whose
assistance to the administration of the country,
which was shortly afterwards undertaken by the
British Government, has on several occasions of
stress and crisis been of great value, and proved
a powerful factor in the subjugation and pacification
of the tribes of Nyasaland. From these small
beginnings, therefore, there grew up the present
well-organised, far-reaching corporation, with its
many comfortable—I had almost written palatial—
river and lake steamers, which have revolutionised
transport on the inland waterways, its dozens of
barges and lighters, its trading dépdts all over
South Central Africa, and the many conveniences
with which foresight and prudent management
have enabled it to endow that rising country.

Still, there is no doubt, when regard is had to

284 EXISTING SETTLERS

the present restricted volume of business which
flows spasmodically through Tete to the northward,
the lot of the agent of any commercial undertaking
must be one in which he is in the unhappy condition
of having far too little to do. I call this condition
an unhappy one because men so circumstanced,
unless they be gifted with a rare measure of mental
resource, must find the enforced idleness very trying.
I want you to imagine the following as one day
among almost all the days of the year.

It is soon after dawn, and in the cool, grey
morning light a small native bearing a cup of tea
or coffee enters the open door of an occupied
bedroom, his ears being greeted the while by snores
from the mosquito net within which he sets his
tray upon a small table, displacing for the purpose
a number of sixpenny novels, a candle-lamp which
has burned itself out, and half a dozen “Three
Castles” cigarette-ends. The occupant awakens,
faint-heartedly swallows the contents of the cup,
throws back the mosquito muslin, and, thrusting
his feet into a pair of large slippers, strides through
the doorway on to the verandah of the house. ‘The
servants are sweeping down the steps, and putting
to rights the dining-room and other apartments.
With a cursory glance round, the now thoroughly
awakened agent plunges his head and face into
some water, and, satisfied for the moment with this
partial ablution, and without changing his pyjamas,
walks down the quintal or compound to the store.
It is now about 6 o’clock, and he is soon after
Joined by his assistant in similar raiment. Desultory
business is transacted to an unbroken accompani-

DANGERS OF ISOLATION 285

ment of cigarettes, Indian merchants in snowy
kanzus enter and discuss the opening or extension
of credits, some few sales are effected, and about
10 o'clock a move is made in the direction of the
dwelling-house, a bath is taken, white clothing
assumed, and breakfast partaken of. This breakfast
is really luncheon—the tiffin of India. Thereafter
long chairs are sought, and, as the heat is now
appreciable, a more or less prolonged siesta follows.
About 2.30 another journey is made to the store,
and after a little more business the premises are
closed, and towards 4 o’clock comes recreation in
the form of an uninteresting walk over well-
remembered paths, ‘or a little lawn-tennis on a
court whose lines are scarcely distinguishable, and
with players whose energies are expended as a rule
in other directions. At 7 o’clock comes dinner,
preceded as a rule by many apéritifs, and by 9.30
it is bed-time. To these days of weary monotony
there is rarely the smallest relief. Every five
weeks or so a mail comes from Europe, and a day
or two afterwards life sinks back into its tranquil
groove once more.

There can be little doubt, therefore, that to an
unresourceful person, one, for example, not given
to reading or study, conditions of life such as I
have just described must not only soon become
highly uncongenial, but a positive danger in the
facilities which undue leisure provides for the
adoption of distractions of a questionable character.
I suppose there is no help for it, but I think
ill-health would be avoided, and less opportunity
given for contracting dangerous and sometimes

286 EXISTING SETTLERS

ineradicable habits, if employés of European firms
were not kept in such isolated positions for periods
longer than were absolutely necessary. Man, and
especially young man, is by nature a gregarious
animal, and if he be arbitrarily removed from the
society of his kind during long periods of time, he
naturally suffers either in health or efficiency, but
usually in both. ‘To government officials, of course,
these remarks do not so much apply. They have,
as a rule, large districts to supervise, taxes to
collect, magisterial powers to exercise, and their
work possesses much greater interest and is much
more engrossing than the frequently uphill tasks
which are often the portion of the agent of commerce.

Dotted about on the great river, there are a
few other types of European settler, to which a
few words may perhaps be devoted. These are,
as a rule, men who have spent many years in
roaming about the country, have completely lost
touch with their friends at home, and have sunk
lower and lower in the social scale until they have
become in the end almost as uncivilised as the
natives in whose midst they dwell, and whose
habits and mode of life they have more or less
adopted.

I remember several years ago that, whilst passing
through a portion of the country near the Zambezi
River, I was puzzled for some days by hearing the
natives who formed my escort referring from time
to time to a “ Mzungu,” or white man, who was
said to be living not far from the line my journey
would traverse. They called him by a native name,
but all were unanimous in stating that he was an

AN ENGLISHMAN WHO WAS 287

Englishman. I determined, therefore, to seek him
out, and this is what I found.

Not far from a small river which flowed into the
Zambezi, there was a clearing in the forest, that
is to say, trees had been cut down over an area of
a little less than an acre. In the midst of this
space stood a house consisting of one room. It
was built of mud, with a thatched roof, the interior,
as well as the pathetic attempt at a verandah, being
also floored with mud. Seated on the floor, and
clad in nothing but a calico loin-cloth, 1 saw the
gaunt, bearded figure of a man, not old in years,
but prematurely aged by solitude and intellectual
starvation. He was languidly cleaning a basket
of native beans, muttering to himself the while.
In the room itself there were, so far as I remember,
only two articles, a large native bedstead—a mere
oblong frame with cord stretched from side to side
and from top to bottom, upon which a couple of
blankets were spread——-and an upturned box which
served as a table. There was no window, and the
door was the usual native contrivance of reeds,
with a transverse pole running through string loops
at either side. As my shadow crossed the thres-
hold, the proprietor looked up, and after a moment’s
scrutiny said: “Ah, I see you are English. It
is some time since I saw one of my own kind. I
sometimes almost forget that I am one.” And he
laughed a laugh which was not good to hear. Poor
fellow, I stayed a couple of days with him, and
made him free of my stores, the simplest of
which was an unspeakable luxury to him. He
had been living on native food for longer than he

288 EXISTING SETTLERS

would tell me, and the basket of beans he was
preparing as I entered was destined to form the
only dish at his evening meal. He told me he
had no other ambition in life; that he meant to
live and die in the wilds, and among the natives
of whom he was almost one. For him there was
no degradation in such a life; long custom had
blunted his perception of such a feeling. He
possessed but little in the way of civilised clothing,
and very seldom had occasion to wear it. An old
Martini rifle enabled him occasionally to shoot
some beast, the meat of which he would sell to
a passing river steamer, when he would endeavour,
not always successfully, to obtain part of the price
paid in cartridges, and thus maintain his small stock
of ammunition. During the time I spent there, I
saw him perform practically every daily task which
the native sets himself, for he had no attendants,
not even a small boy. He would collect his own
firewood, cook his own food, navigate with skill
a small “dug-out” canoe, and on one occasion,
when he had accompanied me to find some meat
for my carriers, he shouldered a reedbuck weighing
70 or 80 lb., and carried it fully six miles without
displaying any fatigue. It was an unedifying sight
to see an Englishman so brutalised, but there can
be no doubt that it is a condition which must
follow so demoralising a step as complete sever-
ance from one’s own kind.

I know of another case, the beginning of which
was not wholly dissimilar from the foregoing one,
but here the individual, whose Scottish shrewdness
refused to be extinguished by the brain-petrifying

“WHITE KAFFIRS” 289

influence of years of solitude, took unto himself a
wife, a comely half-caste lady, through whose family
influence he succeeded in obtaining possession of
two or three head of cattle. By judicious manage-
ment he also found himself enabled to settle upon
a small but very fertile piece of land close to the
Zambezi, upon which he built a large and by no
means uncomfortable native house, planted a
number of coconut palms, and for a number of
years—until his death, in fact—lived a primitive
but by no means unenviable existence. He went
down to Chinde from time to time, and was much
esteemed by his countrymen in that place. Still,
although he did not go so far as to discard European
garb, or live wholly removed from human society
as in the case of the first individual mentioned,
there can be no doubt that his manner of life and
unintellectual surroundings had caused at the time
of his death very appreciable deterioration in his
mental faculties.

There are, I believe, several such men as the
above even now leading the sort of life on the
banks of the Zambezi which has gained for them
the distinctive by-name of “ white kaffirs” ; but the
subject is a sad one, and perhaps sufficient reference
has already been made to it.

On the island formed by the Zambezi, Shiré,
and Zui-Zuie Rivers, to which some allusion was
made in a preceding chapter, a very important
and energetic attempt is in progress by a French
syndicate to cultivate cotton, sugar, and other pro-
ducts, and, I believe, with every prospect of final
success. Certainly, if the venture attain to any-

19

290 EXISTING SETTLERS

thing like the importance of the large Zambezi
Sugar Companies, it will fulfil a most desirable
mission in affording further demonstration of the
value of the rich soil through which the waters of
the Zambezi flow. I have passed its headquarters
recently, but, unhappily, had no time to land there ;
the appearance on the river-bank of the Shiré at
Bompona of powerful pumping plant, however,
evidenced the earnest commencement of important
work.

On the summit of the splendid plateau of neigh-
bouring Mount Morambala, a large coffee plantation
has been established, which I understand to have
given moderately satisfactory results. Further
experiments are now in progress, however, with a
view to ascertaining whether a more sheltered
position may not prove better adapted to the
growth of this shrub.

The principles usually followed in the cultivation
of the coffee berry are more or less as follows. The
ground having been selected and cleared of grass
and undergrowth, as many large, well-grown trees
as possible being spared for the advantage afforded
by their shade from sun and wind, the débris of
bush is collected and burned, the ashes being spread
over the soil so as to mingle as much as possible
with it. The future plantation is now carefully
marked off and “ pitted,” that is to say, at a distance
of seven or eight feet apart, rows of holes or pits are
dug, eighteen inches wide and of similar depth.
These are left open for a couple of months or so to
harden the earth crust round the inside, and are
then filled in with earth enriched with manure if

COFFEE-PLANTING 291

possible, but, failing that, with wood ashes, a small
stick being thrust into the exact centre of each to
mark the spot which the young coffee plant will
occupy. All this while the latter has been growing
from seed in a sheltered, well-tended nursery. At
the commencement of the rainy season, the seedlings
are planted out in the pits, and thereafter require
but little attention beyond that necessitated by
measures for their periodical weeding.

The first crop makes its appearance in three
years. During the months of June and July the
berries are carefully picked and subjected to a
process called pulping. This removes the sweet,
cherry-like matter surrounding the actual beans,
two of which are found in each “cherry.” * This
process over, they are placed in a receptacle in
which they are permitted to ferment for a couple
of days, and are then washed with copious sluicings
of water to carry off the sweet, fleshy matter which
forms their external envelope. Large cane mats
are then obtained, and the coffee beans spread out
upon them and carefully dried in the sun. They
are then sacked up.

Settlers engaged in coffee-planting in the neigh-
bouring colony of Nyasaland usually commence by
obtaining an area of from 500 to 1,000 acres of
land. This they plant out with coffee by degrees,
as a rule, the first year’s work producing probably
50 to 100 acres of young coffee trees, the second
year a similar space being added to the plantation.
At the end of the third year, the first 50 acres yield

* The word “cherry” has been widely adapted to designate the
coffee-berry, owing to the resemblance the latter bears to that fruit.

292 EXISTING SETTLERS

their maiden crop, which, in favourable circum-
stances, is said to amount to anything between 12
and 15 cwt. of coffee berries per acre, whilst, in
very poor conditions, 1 to 3 cwt. is collected.
When I was serving in Nyasaland some years ago,
coffee exported thence was sold in London at prices
ranging from 90s. to 112s. per cwt., and more than
one planter succeeded in making a considerable
return on his initial outlay, which might have been
anything from £500 to £1,000. Naturally these
sums would not provide for the expenditure in-
curred in the furnishing of machinery, or of large
brick pulping-vats, water-races, or other similar con-
veniences ; but, taken as a whole, they would at that
time (and doubtless still) enable a planter to com-
mence modestly, and with every prospect of success.

Of course, neither in Zambezia nor in Nyasaland
would so restricted a capital permit a settler to
provide himself with anything beyond sheer neces-
sities. His house would have to be of mud, his
luxuries few and far between, and, to enable him
still further to economise, his native labourers
would require to be paid in calico imported from
home at the lowest possible prices and rates.

I have stayed several times at the houses of
African coffee-planters, as well as planters of other
products, and exceedingly well have I been enter-
tained. These men are kindness and_ hospitality
personified, and thoroughly appreciate an oppor-
tunity afforded by the presence of a stranger to
exchange views on every possible subject, from the
efficacy of the last invented agricultural implement
to the inefficiency of the most recent action of the

PASTURAGE 293

Concert of the Powers in regard to the question of
Macedonian reform. Probably few pursuits serve
to bring a man’s resourcefulness so thoroughly into
play, and a good clue is often furnished to the per-
sonality of an individual by the manner in which
his surroundings are arranged and his homestead
ordered. It is true that the mud walls which form
the interior of so many planters’ living rooms do
not give scope for much in the way of decoration
or embellishment, neither does his thatched house
of two or three divisions lend itself to much archi-
tectural skill. I have, nevertheless, seen a great
deal done in both directions, whilst in the laying
out of the adjacent gardens, and in the plantation
of trim walks and avenues, great success has been
most strikingly attained.

The pasturage afforded in many parts of the
Zambezi is, I think, eminently suitable for the
raising of large herds of cattle. The Zambezia
Company has succeeded most encouragingly at
Inyangoma, whilst in the neighbourhood of Sena
the Mozambique Company possessed a year or two
ago large herds which had sprung from very small
beginnings. I consider, from the settler’s point of
view, and in combination with other pursuits, the
raising of cattle would prove a remunerative and
fairly certain source of income in well-selected
areas, and I have no doubt that in time Zambezi
cattle will come to be as well known as those which
now bear the distinctive names of Somaliland and
Madagascar.

At present, apart from the herds mentioned in
the preceding paragraph, the small quantities of

294 EXISTING SETTLERS

cattle existing are the property of the sugar com-
panies, certain Indians, and the clergy of the
Shupanga Mission Station. The natives do not
possess cattle, and I heard it stated, with I do not
know how much truth, that they are not encouraged
to own them. This seems inexplicable when one
considers how costly they are on the coast-line of
the Province, and how profitable their export
thence, as well as that of their hides, might
become.

On the whole, I suppose Zambezia cannot be
said to possess many settlers, when account is taken
of the immensity of its area. In the north-west
portion, where the principal mineral deposits are
situated, a small scattered group of Europeans
are endeavouring, in the face of great natural diffi-
culties, to extract gold from what are undeniably
rich mining propositions. ‘The success which has
so far attended their efforts has been, 1 think, in
every way most thoroughly deserved, and I hope
that with increasing facilities of transport this in-
dustry may attract very considerable capital and
labour to the gold-fields. I learn from the Governor
of the district that a considerable recent influx of
prospectors has taken place into the copper-fields,
and to what extent soever the saying may have
passed into almost proverbial use that the location
of mines of great value comes usually rather as a
surprise than as the result of scientific prediction,
I feel there is in this case substantial justification
for the forecast that mineral industries will one day
have much to do with the future development of
this portion of the valley of the Zambezi

CHAPTER XI

THE NATIVES: WA-SENA — A-NYANJA — ANTHRO-
POLOGY—TRIBAL ORGANISATION—-VILLAGES

To the two tribal divisions whose names head this
chapter might perhaps be added two or three more,
namely, the Wa-Nyungwe of the Tete District,
the Wa-Tonga of the region of the Barué, and the
A-Mahindo of the coast. Between these last-men-
tioned, however, and the Wa-Sena of the south
bank of the Zambezi, there is so little difference, to
all external appearance, that it is perhaps better to
allow them to fall into their two more important
tribal divisions, those of the Wa-Sena and A-Nyanja.

It is‘customary, I am aware, in discussing the
natives of any given part of Africa, to attempt
the impossible, and, by dint of ingenious theories,
possessing probably not a trace of actual foundation,
to trace them back for more or less prolonged
periods and to dogmatise as to who they are and
where they came from. Such is not my intention.
The African we are about to consider is the African
of to-day, and we will regard him not in the skin-
clad cannibalism of his long-dead past, but rather
in the douce, calico-covered decency of the twen-

tieth century.
295

296 ANTHROPOLOGY

The so-called Sena people occupy a large section
of the region of Zambezia; not only the portion
bearing the name which has been given to them,
but thence eastward towards the sea, and south-
ward in the direction of the Pungwe River, if we
except a small scarcely recognised division in-
habiting the basin of the Vunduzi who call them-
selves Wa-T'éwé, and have adopted a patois of
their own, which is, nevertheless, only a slight
variation of the chi-Sena spoken throughout the
limits I have just outlined.

But although divided by tribal designation, by
habit, and, to some extent, by language, it would
still be ridiculous to say that there is much differ-
ence in the people themselves, or that they are
essentially distinct, the one division from the others.
That is to say, the physical characteristics of the
one tribe are in all respects similar to those of
others, and, therefore, an average individual brought
from Tete would be, to all intents and purposes,
indistinguishable from the representative of a family
brought up on the coast.

Without being of striking physique or muscular
development, the Zambezian native as a whole is
of a distinctly good type. He is broad-chested,
clean-limbed, and not, as a rule, excessively black.
The colours most observed are dull chocolate-
brown ranging to palish yellow, and indicating, I
consider, very considerable European and Arab
blood admixture. Of course it must be remem-
bered that the Zambezi has, as we have seen in the
earlier portion of this book, been the resort of
members of pale-skinned races for many centuries,

THE PINK HAND 297

and there can be no doubt that the intercourse
which took place between them and the indigenous
tribes during this prolonged period must have had a
very considerable effect upon the colour of the tribes
as a whole; and this view of the question is greatly
supported by the much nearer approach to blackness
observable in the people lying more to the north and
westward, who came but rarely into contact with
persons of pale complexion. ‘Thus, certain dwellers
in Nyasaland who inhabit the shores of Lake
Shirwa and the course of the Lurio River, as well
as others from the basin of the Luapula, are
perhaps among the blackest I remember to have
seen. The curious pink of the inside of the hands
and on the soles of the feet is accounted for among
some of the Zambezi people by the superstition
that, when the first black man was made, the
Creator had completed his colouring so far as it
now extends when he was called away to eat, and
forgot to finish it.

I should consider the average height of the
natives of this part of Africa would probably
be about 5 ft. 7 in. Many cases of considerably
greater stature are, of course, common, but I
should be inclined to look upon that named as the
mean. ‘The chest measurement for that height is
probably about 34 in. A good medium height
measurement for the women would perhaps be
5 ft. 1 in.

Of striking negroid appearance, all the local
tribes display the same well-known type of features,
with its projecting forehead, dolicocephalic craneal
formation, short, wide nose, spreading at the nostril

298 ANTHROPOLOGY

and low over the bridge, prominent cheek-bones,
thick, everted lips, and weak chin. The eyes are
usually black or dark brown, deeply set, and pos-
sessing short, very thick, curling lashes and well-
marked eyebrows. The ears are small, well-shaped,
and set close to the side of the head, and almost all
the tribes of this part of Africa bore large holes
into the ear-lobes, in which various articles are
carried, such as rats and mice for the evening meal,*
tobacco, cigarettes, and other small matters. In
spite of these general facial characteristics, however,
it is not unusual to meet with Africans from these
districts possessing features of much greater delicacy
than those to which the foregoing description could
be taken as applying ; but although this fineness of
feature is seldom accompanied by more than average
paleness of colour, I have sometimes thought it
might be traceable to European or Arab influences.
The teeth are invariably good. Among the Sena
people the two centre incisors in the upper jaw are
filed into the shape of an inverted V. Probably
the most repulsive type of all, as it is happily the
rarest, is the Albino, who, owing to his unlovely
and unusual appearance, is certainly not a person
of much consideration in the native communities,
although at times he seems to think a great deal of
himself. The dreadful feature which is most
noticeable among the African Albinoes is the
ghastly eczema which often covers their dull, un-
healthy-looking white skins, exhibiting at times the
nystagmus produced by the non-absorption of light
by the pigment which should be present in the

* A custom chiefly noticeable among the Wa-Tonga of the Barué.

HIRSUTE CHARACTERISTICS 299

lower strata. The woolly head-covering, more-
over, is of a dirty yellowish white. I have seen
no cases of Zanthism, although I understand it is
not unknown.

The growth which crowns the head of the native
of these regions is of dull black, and curls itself all
over the scalp in an unbroken covering of. tight
little circles. The same woolly hair occurs on the
pubes, and under the arm-pits, where, however, it
is somewhat less harsh. Some cases occur in which
the chest is seen to exhibit a thick growth, which
appears in small bunches ; in these latter, hairs on
the legs are also noticeable. In my experience,
however, hirsute adornment of the body is excep-
tional ; but where it occurs the negro does not
attempt to remove it, as he would in other parts of
the continent with which I am familiar, confining
his tonsorial operations to the shaving of his head
in the hot weather, a habit adopted for reasons of
cleanliness as well as of coolness. In the southern
part of the region, I have seen natives who allow
their hair to grow to considerable length, and even
plait it into small tails. Hair on the face is not
very general, although in the case of a journey
up the Zambezi isolated cases may be observed
of very well developed beards, and long if some-
what thinly grown moustaches.

The women, it must be frankly confessed, are
not very comely to European eyes. They are
more punctilious in shaving the head than are the
men, and, in addition, regard it as a point of
personal cleanliness to remove all body hairs also.
Their bare skulls, for one thing, contribute largely

300 ANTHROPOLOGY

to this undesirable appearance, and, added to such
unnecessary embellishments as lip-rings sometimes
of immense diameter, and nose-rings which twist
that organ out of all shape, complete a whole which
would have few attractions for the passing traveller.
Some of the younger women are, nevertheless,
extremely well proportioned. They are broad of
hip, with singularly fine posterior development,
whilst the rounded, shapely breasts stand boldly
out from the thorax by reason of the upright,
graceful carriage imparted by the weight of the
heavy loads they balance upon the head.

A very considerable amount of tattooing is
common to both sexes, but the women practise
this custom to a much greater extent than the
men. Whether the various systems observed pos-
sess any special significance or not I have not been
able to discover. So far my inquiries on this point
have always elicited a negative reply; but it is, of
course, impossible to say whether I was wilfully
deceived or not. The cicatrised lines are obtained
by making incisions with a sharp-pointed instru-
ment, and rubbing in the astringent juice of some
tree or shrub. The marks thus produced stand up
somewhat above the surface, and appear to be
slightly darker in colour. In the case of the women,
tattooing is commenced at an early age—at four or
five years, I was told—and is continued until long
after they have borne children, a circumstance which
strengthens my suspicions of their possessing some
hidden purport. The whole of the upper part of
the body above and below the mamma is thus
symmetrically lined, the cicatrisation descending

TATTOOING 301

and forming intricately wrought patterns all over
the abdominal region, and over the front of the
legs from the groin to within an inch or two of
the knee. The back is similarly if less lavishly
ornamented as far down as the buttocks. The
men also affect the same custom, but usually the
cuts forming the pattern selected are larger, even
as the detail is less intricate, and greater attention
is paid to the face than is the case among the
females. It is said that at times great suffering is
caused by the setting up of septic inflammation.
Among some of the Makua of the northern
portion of the Province of Mozambique, the
frightful deep scars which they produce in the
forehead, cheeks, and chin are so truly awful as
to give them an appearance of the utmost re-
pulsiveness. As I have just stated, the carriage
of the women is extremely graceful and dignified,
and, owing to the hard nature of the toil to
which they are daily subjected from an early age,
they possess very fine muscular development.
Their hands and feet are small and shapely, and
their voices not unmusical.

After the birth of children, however, youth
appears quickly to fade, so that at quite an early
period of life a woman of Zambezia looks quite
passée ; the breasts lose their elasticity, and hang
down almost to the navel; she becomes stout, and
at eighteen or nineteen has often the jaded appear-
ance of a woman of thirty.*

Both eyesight and hearing are exceedingly good.

* At thirty most native women appear to be very much older than
they really are.

302 ANTHROPOLOGY

I suppose no European who had not been brought
up among them could possibly find game so quickly
and unerringly as his native gun-bearer, whilst
they can carry on a conversation over extraordinary
distances in so low a tone that the European ear
cannot possibly catch the words at all. It may be
that the singular state of perfection to which they
have developed these two senses may have had the
effect of reacting upon the organ of smell, which is
by no means so acute, a fact fraught with no little
inconvenience, and even some suffering at times, to
the unfortunate European who may find himself
travelling in their midst.

The men are extremely hardy, and capable of
supporting an amount of privation which probably
few other races could equal. They will cheerfully
undertake a journey of several days’ duration, with
no other provisions than a few cobs of maize, or
a small bundle of millet. On rising in the morning
they do not eat as a rule, or, if they do, not more
than a mouthful or two of some cold remains from
the previous night’s repast. At midday they
enjoy a moderately full meal, but at night, soon
after sunset, they eat in very large quantities, and,
if meat form any part of the fare provided, will
consume immoderate amounts without prejudicial
result. On the other hand, they can subsist for
days on a very slender food allowance, so long as
a sufficiency of water be assured, as, apparently,
want of water is a privation which is much more
severely felt than lack of food.

On many occasions, in this and neighbouring
parts of Africa, I have undertaken j journeys necessi-

ENDURANCE OF THE CARRIERS 303

tating the employment of considerable numbers of
native carriers, and I have found that their endur-
ance whilst so employed was remarkable. It is
my rule on these occasions to limit the loads
which they bear upon their heads to fifty pounds,
and one would suppose such a weight to be
sufficient ; but to this not inconsiderable burden
they will add fully seven or eight pounds, consisting
of their own impedimenta in the shape of earthen-
ware cooking pots, sleeping mats, sweet potatoes or
cassava, with various relishes in the shape of dried
fish or out-of-date buck-meat intended for addition
to their daily ration of maize or millet flour. Tf in
the course of the day’s march a beast be shot, they
will eagerly divide the meat among them, thereby
increasing their burdens still further, rather than
leave a morsel behind. Thus loaded, I have been
able to march an average of eighteen to twenty
miles a day without undue fatigue to the carriers.
The porterage of machilas is a somewhat specialised
form of labour, and requires training in order to
obtain the necessary smoothness of step ; it must
be exceedingly fatiguing to the men, who, when so
employed, especially in the Tete district, do very
little else. I have travelled in these unpleasant
conveyances borne on the shoulders of a team
drawn from the Wa-Sena tribe whose gait has
been so free from the usual jolting one experiences
in other parts of the country that one could read
or sleep with ease. The favourite employment of
the native of the Zambezi Valley as a whole is,
I think, on steamers or barges. It is hard to
imagine a lighter-hearted class of men than the

304 ANTHROPOLOGY

merry dozen or so who may be seen poling a barge
up or down the river on any day of the year.
Their songs are quite musical, and are sung in
excellent time and tune coinciding with the move-
ments of their bodies and poles. The paddling of
‘boats and canoes is also second nature to them, and
with a little traning they become expert oarsmen.
In the water they are strong and fast swimmers
of considerable endurance, but this is not an exercise
very largely practised owing to the numerous
crocodiles which infest the principal waterways.

The salutation between natives is as follows.
Between men, the hands are clapped with varying
intervals between the sounds. A woman responds
to this form of greeting by bending the knees
slightly, and making a stiff, short bob-curtsey.
She does this in the case either of a European or
a fellow-countryman. A native meeting a white
man bends his body slightly at the hips, and
scrapes his feet backward one after the other.
Among the younger generation an awkward
attempt at a military salute is often added. In
remoter regions I have seen the parties on meeting
both kneel facing each other, and, whilst in that
position, clap the hands as described, the final
beats being given with the palms slightly hollowed,
which has the effect of somewhat deepening the
sound of the claps.

In reposing, the tribes of this part of Africa
rarely assume any other position than that known
as sitting on the heels. If very fatigued a man
will lie on his back or stomach ; but when assembled
round the fire, or in conversation in the village, he

VOLUBLE TO A DEGREE 305

simply doubles his legs beneath him, and _ sits
abruptly down, his knees on a level with his chin,
and his hands clasped round them.

On the whole, so long as he is dealing or con-
versing with people of his own race, the Zambezian
may be correctly described as light-hearted, cheery,
and voluble—voluble to a degree. His command
of language is fluent in the extreme, and he never
suffers interruption until his remarks are concluded.
Should any untimely comment be embarrassingly
interjected, with praiseworthy simplicity more
efficacious than hours of barren wrangling, he
merely elevates his tones until contention is
drowned in a volume of sound. It will thus be
understood that the locality of an argument
sustained by three or four natives of average lung-
power and volubility is speedily untenable to
anybody who does not wish to be permanently
deafened. But with persons of a superior race,
the negro is scarcely ever at his ease, no matter
whether linguistic difficulties are present or not.
He does not even yet understand the white man,
and things incomprehensible are ever those which
he regards with misgiving akin to suspicion ; it
thus happens that the face which is the most
mobile and expressive in dialogue with an equal,
instantly hardens and becomes expressionless when
addressed by a person of white race. ‘The negro at
once masks himself, and instead of the open-minded
chatterer of a few moments ago becomes the
cautious, shifty juggler with phrases whose fond-
ness of truth for truth’s sake receives only
homeceopathic measures of occasional indulgence.

20

306 ANTHROPOLOGY

Other writers have drawn attention to what they
describe as the grown-up African’s stolidity, his
unintelligence, compared with the brightness and
promise of his earlier years; and although I agree
that there is a reason for this which connects itself
with the sexual preoccupations incidental to the
period of puberty and thereafter, I am nevertheless
of opinion that the mature males are by no means
so mentally vacant as their demeanour would often
give one occasion for supposing them. ‘The African
mind works slowly, and while it plods along, vainly
endeavouring to keep pace with your questions
and as vainly asking itself the reason for them,
between caution on the one hand and bewilder-
ment on the other, the undeveloped intellect falls
behind in the race, and the face assumes the
appearance of unintelligence which really arises
from the duller, slower mind having been run off
its shorter legs. The impatient European, there-
fore, whose want of perception has not permitted
him to grasp the situation, immediately forms the
erroneous impression that the man is dull-witted,
stolid, borné. He is not so in reality, or, at any
rate, to the extent many persons imagine. All he
requires is a little patience to win his confidence,
and conquer the shyness so characteristic of his race.

There is no doubt, of course, that to the young
boys there comes a more or less prolonged period
of check to their mental expansion; a sort of
intellectual hibernation during which, as_ they
approach to and attain the period of full sexual
development, their minds fall into a state of lethargy,
whilst other faculties contribute thereto by the

THE REIGN OF PEACE 307

physical exhaustion which succeeds to excessive
lubricity. I used to suppose the apparently clouded
perception the older men at times so exasperatingly
displayed might be attributed to the same cause,
but I do not think so now. It is nothing but a
natural, characteristic feeling of shyness which re-
quires some little tact and sympathy to overcome.
I have indeed often proved this to be the case, and
am convinced that much greater progress would be
made towards a more thorough comprehension of
the intricacies of the African character if the question
were approached with a fuller recognition of what
constitute the chief difficulties which stand in our
way.

It goes almost without saying that the Valley of
the Zambezi, in so far as it comes under Portuguese
influence, has entered upon a prolonged, indeed
there is every reason to hope and believe, a per-
manent state of peace. It is many years since the
last armed outbreak took place, and as time goes
on, and the natives come more clearly to comprehend
the advantages they derive from European pro-
tection and teachings, any smouldering feelings of
discontent or impatience of restraint will finally die
away and disappear. I do not think in the breast
of the average Zambezian much lust for war and
bloodshed nowadays makes itself felt. They are
not, as they exist at present, in any sense a truculent
people. Centuries of subservience to Portuguese
rule have taught them that collisions with the white
man have but one invariable result, and they are
not eager to incur it. Apart from that, the tribes
we are considering possess no sort of cohesion.

308 ANTHROPOLOGY

The last idea that would occur to them is that of
combined action—a circumstance which has con-
tributed in no small degree to the imposition and
maintenance of European influence throughout
these parts of Africa. Of course, two or three
centuries ago it was otherwise, in so far that war was
at that time the negro’s second nature, and although
not always serious, rebellion, with its consequent
bloodshed and reprisals, was an event by no means
rare; but a tribe is far from being an entity; its
component members exist in a constant condition
of change, and, as outside influences leave their
imprint upon the nature as upon the appearance of
the tribes, so, I think, it is not too much to hope
they may, in the future, be gradually moulded by
beneficent precept and example to abandon such
old-time habits and customs as have hitherto re-
tarded their advance towards enlightenment and
progress.

To compass the foregoing desirable condition of
things, there are growing up many children, as
there are doubtless already many adults, of mixed
blood, the result of fusions between the tribes who
so constantly fought among each other, between
Europeans and natives, and lastly, as I have stated
elsewhere, between Indians and natives. I think
on the whole, therefore—and assuredly the time has
come when we have justification for forming an
honest opinion—the intermingling of these different
peoples is largely responsible for the settled and
peaceful conditions we find to day. Not so much
in the case of the European share in it, perhaps,
but assuredly so in that of the mingling of the

NO NOMADIC TRIBES 309

various indigenous races, whose component members,
whilst they were wholly separate organisations,
understood each other far too little for the certainty
of the continual maintenance of peace; thus it fell
that in the old days of inter-tribal warfare, probably
the greater number of the outbreaks which took
place arose from a want of knowledge engendering
contempt, followed by the insult or offence which
led to strife. Nowadays all these conflicting units
have to a great extent been united into one homo-
geneous whole, and the result is that although
tribal designations survive, a Nyungwe from Tete
will fraternise or even ally himself with the family
of a Sena man from Shupanga, or either with a
Mahindo from the districts near to the coast.

It will, therefore, have been seen from the fore-
going that we have no nomadic tribes whatsoever ;
none of those predatory wanderers of warlike dis-
position whose destinies in North and East Africa
present so difficult a problem to the administrations
of those less favoured regions.

The relations subsisting between the European
and the negro are, therefore, of an eminently
satisfactory character, and the most unmistakable
proofs of this are the aptitude the latter displays
in the field of labour, and his willingness to work
in the service of the white. I do not think the
Bantu of this part of the great continent will for
many generations prove suitable for other purposes
than these, nor, as I have frequently asserted, is it
necessary that he should. He has such an important
part to play in the development of the country
that, truth to tell, he could not be spared to fill

310 ANTHROPOLOGY

any other position even did his intelligence show
any immediate signs of quickening. We have,
therefore, an immense amount of material to assist
us in the essential task of opening up the country,
and fortunately both for Zambezia and for the
negro, nobody has as yet attempted all untimely to
ruin his utility by over-instructing him in branches
of learning which he does not require, which impair
his usefulness as an essential instrument, and for
which his brain is not yet ready. I am aware that
these remarks are destined to provoke hostile com-
ment from many who will read them; but I feel,
and feel most deeply, that those who will so regard
them are persons by whom the needs of Africa are
but poorly if at all understood. By “instruction”
I mean, naturally, missionary instruction, and
although there are few who have passed so many
years as I have in East and Central Africa who
have profounder appreciation for the character of
the missionary, but few there are, perhaps, who
lament more than I the often unfortunate mis-
direction of missionary effort. There is, we all
know, no more important or more self-sacrificing
task than the teaching of those who are uninstructed,
but in selecting the appropriate form of mental
nourishment for the African’s pressing needs, you
naturally have regard first of all to that most suited
to his powers of assimilation. I do not think either
the African or the European is in any way dis-
satisfied with the former’s actual intellectual con-
dition, whereas both, in greater or lesser degree,
would be prepared to welcome improved conditions
of life; healthier surroundings ; better means of

HOW TO TREAT THE NATIVE 311

transport ; greater production and output, leading
to increased European colonisation ; and last, but
perhaps not least, the employment of this immensity
of Africa for the relief of congested Europe, and
the immediate fitting of these splendid regions not
so much for us who are few, as for the countless
many who will come hereafter. The European
cannot produce these results. The Indian will not.
There is only one race left to do it, and that is the
race intended by nature for the task. Let the African
then set his house in order; let him sweep it and
garnish it for those races who will show him, when
his task is finished, the advantages of the civilisation
which they bring for his adoption; but do not rob
yourself by your own act of the sole means of
achieving this great end by educating the negro in
branches of learning which can only militate against
the accomplishment of the work he has to do.
Teach him the dignity and the necessity of labour
if you will, Teach him improved methods of
husbandry. Teach him trades. Make your edu-
cation the means and not the end, and administer
it only in so far as may be necessary to expound
a principle or make plaina fact. Then the African’s
usefulness and understanding will grow together,
and neither will be sacrificed as is the case in so
many parts of Africa to-day.

Now let me stop this homily on what to any
person acquainted with the facts must be a fairly
self-evident proposition, and endeavour to give
some account of the native communities as they
exist at present in the region of Zambezia.

There are in the whole of this large territory no

312 TRIBAL ORGANISATION

important chieftains, or large native settlements.
Thus, in dealing with the Wa-Sena, it must not
be supposed that these people are the members of
a tribal organisation owing allegiance through so
many satraps or headmen to an over-ruling para-
mount chief. It was so at one time, no doubt,
but this system has now passed away, and although
the headman, or responsible householder, or what-
ever we may please to call him, is still vested with
slight authority in the village, this is wholly
derived from the local European district official,
who has the power, should there be grounds for
his doing so, to depose the village headman at
will. In the prazoes a similar system prevails, the
proprietor of the area leased possessing much the
same authority over the natives resident thereon as
the district official in crown or chartered territory ;
by this system, therefore, the paramount chiefs of
Zambezia are the responsible officials detailed for
its administration directly or indirectly by the
crown. In this way the dispensing of justice,
which is the most important attribute of the
representative of authority, is, by the present
arrangement, vested in the individual upon whom
the present native generation has come to look as
its paramount head, just as much as the earlier
tribesman regarded his chief as the fons et origo of
law and order. The law administered is, naturally,
Portuguese law, but, so far as has been found
practicable, questions are settled in accordance
with long-existing usage, where this does not
conflict with the well-recognised general principles
of right and wrong. Thus the negro at once

POSITION OF THE CHIEF 313

comprehends the why and wherefore of the decision
given, and is not compelled to accept blindly a
dictum he cannot understand.

From the glimpses we have obtained of the
condition of the people as described in the earlier
chapters of this book, it will have been clear that
a century or two ago the tribal organisation of the
natives, even though the influence of the European
was already beginning to make itself seriously felt,
was still very strong, as the disastrous wars with
the Bongas at the beginning of the nineteenth
century sufficiently prove. Throughout the
country large numbers of people could be gathered
together at short notice to fight for or defend the
interests of the chieftain by whom they were swayed.
This potentate throughout his dominions—in some
cases very extensive—possessed supreme power,
some of which, but not much, was delegated to his
headmen, who were responsible for the allegiance
and well-being of the various villages. The govern-
ment of the paramount chief was supported by
heavy penalties for all sorts of small offences, and
in the remoter portions of his kingdom, where he
seldom came, his name was one to inspire awe.
He united in his own person all the attributes of
the most unredeemed autocracy. Not only was
he the ruler, but also the chief justice, and all
grave disputes were referred to him, his decision
being regarded as absolutely final.

The insecurity consequent upon such conditions
as these, both to European interests and to the
peace of the country, is at once apparent. It
became necessary gradually but surely to re-

314 TRIBAL ORGANISATION

distribute the balance of power—to do away with
the positions of the chieftains with their many
abuses, perils, and inconveniences, and to resolve
the people into the more easily handled fraternities
which we now find in all parts of the country,
namely, small village communities. Very slowly
this was done, and from the moment the tribal
head was removed, responsibility for the preser-
vation of law and order naturally fell upon the
European who had produced these changes. Then
began the substitution of something resembling a
true jus gentium; the commencement, however
rude and inefficient, of the creditable conditions
which everywhere excite our admiration to-day.
Gone are the turbulent spirits who fomented, in
years gone by, the bloody disturbances which
cost early European enterprise so dear; another
generation has arisen now, a generation for whom
the tragic stories of the past have but little interest,
except perhaps to point to a future which shall be
for them and their descendants a future of peace.

I have, however, met, in England and elsewhere,
a certain class of person who has listened to my
stories of how much has been done by European
nations in Africa to point the savage from the
darkness of savagery to the light of the wisdom of
the just, and on not a few occasions I have been
met with strong and stern disapproval. I have
been reminded that all the bloodshed and rapine of
early times was a just retribution for an unwarrant-
able intrusion by Europeans into a country in
whose destinies and welfare they were not con-
cerned. It is a singular view to take, and one

(Fre -d

“SUTId NO “110d SLAH YNILVULSATTI—SHLINSAION NVIZHENVZ

SCOPE FOR IMPERIAL EXPANSION 315

which would not be easy to answer were we not
able at once to point to the many blessings which
European occupation and protection have brought
to almost all parts of the great continent. Africa
is not, as these persons say, intended to be occupied
solely by the African, and in conditions which
permit the aborigines to war upon, destroy, and
devour each other as was their early wont. Neither,
assuredly, have the European nations assumed the
guidance and governance of the black races from
purely philanthropical motives. Europe is in need
of more and still more fields for the settlement of
redundant population—that is an ever-present
necessity ; and I have never elicited a satisfactory
reply from objectors to European expansion in
Africa when I have asked them what the position of
Great Britain would be to-day if the British popula-
tions of her vast over-sea possessions were all now
confined within the restricted area of the small group
of islands which forms the cradle of the Empire.
Taking the district I am describing as a whole,
there are no very large villages or settlements.
One rarely sees more than fifteen or twenty huts
at a time—sometimes, indeed, not more than nine
or ten; but it often happens, in the more thickly
populated portions of the country, that very many
of these groups of huts occur dotted over large
areas, and become, no doubt, in course of time
bound together by numerous matrimonial alliances.
In most cases the small habitations are arranged
in a circle, in the centre of which grows a large
shady tree, whilst, in lion-infested regions, they
are surrounded by a high, roughly built palisading,

316 VILLAGES

strengthened by thorn bushes. Near the coast,
and in the marshy areas flooded in the rainy
season, the huts are erected on platforms supported
by upright piles from eight to fifteen feet high.
They vary in form, but the circular type is that
which finds most favour, those erected on piles
being almost invariably oblong.

The construction of the dwelling is an under-
taking requiring much care and deliberation if it
be intended as a permanent place of abode. First
of all, the roof is carefully made. This consists
of a large frame of light straight poles all radiating
from acommon centre or apex. They are fashioned
into the shape of a cone, and kept in position by
circles of split bamboos, the circles growing in
diameter as the base is approached, and the poles
being secured to them by the fibrous fronds of the
small phoenix palm. ‘The skeleton of the roof being
now completed, it is set aside, and the measure-
ments for the walls are taken from it. The body
of the edifice is now proceeded with. Strong stakes
of the Mtéweléwe * tree, if it can be obtained, five
or six feet long, are pointed and driven about
eighteen inches into the ground, so as to form a
circle having a diameter of ten to twelve feet.
Around this circle of stakes more split bamboos
are secured, both inside and out, thus maintaining
the shell of the house in position. At this stage
the hut looks like a vast, empty, lidless basket.
Now mud is kneaded carefully by the women, and
plastered all over the inside, and in some cases the
outside also, and a flooring of mud is laid down

* Brachystegia longifolia .

i
ij ip
ih Wp f
iia Ni Ne bgp

BUILDING THE ROOF OF A HUT.

AN A-NYANJA HUT.

WITHIN THE HUT 317

within, as also externally, forming a verandah about
two feet wide, which is just cleared by the ex-
tremities of the eaves. At this stage, with the
help of a few kindly neighbours, the roof is hoisted
up and placed into position, more poles with forked
extremities being disposed around the outside of
the narrow mud verandah to afford additional sup-
port to the roof by receiving the rim of the cone.
The thatching is now carefully laid on, and the
small dwelling is ready for occupation. These
huts, after one or two heavy falls of rain, during
which, it must be confessed, they leak like a
basket, become extraordinarily water-tight. After
having been occupied some time, the smoke from
the fire (there being no chimney) communicates
to the roof timbers and inner thatching an appear-
ance of having been blackleaded.

As a rule the man and one of his wives occupy
such a hut as I have described, his other wives,
if he have any, being each lodged in a similar place
of abode. Children whilst very young share the
hut which is assigned to their respective mothers,
but when they reach an age of three or four years,
by which time they are almost, if not quite, as
advanced as a Kuropean child of seven or eight,
they are sent out to reside in a large hut inhabited
in common by the boys, and called the “ Gwero.”
Small girls have also a dwelling of their own, but
they often occupy the same house as the boys.

The hut of the African native does not need
very much furniture to equip it for immediate use.
His principal effects are as follows: A Fumba, or
sleeping bag, made of very finely woven matting.

318 VILLAGES

Into this he creeps at night, and closes it by rolling
on top of the aperture by which he entered. He
thus escapes the torture of the mosquitoes and
other night pests, but how he escapes suffocation
it is difficult to surmise. The Duli, or wooden
mortar for bruising maize and millet, together
with the pestle. This is done before the winnow-
ing process, which precedes the grinding into flour.
The Duli is about three feet in height, and the
pestle of hard wood about five feet long. Two
women usually pound into one mortar at the
same time, delivering alternate blows and keeping
wonderfully accurate time. Each brings the pestle
down upon the contents of the Duli with great
force, emitting a slight grunt as she does so. Like
many other things, pounding grain is not so easy
as it looks, for I have tried it with anything but
successful results, to a running accompaniment of
shrieks of good-humoured laughter at my clumsy
efforts. In addition to the foregoing, a number of
baskets of different sizes form part of the domestic
equipment, some of moderate depth for holding
grain, others of shallower make intended for win-
nowing it. ‘Then come the large and small earthen-
ware utensils for cooking, and for the carriage and
storage of water, millet beer, palm wine, and other
liquids. The women mould these vessels from
clay with great skill in a variety of shapes and of
many sizes. After having received their form at
the hands of the potter, they are placed in the
sun’s rays for a few days, and are then burned in
a wood fire. Some of these utensils are tastefully
decorated, and after they have been some little

PERSONAL EFFECTS 319

time in use, assume a polish and colour which give
them the appearance of having been made of some
dark-coloured coppery metal. Spoons, platters,
and drinking cups are carved out of a variety of
woods, but do not display much in the way either
of originality of design or elegance of form.

I am afraid the foregoing list may be taken as
almost exhausting the tale of the African’s house-
hold effects, if one except a few curved-handled
drinking gourds, one or two palm-leaf mats for the
floor, and one or two wooden pillows; but there
remain to be mentioned his field implements, which
consist of a hoe and an axe, and his weapons,
comprising a spear, a bow, and one or two rudely
fashioned arrows. Assegais, in the sense of
throwing spears, are not used, neither are knob-
kerries, nor any other weapon, if I except an
occasional cap-gun of archaic pattern, its barrel
exhausted to a dangerous degree, not so much by
the explosions of trade powder in its depths, as by
its unnatural and improper employment in the
distillation of spirituous and illicit beverages.

On the rivers the canoes are of the familiar dug-
out type common to all South Central African
waterways, but occasionally on some of the remoter
streams one may still see the primitive bark boat,
or “ Almadéa,” as the Portuguese call it. It is
made by peeling the bark of a large tree, of whose
name I am ignorant, from the trunk in one con-
tinuous piece about ten feet long. ‘The ends are
then bent upward and inward, and are secured by
pegs of wood caulked with moist clay. The re-
mainder is then formed into the shape of the tree-

320 VILLAGES

trunk from which it was taken by means of
transverse pegs driven into each side of what finally
becomes the gunwale. It is then dried in the sun.
Sometimes after being taken into employment
these crank shells warp and take on so extra-
ordinary an appearance that, on the occasion of my
having recently to cross a fairly wide Central African
river in one of these contrivances, a young Swahili
follower of mine got so frightened when he saw
his sole means of transport that he ran away, and
I had much difficulty in getting him to trust him-
self to it.

Surrounding the circle of native dwellings, are
cultivated the various food-stuffs which form the
staple diet. Usually on each side of the path,
fringed with castor-oil bushes and “ Feijaio” beans,
you will see in its season tall millet canes, each
crowned with a dingy seed-vessel, an ineffective imi-
tation of the beautiful, snowy-plumed spear-grass,
but full of nourishment, which accounts for its
dirty grey appearance. In among the roots, gourds
and pumpkins sprawl over the usually clean-hoed
ground, and, cut out of the expanse of millet
garden as it were, are small clearings in which
flourish tobacco, sweet potatoes, ground - nuts,
tomatoes, chillies, hemp, and manioc. Bananas
spread their cool green fronds in the outskirts,
and in some moist neighbouring hollow the more
transparent verdure of growing maize hints at a wel-
come occasional change in the negro’s monotonous
diet.

The native orders his annual planting somewhat
as follows. The ground for the new gardens

FRUITS OF THE EARTH 821

having been selected, and so marked that intrusion
on its limits is unlikely, the trees are cut down and
left during a winter season to dry where they have
fallen. ‘Towards September the area is revisited,
and the timber encumbering it in all directions,
together with the grass and undergrowth, set on
fire and consumed, the fertilising ashes being
allowed to remain and mingle with the soil at the
time of the first hoeing. With the early showers
of the spring, the millet and maize are planted ;
two or three seeds being sown close together, so
that, on springing up, one may be a support to the
other. As the season advances and the rains be-
come regular and copious, pumpkins, gourds, and
cucumbers are put in, together with two or three
kinds of beans and peas, rice, sweet potatoes, and
manioc. The millet is not ready for reaping until
the following winter—about May; but the pump-
kins and beans come to maturity much more
rapidly, as does also the maize, which in some few
favoured spots gives two (if not three) harvests a
year. Of fruits there are but few, if one except
the inevitable banana, of which there are said to be
over thirty varieties, from the small, sweet “ Lady’s
Finger,” to the almost inedible plantain. Only
near the older Portuguese settlements are oranges
and lemons found, so that the remaining fruits
half-heartedly cultivated include only pine-apples
and paw-paws (Carica papaya). Sugar cane
may be found here and there in small quantities,
but it is only grown to chew, and not for the
manufacture of the juice into sugar. In times of
famine, which are now, fortunately, few and far
21

329 VILLAGES

between, the African has many indigenous forms
of nourishment to fall back upon, including the
roots of a score of different growths, from the seeds
of the Kigelia or Sausage-tree, which he roasts, to
the roots of the blue water-lily, which he devours
as he finds them. He also obtains, in their season,
a number of fruits of a more or less palatable
description. I have tried most of them, and dis-
covered that where not absolutely injurious they
are vague and unconvincing in flavour. I should
not, perhaps, omit to mention a wild coffee bush,
which I have been brought to believe is indigenous.
It is a fruitful plant, but the coffee made from its
small, dark beans is an acquired taste which I have
not yet been able to develop. Coconuts, of course,
cease to appear a short distance from the coast,
and, unhappily, no attempt has yet been made to
cultivate on anything like a large scale that lucra-
tive growth the Oil Palm of the west coast.
Domestic animals include the goat, fat-tailed
sheep, pig, cat, and dog, and to these may be added
the common fowl, pigeon, and duck. It would be
wrong to include the ox among what are, properly
speaking, the domestic animals kept by the natives.
There are oxen, as I have stated, and considerable
numbers of them, but their ownership is restricted
almost entirely to Kuropeans. The goat is a most
useful animal at all times. Of all sizes and colours,
he is the life and soul of the village. The milk
supplied by the females has often enabled unpalat-
able dishes and barren puddings to take on a
totally different aspect, whilst a fore-quarter of
a young kid is by no means to be despised. The

DOGS AND CATS 823

meek-looking, straight-haired, fat-tailed sheep is a
delusion and a snare. His flesh is no better, if so
good, as that of the average goat, and he has no
other recommendation of any kind. Of native
pigs I admit frankly I have no experience, as I
have always carefully avoided them.

Having now exhausted the edible domestic quad-
rupeds, we turn to the dog, which we can dismiss
with a few words. He is the ordinary foxy-headed,
reddish African pariah. Fox-colour perhaps gives
a better idea of his prevailing hue, but it is not
unusual to find more or less white marking on head
or body where a cross may have occurred with
some European variety. I do not recollect having
seen black markings on these animals, as described
by other writers. This type of dog is common all
over Africa, and may be seen in any native village.
Probably its most singular feature, and one which
is not without its advantages, is this animal’s total
inability to bark.

The cat is not in any way comparable to the
members of the same family found in Europe,
neither is it in any way so desirable a domestic pet.
There is a thin-faced, earnest expression about the
native pussy which augurs badly for the peace of
mind of pigeons and the security of small chickens.
In colour of a uniform grey, with markings which
recall the wild variety—with which I regard it as
closely connected—it never attains to the placid,
drowsy condition of fat, plethoric contentment so
often seen in the face of the pampered home-bred
animal, neither, if one come to regard its furtive,
suspicious personality, is it a type of feline upon

324 VILLAGES

which one would feel inclined to lavish either affec-
tion or indulgence.

The fowls and pigeons present no special points
of interest, save in the case of the former, and their
sole claim to distinction rests on the fact that as an
article of daily diet they are wholly indispensable.
The amount of mortality which goes on among the
members of this persistently hatchet-overshadowed
race is so appalling that in moderately populous
European centres the daily death-rate would hardly
be believed. The average cost of the fowl as pur-
chased from the native on the Zambezi to-day is
about at the rate of four or five for a shilling or its
equivalent. It furnishes, to all intents and pur-
poses, the staple article of animal food. In a small
family of three or four persons the daily slaughter
of fowls for this purpose can never be less than
five. Say, for example, 150 per month. Blantyre
to-day possesses a European population subsisting
almost entirely upon fowls which I estimate at
about 180 souls. It is, therefore, a matter of a
moment’s calculation to ascertain that the annual
number of chickens consumed by this insatiable
settlement must aggregate somewhere about
109,000. I wonder if the Blantyre people realise
this, or have at heart the risk they run of de-
veloping in course of time some weird, bird-like
peculiarity.

The pigeons are in no way distinct from the
well-known common European varieties. My only
remark upon the African domestic or Muscovy duck
is, may your good fortune preserve you from ever
attempting to eat one.

CHAPTER XII
THE NATIVES (continued) : ETHNOLOGY

Tue habits and mode of life of the natives of
Zambezia contain much of interest, and although,
generally speaking, their peculiarities of custom are
not unlike those of neighbouring tribes in the
British Sphere, they nevertheless present many
curious distinctive points for which it is at times
difficult to account.

I propose in this chapter to describe in their
order the various events in the life-time of a native
of ordinary type, and to lay bare, so far as my
inquiries have enabled me to penetrate into them,
the usages and observances which, as I have often
remarked, encompass the life of the African just as
relentlessly as the daily round of things which have
to be done, and from which there is no escape even
for the European.

As soon as a young woman is found to be
enceinte, the village is acquainted of the circum-
stance by the first female to whom she discloses
her condition, whereupon the matrons proceed to
her house in a body, each one making that peculiar,
shrill, tremulous cry, which is quite indescribable,

but must be familiar to all who know Africa.
326

326 ETHNOLOGY

They dance round her, singing and clapping their
hands, a ceremony partaking of the nature of con-
gratulation. They then seat themselves, and begin
to give her advice largely based on their own
experiences, much discussion and dispute arising.
Finally, the senior member of the gathering shaves
the future mother’s head, which is then carefully
oiled, the hair being buried with some slight cere-
mony. This latter form, however, is not observed,
I understand, by the Sena people, nor by those of
Tete, but only by the coast tribes, the A-Mahindo
and A-Chuabo, who surround the delta and the
neighbourhood of Quelimane. The following day
there is more dancing, some of which is said to be
more or less indelicate, and to which none of the
males are admitted, and this completes the obser-
vances for the time being. After the third or
fourth month of pregnancy, the husband and wife
cease to cohabit, and do not resume marital rela-
tions until some time after the birth of the off-
spring, during which period, should he possess but
one wife, the husband maintains, or is supposed to
maintain, a condition of unbroken chastity, believing
that should he fail to do so his child will either die
or develop some incurable malady or weakness.

At birth, which takes place in the hut, and not
in the open forest as among the Yaos, the young
mother is assisted by two of the most dependable
and elderly of her female acquaintance. As soon
as possible thereafter the child’s head is carefully
shaved and oiled, the hair, as in the case of the
mother at pregnancy, being ceremoniously buried.
Among the Barué people it is said that the navel-

CHILDREN 327

string is not severed for a full day and a night after
birth, but this practice is certainly not followed by
the Wa-Nyungwe or Wa-Sena, but as soon as it
is done, the child is thoroughly oiled all over.
The father is not allowed to see his offspring for
a period varying from three to eight days, during
which time it is carefully tended by the mother’s
ministering attendants. Should, however, the
infant be in any way deformed, it is taken away
into the forest and killed, either by strangulation
or else by being buried alive. In the case of twins,
which are regarded with great horror, I believe
that in many, if not in all cases, the second child is
at once put to death. Prematurely born children
are almost invariably thrown into the river, or into
water of some kind, and are not buried. I never
heard of a case of the birth of triplets.

The small children from three to twelve months
old, by which time they can run about with great
confidence, and are in that as in other respects
much more forward than the infants of European
parents at a similar age, roll about among the
fowls and ducks in a state of complete and happy
nudity. When it becomes necessary to transport
them from one place to another, they are carried
on the mother’s hip, or on the small of her back,
bound to her person by a shawl or a piece of calico.
Under the shadow of the eaves of the huts they
are nursed, and petted, and played with by their
mothers and maternal relations until they shriek
and crow with delight, for the native mother, in
spite of the statements of some African writers,
is, in many cases, an extremely affectionate parent,

328 ETHNOLOGY

and I have on many occasions witnessed unmistak-
able acts of tenderness towards her children on her
part by which I have been greatly and agreeably
impressed.

Let me here indite a word of advice to those
who may one day find themselves in the midst of
a strange native village which has not quite made
up its mind whether to be civil or unfriendly.
Never mind the men; leave the women alone
altogether, and make love to the children—to the
small boys and girls of four, five, or six years old.
For this purpose I invariably carry in my provision
cases a goodly supply of sweets—barley-sugar,
toffee, and others. You will be seated in the
middle of the centre space of the small community
at the end of a long, wearying day ; you have been
trying unsuccessfully to negotiate for the purchase
of some millet flour for your carriers, or of some
fowls for yourself, and have been met with signs
of sulkiness almost amounting to hostility. Pre-
sently, under the thatched eaves of a neighbouring
hut, your eye will alight upon a small group of
children, regarding the unwonted spectacle of a
white man with wide-open eyes of supreme wonder.
Now is your opportunity. You get out a tin of
barley-sugar and smilingly beckon to them, holding
a piece the while between your fingers. After a
moment’s hesitation, each nudging the other
forward first, a small, timid form sidles up to you,
and puts out both hands together, the slightly
hollowed palm uppermost. You give him a piece,
and beckon to the others, who grow gradually
bolder, and approach with more courageous steps.

THE AFRICAN SMALL BOY 829

The sullenness on the faces of their elders has now
given way to one of undissembled curiosity ; they
taste of your dainty offering, and gradually good
humour returns and an understanding is established.
Many a time I have extracted myself from positions
of no small difficulty by dint of the timely appear-
ance of a tin of Rowntree’s chocolates, or the
possession of a small quantity of the best Everton
toffee.

The African small boy leads a life which, as a
rule, would turn the European man-child of the
same age green with envy. His days are one long
round of pleasure and delight. His responsibilities
are few, and consist for the most part in sitting on
a high platform in the maize and millet gardens,
chasing away the monkeys as they come down to
attack the crops, and shooting at the birds who
appear on a similar mission with the tiny bow and
arrows with which he is armed. He stalks about
with three or four friends of his age, looking for
advantageous shots at the pigeons and parrots
which he brings in to be eaten as a relish with his
maize and millet. He leads the free life of the
woods, and his entire costume would scarce provide
you with material for a pockethandkerchief of the
smallest (or ladies’) size. Notwithstanding this, he
possesses one remarkable article of apparel which I
must mention en passant. This is the Manga
mikuzi. Soon after birth, a piece of tough grass
string is well oiled, and for a day or two is placed
in the native path for all who will to walk over.
At the end of that time it is secured round the
child’s waist, and remains, or is believed to remain,

330 ETHNOLOGY

until approaching manhood, and is responsible for
warding off all kinds of sickness and accident.
Through this string, a piece of calico about two
inches wide is passed in front, carried between the
thighs and brought over the string behind. Thus
the string and the calico form the child’s sole
raiment, but the latter is not considered an absolute
essential until he reaches the age of five or six
years. Imagine him, then, O inky ones of the
preparatory school, whose days are clouded with
the first four conjugations, and the mysteries
surrounding the base of an isosceles triangle. Think
of him, a being, save in colour, like unto yourselves,
with never a school to dim the brightness of his
eye, nor the first hazy idea of this thing they call
education to suggest cribs furtively concealed
behind your text-book, or copy-books judiciously
disposed for the warding off of blows.

The child of Africa plays at many games with
his companions; he is also much addicted to
shooting with the bow, to setting remarkably
efficient traps for birds and small animals, to
sailing tiny boats and swimming, whilst the small
girls delight in solacing their as yet lonely state by
playing with large, hideous, wooden dolls, and
with grass and bead work often most skilfully
and tastefully executed.

In the villages the small native boy is quite a
feature, and if you know enough of his language
to break down that awe which he feels for the
European, he will keep you entertained by the
hour. In this way you are enabled largely to enter
into that natural brightness of perception, and quick

MAT-MAKING,

AN A-NYANJA VILLAGE:

p. 330)

CIRCUMCISION 331

responsiveness to simple facts, of which his elders
are seldom capable, and which he himself will lose
ere many years have passed over his head.

Among neither the Wa-Sena nor the Wa-
Nyungwe is circumcision practised, whilst the
Wa-Chuabo of Quelimane and the A-Mahindo of
the Zambezi delta invariably perform it. There
are thus among the two latter tribes initiation
ceremonies for the young people of both sexes not
unlike those practised among the Yaos and other
Mohammedan races.

In some cases the rite is performed at an early
age—five or six, perhaps—but, more generally,
shortly after the age of puberty, namely, fourteen
or thereabouts. A number of youths then assemble
in a grass house, some distance from the nearest
village, which is called a Muali. Here they remain
several weeks in charge of a native doctor and
one or two elderly men, receiving instruction in
manliness, as well as considerable information re-
lative to their duties as husbands. I have been
informed that the place in which the operation is
performed is a grass shelter which in Nyasaland
would be called a M’sassa, * but which is known as
a Muali (that for girls being Mapuru). It is about
thirty yards long, but only about a quarter of that
length is walled on both sides. A small hut close
by is provided for the use of the doctor and his
assistant, whilst goats and chickens are kept in pens
for the use of the boys.

It is said that, when all is ready for the perform-

* This as a rule is situated at a short distance from the Muali, but
sometimes forms part of it.

332 ETHNOLOGY

ance of the ceremony, a dance is organised, and
the youths designated to undergo it are worked up
into a state of frantic excitement, and one by one
are conducted, still singing and gyrating, to the
place set apart for the purpose. Although securely
held, they do not as a rule either struggle or wince.
A dressing of a plant of an indiarubber order, which
is highly astringent, and a few days’ rest suffice to
heal the wound completely. The doctor receives
a fowl for each boy operated on, but nobody finally
leaves the Muali until all are healed. On return
to the villages, a great feast is held, after which the
newly circumcised youths select a new name, and
are supposed to be allowed access to any of the
women in the village, but I hear that this custom
is now falling into disuse. Thenceforward, to
address a young man by the name of his childhood
is a most serious offence, and one which may well
give rise to acts of violence. It is no doubt most
remarkable, but I have never heard of any case of
septic poisoning or of any other ill-effects caused
by the system of circumcision as practised by the
tribal divisions I have mentioned.

In the case of the girls, they are similarly
separated in their Mapuru under the charge of
some village sage femme, and undergo instruction
in their duties as wives and mothers. Regarding
what follows I have been variously informed, but
I have come to the conclusion that whilst in some
districts an artificial dilatio vagine is performed,
in others the same result is arrived at by natural
means. I have not, however, satisfied myself that
both methods are practised.

CHASTITY 333

It would appear as though the rite of circumcision
were falling into desuetude. I have been unable
to ascertain whether at any time the Sena people
practised it, but I think not, as few if any of them
are professing Christians, and it is only where baptism
has taken the place of the older observance that
the latter has, as a rule, been abandoned. Lest any
of my readers should cast doubt upon my assertion
that circumcision is older than baptism, I would
refer them to the mummy of Amen-en-heb, who
lived from 1614 to 1555 B.c., and which was found
to have undergone this ceremony. According to
ancient custom, we are informed by that excellent
observer Mr. Kidd, that a man belonging to certain
South African tribes, which he has described with
such striking success, could not inherit property
unless he had submitted to the rite, nor would
anybody accept his proposals of marriage on behalf
of any of the females of the family.

Practically throughout the Zambezi Valley, ante-
nuptial chastity among the girls is as unnecessary
as it is undesirable, and, therefore, a virgo intacta of
over eight or nine years would be considered a rarity.*

Having accompanied the young Zambezian so
far on his journey through life, we now look on to
witness the circumstances in which he proceeds to
provide himself with a wife, for although, of course,
polygamy is common, his first marriage is that
which the native looks back upon with the nearest
approach of which he is capable to the feelings of

* Apud aliquos barbaros mos est maculosa factitare ob desideria
naturalia. Causa exempli talis est prolongas labias minores, quae
aliquando uncias longas aut tres aut quatuor, habent.

334 ETHNOLOGY

tenderness known to other races and other colours.
It is perfectly safe to say that the negro of this
part of Africa is wholly unconscious of those feelings
of affectionate regard for his spouse which would
be natural to the European of any country. It is
true that the flight, capture, or death of a wife
affects him considerably, but the sensation he ex-
periences is not grief so much as annoyance and
resentment at the prospect of having to go again
through an immensity of trouble, and incur no small
expense before he can supply the place of his absent
helpmate.

The marriage customs vary somewhat among the
various tribes, and indeed in each there are several
ways in which the happy event can be successfully
compassed. It may, for example, happen that one
man desiring to strengthen the bonds of friendship
which may unite his family with that of a neighbour,
may propose an alliance on behalf of one of his
small sons, a boy of six or seven years old perhaps,
with a baby daughter of his friend. As soon as
the value and amount of the initial presents have
been decided upon, a formal betrothal takes place,
and the two children are taught to regard each as
the other’s future husband or wife. The marriage
does not, of course, take place for years, and in
the meantime the youth, doubtless assisted thereto
by his family, finds a sufficiency of cloth and beads
to clothe his small fiancée, who, in turn, frequently
acknowledges her acquiescence in the arrangement
by cooking his food for him. I never heard of any
case of either of the parties attempting to repudiate
the contract when the time came to fulfil it, but if

MARRIAGE 335

this were done, my authorities were agreed that
justice would be met by the return to the jilted
one of the equivalent of his presents.

More frequently, however, the choice is made
by a young man of eighteen or twenty, in which
case his wishes are made known through the in-
strumentality of a male relative or intimate friend
to the father of the damsel on whom he has cast
his eyes. If she be marriageable, the event may
take place at once, but if not, and the proposals
be accepted, the prospective bridegroom makes
certain agreed presents, and, in addition, performs
certain stipulated services for his future father-in-
law, such as assisting in the hoeing of the gardens
and the harvesting of the grain, until, on it being
delicately conveyed to him that the lady is at
length capable of discharging the duties of wife
and motherhood, the event takes place with some
such observances as the following.

Whilst a bachelor the bridegroom resides at the
Gwero, or young men’s house, in which the youths
of the village—sometimes of both sexes—reside ;
but as the time draws nigh for his marriage, he
proceeds to build a house of his own. This done,
and its inspection by the future bride and her
family having proved satisfactory, a day is set apart
for the nuptials. On its arrival, the bride is con-
ducted by two of the matrons of her own village
to that of her expectant groom, a friendly, festive
reception being provided for her on the outskirts
by the women of the village of which she is about
to become a member. The bride’s family, who
have arrived before her, now advance towards her,

336 ETHNOLOGY

and throw over her some money and beads, which
her attendants pick up and appropriate. The
bridegroom, who has doubtless long been on the
watch for the approach of the bridal procession,
now endeavours to simulate a becoming modesty,
and dissembles his eagerness by pretending to
hide. He is soon discovered, however, by the
men of the village, and, amid shrieks of laughter,
is brought into his lady’s presence. They are now
made to seat themselves in the midst of the spec-
tators, and a dance is organised in which all present
join, being rewarded for doing so by the bride-
groom. The heads of the contracting parties are
now shaved. Immediately thereafter, the man
retires to his house, and the bride resigns herself to
the ministrations of the ladies of the village, who
escort her to her new home, amidst lively manifesta-
tions of rejoicing. As she reaches it, she is met by
the husband, who usually publicly presents her with
various household implements and utensils. They
now enter the house together, and the door is closed.

Several days afterwards visits are exchanged
between the newly married and the family of the
bride, when mutual expressions of satisfaction com-
plete the contract, which, incidentally, releases the
newly married husband from the impoverished con-
dition which has been for so long imposed upon him
by the necessity for making time-honoured presents
during his more or less extended period of betrothal.
The custom whereby a newly married man is ex-
pected to take up his abode in close proximity to
the family of his wife is by no means invariable, as
it appears to be in other parts of Africa.

DUTIES OF WIVES 337

As I have stated, polygamy is quite customary,
only the poorest limiting himself to one wife. I
have been informed by missionaries and others that
the chief difficulty they experience in their efforts
to root out this custom consists in the fact that the
more wives a man has the greater consideration he
receives in a country in which wealth and social
distinction are reckoned by the number of consorts
the individual can afford himself. Still, even this
claim has its limits, and though three or four wives
are not regarded as an extravagant number, pro-
bably very few of even the most revered of the
native colosst ever exceed nine or ten. The first
wife married is the one to whom all subsequent
additions to the marital establishment owe obedi-
ence. I have ascertained that as a rule the female
members of the establishment get on very well
together, although not a few cases are known in
which the harmony has been sacrificed by most
saddening acts of feminine rivalry.

Broadly speaking, the woman may claim from
her husband as a right food, clothing, and a dwelling
to herself, separate, that is, from the other female
establishments. He is bound to keep her house in
good order, to pay her taxes, and in all other ways
to assist and support her and her children in sick-
ness and in health. The woman, on the other
hand, incurs on marriage the duty of labouring in
the gardens, drawing water twice daily, bringing
in firewood, cooking food, and, lastly, bearing as
many children as possible. Should she fail in this
latter important obligation, she may be repu-
diated after a certain period and returned to

22

338 ETHNOLOGY

her family, who are compelled to pay all costs
and charges incidental to the marriage, as well
as to the period of betrothal. These may, as
a rule, be estimated to amount to anything
between £5 and £10. Naturally, before final sepa-
ration arising from allegations of barrenness, the
native doctor, or Nganga, is consulted, and only in
the event of the acknowledged failure of his mini-
strations may the wife be finally put away.

Apart, however, from the foregoing, a measure
which is in every way equivalent to divorce is pro-
vided for any one of the following causes. On the
man’s side: (1) Adultery. (2) Inability or un-
willingness to perform his marital duties. (3)
Failure to maintain his wife in the full enjoyment
of her rights as outlined in the preceding para-
graph. On the woman’s side: (1) Adultery. (2)
Refusal to cohabit with her husband. (8) Child-
lessness. (4) Unwillingness to work in the gardens,
and, generally, to discharge her remaining duties.
If divorce result from the fault of the wife, the
children, as in more civilised circles, remain in the
charge of the father; if of the husband, they be-
come members of the family of the wife’s father, to
whom she returns, together with all her effects,
which, in the event of her being the culpable party,
would be claimed by the wronged husband, who,
in addition, may demand indemnity from his father-
in-law for the inconvenience occasioned by his
daughter’s incompetence or impropriety of conduct
as the case may be.

Adultery is not, however, always followed by
divorce. Cases are not infrequent in which it may

(seg «4

"NUOO LAO YNILVAd NANWOM VNUS-VAL

DIVORCE 339

have been deliberately encouraged, for, apart from
the wronged partner’s constitutional right to the
satisfaction afforded by complete separation, he or
she may overlook the offence on payment by the
individual with whom it has been committed of a
substantial sum as damages. ‘This is, in any case,
a matter which can only be adjusted by superior
authority, either the European district official, or
the headman or chief of the village, or group of
villages, in which the parties reside. If, on the
other hand, the person against whom the adultery
is alleged should successfully disprove the charge,
he or she may claim divorce, as well as the custody
of any children of the marriage. But in general
this is rarely done, for although the committal of
the offence may have been established, with all
sorts of aggravating circumstances, the matter is
usually amicably settled on payment of damages
on a higher or lower scale.

Another somewhat less common practice which
may give cause for the separation of husband and
wife is the deliberate frustration by the latter of
approaching maternity. This may be prompted by
jealousy, by suspicion, in a word, of her husband’s
infidelity ; by her condition having arisen through
her own secret misconduct, or, more frequently still,
as the result of a desire, arising out of some simple
tiff, to deliberately disappoint and annoy him. As
a rule this is brought about by drinking the juices
of certain astringent trees which have been pointed
out to me, as also, occasionally, by violent means.
Curiously enough the women experience scarcely
any ill-effects, but this is only one more proof of

340 ETHNOLOGY

the astonishing constitutions with which they have
been endowed. Nothing, for example, is more
usual than for a woman to walk about the day after
the birth of her child as if nothing very ex-
traordinary had happened to her. I remember in
Nyasaland, some years ago, the case of a female
who was on the road from Blantyre to Zomba (a
distance of rather over forty miles), when she was
confined on the roadside at a place called Chirad-
zulu, a little less than half the distance. After the
birth of her child she rested during the remainder
of that day, slept in a shelter her husband arranged
for her, and the following morning completed the
distance, arriving at Zomba in very good condition
indeed.

The ceremonies observed at death vary consider-
ably. In no two districts, so far as I can learn, are
they identical ; but selecting the more important
observances which more or less coincide throughout,
the rite is somewhat as follows. The death is
announced to the village by loud cries and wailing,
which continue incessantly for a day and a night,
and serve to attract many relatives and other per-
sons to the house of mourning. In the extensive
Sena district, after the first outward manifes-
tations of grief, preparations are at once made
for the interment. Two intimate elderly male
friends of the deceased, if it be a man, are re-
quested to undertake the duties of laying out
the corpse. These are called the Nyarumbés.
Assisted by the Kambaiassa, or doctor (so called
only for this purpose), they wash the body with
hot water, shave its head, and wrap it in white

DEATH 341

calico ready for burial. During the discharge of
these duties the wailing and mourning are incessant,
the mourners sitting on their heels in a circle, and
crooning a dirge-like improvised chant in which
they express their esteem for the deceased and _ his
many virtues, recounting prominent incidents in
his life-time, the voices at the end of each recital
uniting in some general expression of grief. A
grave is now opened in the neighbourhood, usually
close to the path; and when all is ready, the body,
secured by bands of cloth to a pole carried on the
shoulders of the elderly male members of the com-
munity, is brought to the grave and reverently laid
to rest. The position of the dead is almost in-
variably a recumbent one, but whilst in some dis-
tricts they are laid on the back, in others they
repose on the right side. During the interment
none of the boys or young men are allowed to be
present—indeed in some districts they are not
permitted to look upon the corpse at all, during the
funeral cortége men being sent in advance to warn
all persons to leave the path and remain out of
sight until the party has passed by. This custom,
however, is not general.

As soon as the grave is filled in, the whole of the
dead man’s moveable property is broken and placed
upon it; but I have not seen in Zambezia either
the pots containing food and water placed at the
graveside by the Yaos, nor yet the slab of neatly
smoothed mud and the thatched roof which the
latter place over it.

On the return from the burial, one of the Nya-
rumbés proceeds to kill a fowl, into the blood of

342 ETHNOLOGY

which the relatives of the departed dip their fingers,
He and his colleague then proceed toconsume the bird
with the exception of one leg, which is suspended
by means of a piece of string in the doorway of the
dead man’s house to be touched on arrival by any
of the friends or relatives who may not have had
time to attend the obsequies. The reason for this
singular custom is that, as these latter suppose that
the spirit of the deceased must be wrath with them
for not assisting at his funeral, they make peace by
touching the fowl’s leg, symbolising the “ catching
of the leg” of an offended person whereby in many
parts of Africa apology is tendered and a desire for
peace expressed.

Mourning is general for eight days, and dancing
to the music of drums continues nightly. Much
pombé or native beer is drunk, and the occasion is
often made the pretext for excesses of a discredit-
able character. Black or dark blue cloth is worn
as mourning, usually wrapped round the head. At
the end of the eighth day the mourning is
abandoned, and the near relations shave their
heads. A ceremonial washing in the river now
takes place, and the proceedings terminate ; but for
some time thereafter relatives who were in different
parts of the country at the time of the death are
continually arriving to touch the fowl’s now dried-up
leg, and manifest their grief and condolence. No
more heartless act can be attributed to a Zambezian
than neglect to visit and mourn with his bereaved
relations.

Should death occur as the result of unknown
and presumably unnatural causes, the Kambaiassa

[ore -d

“HAVES S.NIVIGGIHO OVA V

eee eeee

THE POISON ORDEAL 343

or doctor is consulted with a view to the matter
being cleared up. In not a few cases death is
ascribed to witchcraft, and it follows, therefore, that
every possible step be now taken to discover the
person guilty of so detestable a crime. As a rule
suspicion falls, as it was wont to fall years ago in
England, upon some unfortunate, well stricken in
years, who, by reason of eccentricity or peculiarity
of mind or body, suggests a guilty connection with
the events which terminated in the death. An
accusation is, therefore, made and indignantly re-
pudiated. There is now only one course—the
Poison Ordeal, or the drinking of the Mwavi. Even
to this day the average native has a firm innate
faith in the infallibility of the Mwavi, and the con-
fidence with which they invoke it to clear them of
suspicion of wrong-doing is still very deep-rooted
and wide-spread. On a given day, therefore, the
Kambaiassa, accompanied by his assistant—the
Sapenda—mixes the dreary potion in a small cala-
bash gourd. It consists of an infusion of the bark
of a tree common throughout South Central Africa,
and known as the Erythrophleum. To this the
blood of a fowl is added in some districts, and it is
heated by means of red-hot stones. The Sapenda
now hands this dreadful compound to the suspected
person, who drinks it eagerly, and, according to
their superstition, his innocence or guilt must im-
mediately be made manifest, for in the first case
the powerful irritant poison is vomited and no harm
ensues, whilst in the second death is as certain as
it is terrible. Of course the whole secret lies in
the strength of the dose administered, which if it

344 ETHNOLOGY

be exceedingly strong is at once rejected by the
stomach, but if less so cannot be vomited and
quickly proves fatal, the agony being appalling. It
is clear, therefore, that if the Kambaiassa and his
assistant be desirous of effecting the removal of any
obnoxious member of the community, their course
is a simple one.

Other methods of proving innocence consist of
plunging the hands into boiling water, as described
in my book “ Portuguese East Africa,” and by the
testimony of the Makaga, which consists of four
scales from the back of the crocodile and five from
that of the scaly ant-eater (Manis). These are
shuffled and mixed together, and as they fall to the
ground, so they exonerate or condemn.

The wife (or wives) of a deceased person are
cared for by the eldest brother, or, failing him, the
eldest maternal uncle of the defunct, and doubtless
in days when slavery existed in these regions were
duly disposed of to the best advantage. In some
parts of the country, the chief heir of any small
personal property possessed by a deceased person
at the time of death is the eldest sister’s eldest son ;
but this rule is by no means general, the tendency
being, in centres where European influence has
made itself felt, towards inheritance by the sons
of the defunct if he had any. Even in cases where
the eldest surviving brother successfully establishes
his claim, it is usual for him to distribute portions
of the estate to other members of the family, pre-
ference being as a rule given to the dead man’s
eldest son. The final distribution takes a consider-
able time, and is often the cause of grave dissatis-

FAMILY AFFECTION 345

faction, law suits, and at times disturbances which
are only finally settled by the local European
judicial authority.

No native ever has the remotest idea of how
old he is. Time he reckons by lunar months, and
years by seed-time and harvest. Heis quite unable
to say how many years may have elapsed since the
occurrence of even some well-remembered incident,
and cannot count or reckon up periods, or, as a
rule, anything he cannot see.

Taken as a whole, I regard the native of the
Zambezi Valley as a fine, attractive personality,
possessed of many undoubtedly valuable qualities,
and comparing, I am persuaded, most favourably,
both physically and mentally, with the indigenous
tribes of any part of East Africa, if we except the
more or less educated Mussulmans found in the
neighbourhood of Zanzibar. On the other hand,
they possess but little in the way of religion, and
that little is, I should imagine, of but small value
either as an incentive to good works or as a
deterrent from evil ones.

As I have just stated, the quality which we
should call family affection is rarely noticeable,
except between parents and quite young children.
I do not think that between a man and his wife
any of that intense attachment exists which is so
plainly visible in other races. I have come the
more to realise this from the fact of having
possessed servants and employés who were members
of the tribes we are considering, and who, at a
few hours’ notice, have left their women without
a murmur on either side for prolonged periods of

346 ETHNOLOGY

time. On the other hand, I have seen a great
many instances of unmistakable tenderness on the
part of the parents during such time as their off-
spring have remained quite small. I think,
therefore, we may take it that domestic affection
is scarcely felt by them in such a way as to exercise
any influence over their actions. There is, as some
explanation of this, no sort of equality between
the man and the woman, the latter being in almost
as complete subjection as a domestic animal. She
has not, in a word, conquered for herself that con-
sideration born of respect which is the germ of the
tender feeling that has ennobled and _ hallowed
among other races the relations between the sexes.
Still I do not think that the native husband is a
very brutal person. That he beats his wife right
soundly there can be no manner of doubt, but I do
not suppose the women themselves regard this
custom as a piece of brutality, or, indeed, anything
but the natural sequel to certain troublesome forms
of female naughtiness. It is very rarely imdeed
that a violent quarrel between husband and wife
leads to acts of violence. In this particular the
man appears to possess a self-control which would
be rare in a European of the lower classes. He
will sustain a perfect storm of abuse and invective
from his wife without resorting to the last argument
of all, and I think it would be only just to surmise
that when violent punishment is inflicted, it is so
as the result of a deliberate resolution to vindicate
his authority, or to purge some offence of a serious
character.

Towards animals I must own that the native is

DEFECTS AND QUALITIES 347

outrageously cruel and unfeeling. He will slay a
beast or a bird in such a way as to cause it the most
prolonged and exquisite suffering, or will often
neglect to put it to death after it has been badly
wounded and the shattered frame is writhing with
anguish. His treatment of domestic animals on
the line of march has often aroused my indignation,
especially in the case of the most ill-used and
indispensable of all—the African fowl. But he
does not do this because he is cruel, but from sheer
heedlessness ; from want of responsiveness to those
feelings of sympathy for pain and misfortune which
we call compassion. The latter feeling, in so far
as the lower creation is concerned, he literally does
not possess; but I should be sorry to say that
towards his own species he is not compassionate.
In many ways he will have no hesitation, even at
great personal inconvenience, in helping or assisting
those he may meet in trouble by the way. I have
seen him cheerfully double his load and share his
last morsel of food in the cause of necessity, and
there is, I think, much to be hoped for the future
of a savage possessed of redeeming traits of
character such as these.

In his present mental condition the Zambezian
is a man with the intelligence and ideas of a child.
Easily moved to laughter and gaiety, or as easily
plunged into the depths of dejection, his mercurial
disposition is yet one which I think as a rule is as
incapable of deliberate treachery as of any leaning
towards undue lust for revenge. He is, therefore,
not vindictive.

He is, however, incredibly untruthful, and

348 ETHNOLOGY

possesses powers of ingenious lying which I am
convinced few races can lay claim to in equal
degree. He is further intensely dishonest, and, in
all his thievish operations, greatly assisted by his
phenomenal capacity for juggling with the truth.
I have heard it said that the African native can
blush, but, for my own part, I have never seen him
do so, nor so much as move a muscle even when
unmasked in the perpetration of the most aban-
doned lie. He simply stands before you silent,
with an expression of slightly bored martyrdom
which says plainly, “ Dear me, what an ass this
white man is to make such a fuss about nothing.”
I am persuaded that, however perfect the African
character may ultimately become, after centuries
of European tuition and training, the two weak-
nesses which will take longer to eradicate than any
others are those to which this paragraph has been
devoted.

I suppose any act committed in defiance and
disregard of the laws of property is one of the
most serious crimes a native can commit among
his own people; but I am perfectly satisfied that
theft from a European, be he the delinquent’s
master or employer or not, is not looked upon
either by the offender or those of his colour who
may be privy to it as in any sense so serious. No
inducement will ever suffice to procure the evidence
of one servant or employé against another in these
circumstances, a fact which greatly increases the
difficulty of detecting transgression.

Drunkenness is not regarded as a matter of any
gravity, but rather as a mere venial weakness, and,

THE SENSE OF VIRTUE 349

so long as no danger or inconvenience result to the
community, a matter which affects nobody but
the person who may have been guilty of it. In
fact, neglect to take advantage of an opportunity
to indulge in strong drink to excess, or to purloin
safely a white man’s small possessions, would, I
am convinced, be regarded as a much more in-
comprehensible shortcoming than the act of doing
so. What then, I ask, can be done at present to
instil a high sense of duty and virtue into such
natives as these? Of a surety their claim to be
regarded as men and brethren cannot yet be fully
admitted. It will come to be so doubtless, but
not before the African shall have so changed the
man that is within him that those at home, who
now all untimely sigh and pant for the education
and regeneration of the black races, find in him a
more satisfactory field for the seeds of civilisation
than, I fear, he yet possesses. His mind in its
present condition would afford, I am convinced,
but stony ground; in fact, in most of those cases
where, in neighbouring colonies, the lessons of
truth have shown apparently unmistakable signs
of germination, they have on reaching maturity
proved of far too weak a growth to deter the negro
from the occasional committal of those acts of
disappointing moral obliquity which show that
what is described as his “higher nature” has not
as yet attained to a very elevated level. How
should it be otherwise? How can the benumbed
intellect, which has been cramped and fettered by
countless generations of brain-petrifying subjection,
suddenly absorb and assimilate new and perplexing

350 ETHNOLOGY

dogmas, and display itself garbed in all the dignity
of full and complete understanding? You may
certainly find, I agree, a few cases here and there
of exceptional promise, but the proof of the pudding
has usually been disappointing sooner or later, and
the last state of those cases entirely unanticipated.

During the summer season the Zambezian hunts
continually, and is successful in bringing to bag
considerable numbers of game beasts. Some of
these, buffaloes, large antelopes, and the like, are
often driven into swampy, marshy expanses, and
there despatched with long spears made for the
purpose, and about the same size as a pig-sticking
lance. Then again, at the approach of winter,
and as the grass dries, fires are lighted in such
a way as to drive the herds past large armed
parties advantageously posted, when great numbers
of animals are killed with arrows and_ spears.
Another method employed is to dig a line of V-
shaped pits, five or six feet deep, which are care-
fully covered and concealed, and over which herds
of game are driven. On falling in, the animal’s
feet all come together in the narrow bottom so
that it is entirely helpless; it is then despatched
with spears. Small game is caught in traps,
most of which are devised upon the snare, or
running noose, system, and can really hold quite
a large animal. In some parts of the country
bushbuck and impala, as well as the smaller
varieties of antelope, are netted, being driven by
a number of men and dogs into a net cunningly
placed. Into this they madly rush, and are unable
to extricate themselves.

TRAPS 351

Birds are usually caught by means of a con-
trivance almost exactly like the “springle” so dear
to the heart of every properly constructed British
boy. It is made of a long stick about the thick-
ness of a whip-stock, bent down and attached to a
running noose kept in position by several small
upright sticks. In the midst of these, and con-
nected with an ingenious catch, a small quantity
of millet or maize is so placed that a guinea-fowl or
partridge picking it up would be caught by the
neck and quickly strangled. I have even seen
rabbits and small buck secured in this way.

Fish in the rivers and streams are caught chiefly
‘by means of basket fish-traps of triangular shape
about five feet long, and made of finely split
bamboos. The spot selected for setting them is the
mouth of some stream flowing into the Zambezi.
At the point of confluence a dam of reed-fencing is
constructed, the fish-traps being placed in position
in the dam at short intervals all the way along it.
They are visited night and morning, and are
almost always found to contain fish. In addition
to the foregoing, net-fishing is very largely practised.
The nets, often fifty yards in length, are dragged
behind canoes, and large catches are made, the
varieties chiefly consisting of bream, barbel, a
handsome tiger-fish, and another resembling a
perch, but singularly tasteless and bony. Most of
the fish taken are split open and dried either in the
sun or over wood fires. lLine-fishing is also very
general; some of the villages on the Zambezi
indulging in rod-fishing also, precisely in the same
way as that followed by Europeans. <A long

352 ETHNOLOGY

bamboo serves as a rod, and a fragment of the
pith of the bango-reed is utilised as a float. Fish-
hooks of European manufacture are now in
general use.

With regard to sickness, the African is a
singularly bad patient, and immediately becomes
despondent, dying in many cases from sheer want
of force of character to enable him to make up
his mind to get well again. In their own villages,
this want of power to assist by their own efforts
the ministrations of the Nganga or Kambaiassa is
aided in the frequently fatal termination of even
a simple malady by the belief that the sick man is
the victim of witchcraft, and that the hope of re-
covery were, therefore, futile. I fancy they have
a much greater faith in the efforts of European
doctors than they have in those of their own, for
the childlike faith the native has in the power of
the white man supports his belief in the efficacy
of the treatment he receives.

‘VENVAN-V ‘ONIMVN-LOUSVE

CHAPTER XIII

THE NATIVES (continued) : SUPERSTITIONS—
FOLK LORE

Tue chief superstitions of the natives of the
Zambezi Valley are those with which the witch
doctor is closely connected, although there are
doubtless many others which are more in the
nature of habits hallowed by long custom than
superstitions properly speaking. But those which
centre on the ministrations of the witch doctor are
most extraordinary at times—a quaint mélange
of fact and fiction, of demonstration on the one
hand and trickery on the other. Thus the witch
doctor (variously called Nganga or Kambaiassa),
who, without doubt, as a rule possesses a con-
siderable knowledge of certain natural remedies,
poisons, and kindred means of producing simple
results, is an accomplished trickster who bluffs
most superbly. A witch doctor who could not
make a handsome living in the present ignorant,
superstitious condition of the native mind would
be a born idiot. Not only is he entrusted with the
discovery and trial by ordeal of accused persons,
which duties offer at once a wide field for his
cupidity and ingenuity, but, at times, he is even
353 23

854 SUPERSTITIONS

called in and his aid requisitioned to produce rain
or other atmospheric phenomena. These last-
named duties require days and sometimes weeks
of preparation. He is preparing, in fact, until it
is perfectly apparent that rain is at hand. If much
delay should occur, he explains that his charms
have taken longer than usual to work owing to the
hostile influence of some malevolent wizard whose
identity he already suspects. He then looks darkly
round, and gives out that he will shortly proceed
to identify the miscreant who has been prolonging
the drought. His relations with the more in-
fluential members of the community now suddenly
cool, so that they are filled with anxiety lest
denunciation should overtake them, and load the
dreaded seer with handsome gifts. Finally he
pitches upon some unfortunate too aged or world-
weary to make too vigorous a defence. There is
now no hope. ‘The poison ordeal must be
administered, and the astute Nganga takes good
care that, for his own reputation’s sake as a diviner,
the accused cannot possibly recover. Of course at
times the people grow impatient at the non-
appearance of rain in response to the Nganga’s
“preparations,” but even in such a case the re-
sourceful expert may say that the white men are
working against him, that his fee has been con-
sidered insufficient, or that he is wrestling with the
charms of powerful and envious rivals. He need
never be at a loss for an explanation. Nobody can
contradict him, and, in any case, he is far too
formidable a person with whom to enter into direct
conflict. here is, as I have said, probably no

THE WITCH DOCTOR 355

more credulous person on earth than the average
negro, so that the village witch doctor need never
have any difficulty in forcing the most impossible
story down his patient, receptive throat.

Then again, in certain cases, this important per-
sonage is confidently believed to have it in his
power to turn individuals into wild animals; to
assemble the beasts of the forests at his will, and
compel them to obey him. This supposititious power
is one which is very widely believed, and, needless
to say, a person supposed to be capable of exercising
it is greatly feared and deferred to. Such a person
was pointed out to me in the Barué last year, in
a village near the singular, isolated mountain which
is called M’handa. He it was, I was informed,
who foretold the defeat and downfall of the last
Makombé in 1902. They told me that he fre-
quently changed himself into a lion, and once had
been known to assume the shape of an elephant ;
also that during the 1902 campaign, being anxious
to assist the Portuguese in compassing the Ma-
kombé’s defeat, he had caused the lions, leopards,
and other wild beasts to co-operate with the
Portuguese forces by harassing the enemy in the
night, as well as during their retreat.

In addition to the power of the Nganga in such
matters, there are certain individuals who are stated
at times to turn into wild animals either voluntarily
or involuntarily. I never met with any of these
latter, but I was informed on several occasions of
their presence in the districts. I have no doubt
that this is a form of lunacy which may well be
a dangerous one, since it is not inconceivable that,

356 SUPERSTITIONS

during the period in which the individual supposed
his shape to be changed, he might, and probably
would, commit acts of violence such as might be
expected from the beast whose form he thought
he had assumed.

In certain parts of the country a firm belief
exists in the power of certain medicines to trans-
form individuals into the shapes of animals. It
is supposed that if these be mixed with a man’s
food, he will commence to emit strange cries,
such as would be characteristic of the beast into
which he feels himself to be gradually turning.
After a short time he rushes into the forest, his
appearance changing rapidly as he goes. His tail
makes its appearance during the night, and the
following morning he is wholly unaware of his
human origin. Some say this transformation is
only temporary, and that, after a period more
or less prolonged, he recovers his original nature
and appearance.

If left to his own devices, the Zambezian does
not set apart any day or season for abstention from
work, or, in a word, as a time of holiday. The
priest Joao dos Santos tells us, in Chapter IX. of
“Ethiopia Oriental,” that in his time this was the
case ; but whatever may have been the events the
days set aside were intended to commemorate, they
have been entirely forgotten in more recent times.
The only occasion giving rise to anything in the
nature of festivity is the appearance of the new
moon, but the feeling thereby awakened is in no
sense a deeper one than joy at the prospect of
being able to drink and dance to a later hour than

THE ORDERING OF THINGS 357

during the part of the month when her light is
invisible.

The native never troubles his head about the
mysteries of the creation, of the commencement
of life, or of his own origin. The present and the
future are sufficient for him, each distinguished by
its own peculiar preoccupations and uncertainties.
I suppose the future really troubles him but little—
he is too much of a fatalist for that. Still, in spite
of his disregard of the mysteries of the past or the
contingencies of the future, it is a singular fact
that that widely travelled legend of how the
chameleon brought death into the world, which
is known all over Bantu South Africa, and even
up the coast as far as Zanzibar, is current in the
districts of Zambezia. It is somewhat to the
following effect.

Long ago, death occurred only as the result of
violence—the violence of war, or that of the attack
of wild beasts, or the punishment of grave offences.
Otherwise people did not die of disease, for ex-
ample, of old age, boredom, or the thousand-and-
one unnecessary causes which in these latter days
hurry us, all untimely, into the cold and silent
tomb. But the position had its drawbacks. It
ended in a population so numerous as to give rise
to an insufficiency of food. So those great ones
who held in their hands the economic Ordering of
Things held a conference, away in a lonely place
by themselves, and free from the embarrassing
attendance of the representatives of the halfpenny
press. They decided, after much discussion, that
there was only one thing to be done, namely, to

358 SUPERSTITIONS

invite the attention of the world of spirits to a
condition which was rapidly growing untenable,
and to request permission to qualify for member-
ship of the celestial circle after a limited period
and by natural means. Summoning the lizard,
therefore, they despatched him on this important
errand with many injunctions to secrecy. It fell,
however, that some member of the conference,
unable to support a secret of so weighty a character,
deliberately gave it away to an amazed and in-
dignant populace, who promptly commissioned a
messenger of their own, praying that, at all hazards
of famine and hunger, they might be permitted to
live as they had always done, and keep death at
a distance. By some lamentable error of judgment,
their choice of a bearer for so all-important a re-
quest fell, of all creatures in the world, upon the
chameleon. With a calm deliberation, and that
absence of flurry which characterise this singular
creature’s every movement, he inconsiderately ac-
cepted the commission, and departed on his vital
errand his eyes fixed upon futurity and his mind
centred upon flies. In such a mental condition,
it naturally took him some considerable time to
reach his journey’s end, but finally he found him-
self in the land of shades, where he was received
with the consideration befitting the importance of
his mission. He was informed in response to his
leisurely representations that, unluckily for the hopes
of the races of men, the lizard had already been en-
trusted with full powers to introduce death into the
world by natural causes, and had already a long
start of him. Thus, as nothing could now be done

METEMPSYCHOSIS 359

to arrest him, the secret of death was handed by the
lizard to the petitioners for it, and the chameleon
must throughout the ages bear the odium attaching
to his scandalous and inopportune casualness.

A very curious form of belief is that the spirits
of dead persons are enabled to return and watch
over their surviving relations in the shapes of
animals. It frequently happens, therefore, that
whilst one family is unwilling to slay beasts of one
species, another group will betray reluctance to kill
those of another. This belief is particularly general
among the Wa-Tonga of the Barué, who still
perform “animal dances” in which they imitate
the voices and movements of those forms in which
they suppose the spirits of their dead may be
temporarily sheltered. But although the reason
assigned for the entry of spirits into the bodies of
animals is that of protection to the survivors, the
beasts whose forms the spirits take are not expected
to manifest their presence by any undue desire to
visit the abode of those who remain. Were they
to do so, I do not think that faith in the identity
of their animating spark would outweigh an un-
mistakable manifestation of panic on the part of
those so visited. They will tell you, however, that
an animal into which a given spirit has passed, is
close by, and will not permit any other of the
same species to do them harm.

I have never heard expression given to the belief,
attributed to certain South African tribes, in races
of people who live beneath the surface of the water ;
but I have heard the opinion several times ex-
pressed that Europeans originally lived under the

360 SUPERSTITIONS

sea, and that the adaptability they now display to
a mode of life such as that which they have adopted
on dry land is a matter of comparatively recent
acquirement.

The superstition of witchcraft already referred
to, which induces such practices as recourse to the
poison ordeal and other “ proofs,” takes at times
a particularly interesting though intensely horrible
form, namely that the person exercising it has the
power to turn him or herself into a hyena, or other
animal, for the purpose of committing the unim-
aginable crime of cannibalism. The story will be
remembered, in my chapter on the Barué District,
of the old woman Dzango, who lusted to devour
the unfortunate girl she did to death. In like
manner, I believe there is, at times, a ghastly form
of mania among certain of the black races which
awakens in them an unconquerable yearning for
human flesh. Whence it arises, whether from
some strange recrudescence of the old-time canni-
balistic habit, to which centuries ago practically all
the dwellers in this part of Africa were addicted,
or not, one cannot of course say. In the native
mind it is now almost universally connected with
sorcery, the supposition being that the wizard, by
means of mysterious spells, compasses the death of
his unhappy victim, and that immediately after the
burial he changes himself into a carnivorous animal,
and disinters the corpse, which he devours. In
many parts of the country, where the smallest
suspicion exists that death may be due to occult
causes, the most elaborate precautions are taken to
prevent the violation of the grave, and these, added

CANNIBALISM 361

to the certainty that some person is undergoing
the Mwavi torture, throw the whole community
into a state of ferment.

But stripping off the picturesque superstition of
sorcery, with all its singular “ were-wolf” attributes,
cases have been known of natives becoming
addicted to a form of cannibalism which has led to
their digging up and devouring the corpses of the
dead. I remember one particularly conclusive
piece of evidence which I received in the course of
a visit to Zambezia only last year. It appears that
in certain A-Nyanja villages in the Pinda District,
an old man was accused of this practice, and, a
complaint having been formally made to the head-
man of his village, he was made to drink Mwavi,
which in this instance was a correct enough form
of ordeal, for no sooner was it applied, and before
the man had time to vomit, he was seized with
panic and confessed that the charge was true, at
the same time directing the people to the spot in
the forest where his dreadful feasts took place.
Here human remains were discovered, but when
they were brought in to the village, it was found
that the accused had vomited the draught, and,
therefore, could not be guilty. Here was a per-
plexing position ; so to solve it the whole matter
was brought before the European district. official,
who told me the story.

Of course the native mind invests these canni-
balistic sabbaths with much fanciful, fantastic
imagery. They suppose, for example, that the
corpse-devouring wizards are very numerous ; that
in addition to putting on the forms of wild beasts,

362 SUPERSTITIONS

they can render themselves invisible and fly ; that
whilst thus impalpable, they assemble together and
summon the dead man, using language unknown to
ordinary mortals, and calling him, by the name of
his childhood, before puberty, to leave his grave.
This the corpse is compelled to do, whereupon they
fall upon and devour it. Whilst these dreadful
orgies are in progress, it is believed that large bats,
night-jars, and especially the great eagle-owl keep
watch to see that no person approaches. Hyenas
are also employed as sentries, and receive the
remains of the wizards’ feast. The howl of a
hyena is, therefore, an eerie sound to the ears of
the average native.

Belief in the future state of the spirit varies
considerably, for whilst among the people of one
tribe it is supposed that the flame of life remains in
the grave with the body it formerly inhabited, those
of another will tell you that it stays in a certain
locality, usually the summit of a mountain, which
is only visited occasionally by the living. Some
time ago, whilst I was staying a night in the village
of a chieftain whose huts were situated in a lovely
position seven or eight miles from the high Kungu
Peak of the Barué, he informed me that years ago
he had ascended it for the purpose of praying to
the spirits of his ancestors, but nobody had been
up there since. He was about to marry his first
wife at the time, and desired a sign as to whether
the venture would turn out well or not. Headded
that in his father’s time, when he was quite a small
boy, the Vatuas used to come from the Inhambane
region, and lay waste the whole country, where-

BELIEF IN GHOSTS 363

upon the natives would retreat to the mountain.
In the wars of Gouveia (see Chapter VI.), they
were in the habit of doing the same thing, so that
in course of time villages in concealed portions of
the mountain plateau sprang up, and were used as
refuges as occasion arose. The many people who
died, whilst concealing themselves from the warring
elements below, were buried on a shoulder of
Kungu, so that their spirits would naturally
remain there. He told me that once in a lifetime,
seldom more than once, each person who could
claim connection with those whose remains rested
in the cemetery were wont to ascend the peak to
make offerings, pray, and solicit guidance in relation
to some contemplated project. There was only
one very old man who knew the way up, and no
Kuropean had ever found his way to the top.

Among certain of the A-Nyanja people of the
Massingire Prazo the practice of disinterring the
bones of deceased persons some time after burial is
general. These are taken up and scattered in
various directions, the skull and larger bones being
broken for the purpose. This is not, so far as I am
aware, the custom among the Wa-Sena, nor is it
done by the natives nearer the coast.

Belief in ghosts does not appear to be very
general, although I have discussed the matter with
Sena people who had heard of such things. The
spirit, when once it has left the body, is imagined
to be, and to remain, invisible. They believe firmly
in the existence of a Supreme Being called Mlungu,
who, they think, made everything; but they do
not believe that intercession or prayer to him is

864 SUPERSTITIONS

of any avail. Their faith is likewise strong in an
evil influence variously called, who, they consider,
is always looking for an opportunity to afflict them
and interfere with their temporal well-being. The
propitiation of the latter is a troublesome and
expensive business, as it never occurs to the African
mind that Mlungu might be able to exercise any
restraining influence; so he takes the whole of the
gigantic contract upon his own shoulders, and, as a
rule, finds it a sufficiently absorbing study. Before
undertaking the simplest enterprise, therefore, he
will consult the spirits of his ancestors, with very
considerable ceremony, supposing that from their
present abode they must possess facilities for ob-
taining information as to the views of the evil one.
It is evidently not an idea that would enter the
minds of the survivors of a family which had been
noted for its good works, but the native sees
nothing derogatory to their memory in it, since
the evil spirits are supposed to have a habit of
consorting with the shades of the dead, possibly
with a view to gleaning hints as to how most
easily to exercise their satanic and malevolent
influence upon the survivors. Be this as it may,
the Creator is wholly neglected, and never enters
into their calculations at all.

Another singular custom which obtains in certain
parts of the country is to apply to the witch doctor
for denunciation of the unknown perpetrator of
murder, witchcraft, or other serious offence, by
calling back, in the case of the former, the spirit of
the deceased. This he affects to do by means of a
small gourd, usually not unlike a little, fat doll, It

SIGNS AND WONDERS 365

is dressed up in calico and beads, and at times most
extravagantly ornamented. The person utilising it
as a medium takes an offering and repairs to the
house of the witch doctor, who receives it and
pretends to interrogate the oracle somewhat as
follows. Calling the spirit by name, he asks, “So-
and-so, are you listening?” If there is no answer,
he says it is because the offering is not large
enough; but if the amount laid before him be
satisfactory, a squeak is given, apparently by the
gourd, to signify that the spirit of the defunct
is now in attendance. Many questions are now
asked, such as, “Who is the guilty person?”
«Why did he murder you?” “ Where is he now 2”
“Will he deny it?” and soon. The answers are
given either by means of ventriloquism, or else
mechanically, and consist always of a series of
squeaks, which the doctor professes to be able to
interpret. Finally some person is named, where-
upon he is promptly denounced and made to undergo
the ordeal.

Good and bad signs are very numerous, and con-
sist, among others, of the following :

To find a snake lying along the path signifies
success on the journey; across it, or coiled in it,
failure and disaster.

Bird songs of certain birds on the left hand
signify good luck, whilst on the right they presage
the contrary.

Certain antelopes crossing the path ahead from
right to left are an excellent sign, but if in the
contrary direction, the native will abandon his
journey and go home.

366 SUPERSTITIONS

To meet a number of young girls is a fortunate
circumstance, whilst a single female, especially if
she be enceinte, is a serious matter.

Rapid, nervous contraction of the right eye-lid
foretells a pleasing sight during the day.

If a lion be seen and retires noiselessly it is a
good omen; but if it growl, it is a forewarning of
death.

A screech-owl on the roof of a hut is a sign of
misfortune, as is also the hooting several nights in
succession of the common barn-owl.

If a thunderbolt fall in a village, or if it be
struck by lightning, it must be immediately aban-
doned.

A tortoise in the path, or the appearance of a
porcupine, is an excellent indication.

Pied kingfishers flying across the bow of a canoe
are certain precursors of evil.

There are doubtless many more superstitions of
a similar kind, but the foregoing are current all
over Zambezia in one part or another.

Among certain of the A-Nyanja people, and
I believe also the A-Mahindo, belief in the
spirits of trees and waters is prevalent. They
also think that the latter are worshipped by
hippopotami, and that when at midday many of
these animals may be seen congregated in a
pool or on a sand-bank, they are praying to the
water spirits to show them the way to their
favourite food.

Charms and amulets are extensively worn, and
implicitly believed in. They usually take the
form of small pieces of twig or bark, or the wood

CHARMS AND AMULETS 367

of trees and bushes to which certain virtues are
ascribed. The teeth of crocodiles, the teeth and
claws of lions and leopards and other animals, are
also worn. In the cases of some of these charms,
avoidance of rheumatism, skin diseases, and the
like is believed to be assured. In those of claws,
and the teeth of reptiles and carnivora, safety from
these creatures is considered to be secured. There
are, in addition, procurable for a consideration from
the witch doctor, other charms which, when worn
or otherwise exercised, are believed to make the
owner invisible, or, buried with the incantations
proper to the occasion, enable him to secretly cause
the death of any obnoxious neighbour. Other
forms of medicine render him immune to bullets
and arrows, whilst others again enable him to
kill invariably by the same means. The charms
and amulets I have mentioned are worn round
the neck, interspersed, sometimes quite tastefully,
with beads. They are also carried on the wrists
and ankles, around the waist, and wherever
their virtue is counted upon to exert a salutary
influence.

Many natural remedies are known, not only to
the Nganga, but also to the people, and from some
of these I have personally more than once derived
benefit. Their knowledge of remedies chiefly
consists of simple herbs, grasses, and leaves. In-
fusions of the bark of certain trees are, however,
much resorted to, as also charcoal made into a
paste with castor-oil, and applied as an ointment
to wounds, obstinate sores, ulcers, and the like.
Remedies for curing simple ailments, such as

368 SUPERSTITIONS

diarrhoea, colds, headache, stomach derangements,
and so on, are well known, and always available.
A very efficient form of dry-cupping is also prac-
tised with the instrumentality of a small antelope’s
horn. The use of astringent dressings for healing
is well understood, as is also the efficacy of the
inhalation of medicated steam for asthma and
diseases of the chest.

There is one matter which I have overlooked in
relation to native superstitions, and that is the
complete absence of belief in any definite future
state or condition, or any faith in the resurrection.
They have, moreover, not the faintest conception
of immortality. As we have seen, the spirit is
supposed to be vaguely bound to the grave, or to
some area, where it is believed to spend an un-
certain period of time. Certainly no negro would
believe that the body which he has seen laid in the
ground, or, possibly, removed thence and deliberately
scattered in the forest, could rise again, and, in its
old aspect, or anything like it, put on incorrupti-
bility. At the same time, they cannot in the least
understand your question when you ask them if
they think the spirits of the departed live on “for
ever.” Eternity is a phrase which the native mind
is incapable of comprehending. His expression for
eternity is “all days,” * but it would be impossible
to make him grasp such a meaning in its full and
illimitable sense. He could not bring his mind to
perceive, even faintly, what was meant by a con-
dition in which time had ceased, could not be
measured any more by days or months, in fact

* Siku Zonséné,

FABLES AND RIDDLES 369

was not. I suppose he thinks in some vague,
formless fashion, if he thinks at all, that the human
essence, if it could be seen at the moment of dis-
solution, is a dim, faintly luminous shape, and that
it becomes less and less so as the years go by, until,
after an infinity of them, it gradually melts away
into nothingness, and forms anew some part of the
great scheme of Nature to waft onward mysteriously
toward final fruition the first feeble elements of
nascent life.

The negro, all Africa over, revels in fables and
riddles, and it is very probable that the small child’s
first recollections of human speech connect them-
selves with such sayings as—

Q. Who builds a house without a door ?
A. The hen.

Q. Who lives inside ?
A. A chicken.

And from the daily gathering of his mother’s friends,
as they come along with their babies in the golden
light of early afternoon to sit under the eaves of
the hut, and chatter about all manner of things,
he hears strange stories of what the elephant said
to the locusts who ate up all his food ; how the
tortoise and the porcupine fell out ; what was the
cause of all the game running away when the white
man came; and many more, grave and gay, print-
able and—the reverse.

The stories and fables of the negro on the Zam-
bezi are not at all unlike those which have done
duty in many distant parts of the country, as well
to the north as to the south. There is a strange
family resemblance between them, and as they have

24

370 FOLK LORE

never been written, save by travellers and mission-
aries, they must have been handed down orally in
the various tribes from a time as remote as the
earliest occupation of the great continent by black
races. It is clear, therefore, that these old legends
and fables must, to an unlettered people, have
largely taken the place of books, and, in their
simplicity or complexity of construction, they afford
us considerable assistance in gauging the intellectual
capacity of the people.

I shall now proceed to transcribe a few for the
benefit of my readers, or such of them as are un-
acquainted with African stories.

Tue Hare, THE ELEPHANT, AND THE
RHINOCEROS

Once upon a time the elephant went out and
met the hare. “What news?” said the elephant.
“Good,” replied the hare. “I have eaten well, my
stomach is full, and I feel remarkably strong. Let
us have a tug-of-war.” ‘“ What!” cried the elephant,
who could scarcely believe his ears. ‘“ Why, if I
put my foot down upon you, who would ever
believe you had been a hare?” “Never mind,”
said the hare, “take this rope and tie it round
your neck; I will go down this! ravine, and you
will see that you will not be able to pull me up
again.” So the elephant tied the rope round his
neck, chuckling to himself the while, and the hare,
with the other end, disappeared down the ravine.
He there found an immense rhinoceros, to whom
he said, “ Will you wager that if I tie this rope
round your neck, and go up to the top of the

FOLK TALES 371

ravine, you can pull me back?” But the rhinoceros
only laughed, and said, “I could jerk you back and
catch you on my horn.” “Never mind,” rejoined
the hare, “let us try.” So he attached the end
of the rope held by the elephant to the neck of
the rhinoceros, and retracing his steps until he
reached a point about the middle, he cried to them
both to pull him. Then commenced a mighty
struggle ; the elephant trying to pull the rhinoceros
up-hill, and the rhinoceros to draw the elephant
down. They pulled until they were weary, without
the least result, and at length went in search of
each other. When they met both were furious at
the trick the hare had played them, and agreed that
he must die, so they tied him up and placed him
in a tree, whilst they went for firewood to burn
him to death. Whilst they were gone, a leopard
passing by espied the hare tied up in the tree.
“What are you doing there, hare?” he asked.
“The elephant said he would make me eat flesh,”
replied the cunning hare, “and as my teeth were
not made for eating anything but grass, I shall
starve to death.” “Oh, but mine were,” said the
leopard; “I will take your place.” So with his
teeth he unfastened the hare’s bonds, and the
latter lost no time in getting out of sight. When
the elephant came back, he said in a surprised
tone, “What are you doing there, leopard?”
“Waiting for the meat you went to get for the
hare,” was the rejoinder. ‘ Ah,” said the elephant,
“you want the meat, do you? Well, take it,” and
throwing upon the leopard the immense pile of wood
he had brought back, he crushed him to death.

372 FOLK LORE

Tue Lion AND THE LITTLE GIRLS

Two little girls were going along the path one
day, and found the head and horns of a bushbuck,
whose body had been eaten by a lion in the night.
So they picked the head up and carried it along
with them. But before they had gone very far,
the lion came to look for it, and found it had dis-
appeared, so he followed upon the scent of the
little girls growling fiercely and saying:

“ My horns, give me back my horns;
My horns, give me back my horns.”

So the little girls were dreadfully afraid, and ran
as hard as they could to the nearest village, and
hid themselves in a goat-house. But the lon
came sniffing round, and kept saying in the most
awful tones :

“My horns, give me back my horns ;
My horns, give me back my horns.”

But his head was too large to go into the door
of the goat-house, which was quite dark inside, and
as the little girls clung together in an agony of
terror, the earth suddenly gave way, and they fell
into the hole of an ant-eater.

“Oh, ant-eater,” they said, “show us the other
way out, for the lion wants to kill us.” But the
ant-eater laughed. ‘Iam not afraid of the lion,”
he said; “he cannot kill me, my armour is too
strong. I will go and tell him to go away.” So,
to the lion’s surprise, a voice he thought belonged

THE CROCODILE’S CHARM 373

to one of the little girls came from the goat-house
and said, “ Be quiet, lion; we want to go to sleep.”
This made the lion dreadfully angry, and he made
up his mind to eat the little girls as well as the
bushbuck’s head. ‘Come out,” he said, “Come
out and I will eat you.” “You cannot eat me,”
replied the ant-eater, ‘for your jaws are not strong
enough.” This put the lion into a still more
frightful rage. ‘Only let me get hold of you and
you shall see,” he roared. ‘“ Very well,” said the
ant-eater, “ put your paw through the door, and
feel how hard I am.” So the lion put his paw
through the doorway and tried hard to claw the
ant-eater, but when he felt the hard scales of his
armour he turned on his heel and went away.

THE CRocopDILE’s CHARM

Some years ago, a man living at Lacerdonia had
two sons, and as he was getting old they said to
him one day, “ You are now an old man; give us
a little of everything you possess, and we will go
away, and build ourselves houses.” So the old
man gave them some cloth, and beads, and seed,
and millet, and other things, and they set off to a
place where they had settled they would in future
reside. And as they journeyed along, a lion sprang
upon the one who was foremost, and bore him off.
So the brother who remained gathered the dead
man’s scattered possessions from the path, and he
was very glad, and said to himself, “ Now, with the
help of my brother’s property added to mine, I can
get married, for I have now sufficient to buy me a

84 FOLK LORE

wife.” So that night he arrived at a village where
there was a big dance, and was hospitably received
in one of the headman’s own huts. The next day
he saw his host’s daughter, and made proposals for
her which were accepted, so he settled there, and
soon after was married. But his wife had no
children, so he took another after some time had
passed, and the first wife was so low-spirited about
it that she went and consulted the Kambaiassa,
took some medicine he gave her, and in the fulness
of time presented her husband with a fine baby-girl.
When the baby made its appearance, the second
wife was so jealous of her rival’s child that she
went to her brother, who was a Nganga of the
A-Nyanja people, and asked him for a charm to
kill the mother. She also told him she would like
one to kill the child as well, but he refused, saying
that he would only give her a charm to kill the
mother, and, when she was dead, they would steal
the child and sell it. So he gave her the medicine,
which she was assured would call a crocodile when
the woman went down to draw water at the river,
the reptile would take her, and all would be well.
All that was necessary was to place it close to the
water-side and to say :

“ Newena ndza kuno,
Ngwena ndza kuno.” (Crocodile, come here.)

That night the jealous one went down to the
river to bury her charm, but as she did so the
crocodile came and carried her off, and she was
never seen again.

The foregoing is stated to be a true story.

THE LION AND THE HARE 375

Tue Lion aND THE Hare

The lion and the hare lived together in the same
part of the forest, and one day the lion said, “ Hare,
we are both very hungry, and our mothers will not
give us enough to eat ; let us go and kill them, and
then we can have as much as we desire.” ‘“ Very
well,” assented the hare, so they set out, each
carrying a spear. The lion arrived first at his
mother’s home, and promptly killed her ; the hare,
however, before reaching the place where his
mother was concealed, stained the point of his spear
by thrusting it into the bark of a teak tree ; he then
went to his mother and said to her, “ Mother, the
lion and I have agreed to kill each our maternal
parent, but I will not do it, though I was afraid to
refuse. Go and hide, therefore, in a cave that I
know of, in case the lion sees you and wants to kill
you too.” So having hidden his mother, the hare
went back and rejoined his companion. “ Well,
hare, have you killed her?” “Yes,” replied the
hare ; “look at my spear.” So the lion looked at the
spear and was deceived by the juice of the teak
tree. ‘‘ Well,” said the lion, “what shall we do
now?” “Ido not know what you are thinking of
doing,” said the hare, “ but, personally, I am going
for a walk to the hills.” Very well,” said the lion,
“we will go together.” It was an embarrassing
proposal, but there was no help for it. In the
course of the way they got separated by a herd of
elephants, and the hare scampered off to his.
mother’s cave, where he had an excellent meal.

316 FOLK LORE

After eating he gnawed a piece of charcoal, and
went and rejoined his friend the lion. “ What
have you had to eat ?” inquired the latter, with a
suspicious glance at the hare’s bulging sides. “ Oh,”
replied the hare, “ I have had nothing but a little
piece of charcoal.” “Charcoal,” said the lion,
“how can anybody live on charcoal? Show me
your teeth.” So the hare showed his teeth, all
blackened by the charcoal he had gnawed. Several
days passed thus, the hare supported in the mean-
time by his grateful parent ; but at length the lion
began to feel surprised that, in spite of so meagre
a fare as charcoal, the hare grew fatter and fatter.
So he made up his mind to follow and see for
himself in what the mystery lay. The next
morning, therefore, he put his project into execution,
and from the summit of a neighbouring hill he saw
the hare enter his mother’s cave, and afterwards
come forth carrying a large quantity of food which
he proceeded leisurely to eat. “Ah,” said the lion,
“he has deceived me, and did not kill his mother
after all” So when he saw the hare depart, the
lion went quietly to the door of the cave, and after
knocking, said in a soft voice, “Open, mother.”
“* How is this ?” answered the hare’s mother ; “ you
have only just finished your food, and you are
hungry again.” “ Open, mother,” repeated the lion
in a still more silky voice. The door was finally
opened, and the poor hare’s mother drew back
appalled at the sight of the lion. ‘Are you the
hare’s mother?” he asked in a terrible voice.
“Yes, I am,” she faintly replied. ‘ Well, I shall
kill and eat you, because your son deceived me,”

THE BOY AND THE CANNIBALS 377

said the lion ; “ but before I do so, go and bring me
all the food you have in the cave.” The old hare
did so, and the lion killed and ate her. He then
took the food she had laid before him and went
away, and presently perceived the hare in the dis-
tance. “Hare, come and help me,” he cried ; “I am
weighed down with food.” “Where did you get
it?” inquired the other with a sinking heart. “In
a cave in the mountains,” returned the lion. The
hare quickly emptied some poison into the food,
and after helping the lion home with it, ran off to
the cave to see if his mother still lived. One
glance showed him what had happened, and weep-
ing bitterly, he went back to where he had left the
lion, and found him lying dead.

Tor Boy AND THE CANNIBALS

Once upon a time, a man went out to hunt and
killed a hartebeeste. So he brought it home and
said to his mother, “Mother, make a fire, and we
will eat meat.” But the old woman said, “If you
make a fire and cook the meat, the cannibals who
live close by will be sure to smell it and come over
and eat us. Eat it raw.” But the man would not,
and bade his wife make a fire, but she made the
same reply. So he made his small son run to the
village where the cannibals lived to get some fire,
and told him not to take any meat with him. But
the boy disobeyed his parent, and took a small
piece to eat on the way. So at last he came to the
village and asked for the fire. The cannibals gave
him some, but as he was going away they said,

378 FOLK LORE

“You smell of meat, where is it?” But the boy
denied it, and ran back to his village, hotly pur-
sued, and shouting to his family to hide themselves,
This they did, and when the cannibals arrived,
they saw the meat of the hartebeeste and ate it;
then they searched in the granary, and found the
old woman and ate her; they then discovered the
boy’s father and ate him; but when the wife fell
into their hands, they were already quite full, and
told her they would hold her in reserve and eat
her on the morrow. But she made a bargain with
them that they were to spare her if she gave them
the boy who had deceived them and six large jars
of beer. So she brought the beer, and then said
she would call him. But instead of that she hid
herself until the middle of the night, and then went
back to where the cannibals lay drunk, and killed
them all with a spear.

Tue Hare’s CHARM

Two little girls were walking back to the village
one morning, each carrying a large pot of water on
her head, when the one who walked in front
dropped hers, and it fell to the ground and was
broken. So she cried, and cried, and was afraid to
go home, knowing full well that she would be
severely beaten; but her companion said, “Stay
here until I go with my pot, and I will see if your
mother is really very angry. If she is, I will come
and tell you.” So she went to the village and told
her companion’s mother what had happened. As
she expected, the woman was very angry, so she

THE HARE’S CHARM 379

returned to where her little friend was waiting
on the path, and advised her to go and stay with
her relations in a neighbouring village until her
mother’s anger was forgotten. So the little girl
went off to stay with her grandmother, and as she
went along the path a hare with a small piece of
stick in his mouth suddenly jumped out upon her
and said, “ Take me up in your arms, and climb a
tree quickly, for a lion is following me and wants
to eat me.” So the little girl climbed up a tree,
and immediately afterwards a lion came and looked
up at her and said, ‘* Throw the hare down, little girl,
for I am hungry.” But she refused, whereupon
the lion said, “‘ Oh, very well, I will wait here until
you come down, and then I will eat you too.”
The little girl was dreadfully afraid when she
heard the lion say that, but the hare said, “Do
not be alarmed, little girl. You see the piece of
stick [ am carrying in my mouth? That is medi-
cine, but only for the men-people; hares cannot
use it, but you can. So take it in your fingers

and say,
“ Pweété,* come and help me ;

Pwété, come and help me ;
Pwété, come quickly.”

So she took the stick from him, and repeated the
words, and suddenly, with a tremendous rush, a
great big rhinoceros came crashing through the
forest towards them. The lion jumped up, but
before he could get away, the rhinoceros had
pierced him through and through with his horn,
and galloped off. So the little girl and the hare

* Chi-Lena for Rhinoceros.

380 FOLK LORE

came down from the tree, and the hare ran off,
leaving his piece of stick in the little girl’s hand, so
she made a piece of grass-string and tied it round
her neck so as not to lose it. She had still a long
way to go, and as the day advanced and fatigue
crept over her, she lay down under a tree to rest,
feeling very hungry. So she took the hare’s charm
between her fingers and said,

“ Mkazi* a nyati, come and give me some milk ;
Mkazi a nyati, come and give me some milk ;
Mkazi a nyati, come quickly.”

There was at once a great commotion in the
trees, and a fine cow buffalo came and lay down
beside her, so she milked it into a large leaf, and
then lay down to sleep. But it was very cold,
and she had no fire and no clothes, so she took the
charm again and said,

“ Nyadzombé,t come and cover me ;
Nyadzombé, come and cover me ;
Nyadzombé, come quickly.”
y 3

And a great swarm of locusts came and settled
upon her, and protected her from the chilly night
air, so that she slept quite well. Early in the
morning she was just going to take to the road
again, when her mother and all the people from her
village, who had been looking for her all night
long, came and took her home again; and they

were all so overjoyed to see her safe and well that
she was not punished at all.

I wish I could give my readers an idea of the

* Literally, Buffalo’s wife. + A Locust.

THE HIDDEN MIND 381

entranced attention with which these simple stories,
and a hundred like them, are received by African
native audiences—and these not of tender years,
but grown men and women, who listen to the
well-worn recitals open-mouthed, punctuating them
with wonder-stricken ejaculations of “ Eh-yah,”
*“‘Eh-bo-o-0-0,” “ Wah-h-h-h,” the palm of the
right hand dropped helplessly into that of the left,
to signify that the last conceivable condition of
wonder has been reached, a sort of “That will
do—you cannot beat that” gesture, which is most
eloquent.

Such is the African who inhabits the various
portions of the valley of the Portuguese Zambezi.
He is full of curious superstitions, of which those
T have enumerated are but an inconsiderable part.
But his quaint beliefs, weird and extraordinary to
us who thus look in upon him, are, nevertheless,
full of the deepest significance to the negro. In
all his goings out and comings in they hedge him
about with a system of ceremonial and observance
which order the events of his daily life far more
remorselessly than would those of civilisation. We
see the dusky, immobile face, but the mind, with
its mysterious promptings and incomprehensible
workings, is as yet hidden from us, and, I doubt
not, will long continue to be so. The expression
of shamefaced self-consciousness the native assumes,
and his nervous laugh when we ask the reason of
this or the explanation of that, no more indicate,
as many persons suppose, any personal disbelief on
his part than if he expounded the matter with
exaggerated earnestness. It is only his manner—

382 FOLK LORE

his mode of conveying, perhaps all unconsciously,
that he is politely endeavouring to satisfy your
indecent curiosity against his will, and in violation
of his personal feelings.

I think it extremely probable that a time will
come when, in its fulness, the African will be
found to be possessed in certain directions of no
mean measure of natural refinement of feeling,
which I suppose civilisation will endeavour to de-
velop ; but let not that development come too soon.
Do not attempt, I would implore you, to seek to
refine and educate him until his indispensable work
is done. In the name of Africa’s great Future,
for which we have assumed such vast responsibility,
leave him to do his part first.

CHAPTER XIV
THE ZAMBEZIAN CLIMATE

IF you were to visit the regions bordering on the
River Zambezi in the winter months of June and
July, the climate would awaken an ardent desire in
you to remain there for the remainder of your life.
It is quite perfect. Warm, brilliant days, with a
delicious touch of freshness increasing to an evening
sharpness which necessitates flannels and a light
overcoat. What could be more delightful? It is
a European climate in the land of romance and
adventure—a balmy, almost bracing atmosphere in
the land of Livingstone and Kirk.

But let us now turn to the reverse side of the
picture. Let us contemplate for a brief moment
the Zambezi in summer—in the months of No-
vember and December. At this time of the year
the heat, it must be admitted, is very great, the
conditions exhausting in the extreme, and the
entire region, from the casual visitor’s point of
view, an excellent place to get away from. Now
are the mosquitoes let loose on the land, and fever,
that curse of tropical Africa, rears once more its
ill-omened head.

The winter months, or dry season, extend, with
383

384 THE ZAMBEZIAN CLIMATE

slight variation, from April to November. They
are, as I have said, pleasant and healthy in the
extreme. Now the traveller and hunter of big
game make their appearance; the deciduous trees
are leafless; the grasses dry, yellow, and ready for
the chance spark or deliberate act which, with the
aid of a steady breeze, will turn vast expanses of
golden grass-lands into so many ‘hideous, bare
deserts of heat-tremulous black. All nature seems
to be at a standstill, hibernating, waiting for the
warm breath of spring to thaw the congealed sap
in the slumbering tree-trunks. The rivers are low.
Where, but a few short months since, wide, watery
expanses rushed headlong towards the sea, their
clay-coloured waters swirling down in a relentless
grip great islands of marsh grasses, village débris
of various kinds, telling of sudden freshets and
quick disaster, great tree-trunks, and masses of
undergrowth, there now remain but tranquil, placid
channels, flowing smilingly at the bottom of steep,
cliff-like banks. ‘The morning grasses are heavy
with great drops of dew, and dense, white fogs, not
unlike the “smokes” of the Guinea Coast, occur
often, and frequently remain undispelled until nine
or ten o’clock, provoking an astonishing amount of
fluent profanity from the masters of the helpless
river steamers. A very large proportion of the
trees have now no leaves whatever ; the grass-fires
have devastated the face of the country, and left
but the seared and blackened skeletons of grass-
canes, of bushes, and shrubs. Beneath one’s feet a
raffle of fallen forest foliage, dry as so many chips,
swirls about in the breeze, and the atmosphere, as

STORMS 885

though also seeking to assume a wintry aspect,
becomes misty and opaque from the smoke of the
numerous fires.

August and September pass, and now the face of
the country prepares to cast off its sober, grey,
wintry garb, difficult though it may be for dwellers
at home to realise that such a term as “ wintry ”
can ever be applicable to the tropical landscapes
in which Africa is supposed to be never deficient.
With October the heat becomes very great. Vast
belts of electrically charged, yellowish cloud, with
cumulus, rounded extremities, begin to gather, and
at the close of day are seen to be flickering in their
murky centres with a menacing tremor of constant
lightning. This may go on for a week or more,
and then Nature arises like a strong man in his
anger, and looses the long pent-up voice of the
thunder and the irresistible torrents of the early
rains. The first manifestation may come at evening,
and is a soul-moving display of natural force.

The day has probably been hotter than usual,
and as night draws near the slight breeze of
afternoon dies away completely. The air is posi-
tively sulphurous, and the smell of the soil is as the
smell of sun-dried brick. Away to the southward,
a lurid, yellowish grey bank of clouds may be seen
mounting higher and higher towards the zenith.
The higher it mounts, the faster it appears to
travel, whilst the lightning, which plays ceaselessly
through and through it, can be distinguished on the
far horizon darting downwards in rosy, snaky,
tremulous forks. Now, as the vast, luminous mass
is almost overhead, we see that the vaporous clouds

25

386 THE ZAMBEZIAN CLIMATE

of which it consists are swirling madly round and
round, and as the first warm drop of rain falls with a
splash on the stone verandah, a heavy, sullen peal
of thunder echoes with long, hoarse reverberations,
to die away in the distance as the storm bursts.
White-robed servants fly about, bringing in chairs
and hastily closing windows and doors. A gust of
icy-cold wind is followed by another and another,
and these fill the atmosphere with clouds of red
dust, bending down the coconut palms until they
resemble so many distracted, shrieking women
tearing their hair in an agony of apprehension.
The hurricane, by which these disturbances are
very frequently accompanied, is now at its height,
and the rain, coming down in blinding sheets, in a
few moments transforms the dusty red of the long
sun-dried roads into rushing streams of dirty water.
Now a close, warm smell of rain-damped earth
rises from the grateful soil, whilst to a continuous,
deafening cannonade of thunder is added an
electric display so gorgeous that words seem
powerless to convey an idea of the wonder of it.
It is hard to imagine the flashes so vivid that
against a background of lurid, continuous flicker-
ing, which lights up the whole district, forked
lightning is so continuous that, at the height of
the storm, you frequently see half a dozen of the
brilliant zig-zags simultaneously cleaving the sky
as though into a number of pieces.

Fortunately these storms are short-lived, for the
havoc they create is often serious.

After such a disturbance as the one I have just
described, rain is fairly continuous for some time,

IN THE SPRING 387

and the effect of this copious irrigation makes itself
felt in every branch of animal and vegetable life.
Within a few days the change is startling; the
paths and roadways choke themselves with a rich
clothing of newly sprung grasses, whilst the trees,
the extremities of whose twigs and branches have
been visibly swelling (bourgeoning is, I believe, the
unlovely word), now simply leap into leaf and
blossom. The mosses, which for months past have
looked like dry, bedraggled, colourless rags, regain
once more their vivid, tender green. Now the
forest throws off its puritanical greyness, and with
an activity and rapidity beyond belief, decks itself
in flowers of a thousand gorgeous shades of colour,
from the chrome-yellow and purple of the papilio-
naceous trees to the grateful mauve of the evanes-
cent convolvuli.

Spring is now upon us, and we feel it. There is
that in the atmosphere which moves to procreation,
and the forest and the plain with one accord obey.
The birds now put on their finest feathers, the
animals appear in their brightest hues. Colour and
warmth run riot in the brilliantly clear air now
washed clean from the mist and smoke which for
so many months have obscured it. The clear
verdant green of rapid-springing grasses and
opening fronds clothes the landscape, and the
distant peaks of the mountains lose their pale,
bluey-grey haziness, and stand boldly out in the
light of the sun. The months succeed each other,
bringing with them new and strange beauties, for
summer is now at its height, and trees and flowers at
their most perfect period. ‘Then, after a few weeks

388 THE ZAMBEZIAN CLIMATE

of heat and quiescence, comes the second phase.
The rain, which about midsummer holds off for a
time, now deluges the earth in tremendous down-
falls, thunderstorms are frequent, and floods occur,
April comes, and suddenly Nature holds her hand.
The swollen rivers and inundated plains shake
themselves free from the redundant waters. The
grasses have now reached a formidable height, and
the sorely encumbered earth looks for fire to rid it
of this immense mass of useless vegetation. So
the rains now cease, and the land begins to dry up.
Rich greens turn to copper, and brown, and yellow,
and little by little, with the advent of May, the
winter returns with its sober greyness.

On the Zambezi the rainfalls are often astonish-
ingly heavy, and have been known to continue
without intermission for a day and a half at a time.
The annual measurement varies more than can be
accounted for, however, but probably averages
about forty to forty-two inches. Naturally in the
hills it is considerably more than this, but on the
whole I should think the amounts mentioned
would be found to be a fair average on most of the
well-forested lower levels. It must not, of course,
be supposed that rain falls daily, even at the height
of the wet season. Sometimes none may fall for a
week or ten days, or—about the middle of December
—even longer. The heavier falls occur about the
latter end of the African summer, which occasionally
prolongs itself into May, but fortunately not very
often.

The summer temperature, especially in the
vicinity of the river, is without doubt exceedingly

TEMPERATURE 389

trying. I have experienced midday shade tem-
peratures of 110° and 112° Fahrenheit on many
occasions, whilst often until long after sunset they
have not seemed to sensibly decline. This, in the
moist, rainy season, when the atmosphere is sur-
charged with humidity, is very hard to bear, and
doubtless has much to do with the enfeebled con-
dition of system which, when, later on, the unhealthy
season comes, gives way so easily to the ravages of
fever and other diseases. But the winter tem-
peratures are delightful, and probably rarely exceed
75°, whilst at night they may sink to anything
between 50° and 60°. Of course, in the more
elevated regions, the temperatures are still lower.
On some of the mountains, especially on the high
plateau of Morambala, for example, I am assured
that during June and July slight frosts are by no
means infrequent; but although hail occasionally
comes to alarm the natives during serious atmo-
spheric disturbances, snow is wholly unknown, even
on the highest peaks. During the winter (May to
October) extremely heavy dews fall nightly ; indeed,
after walking through high grass for a short distance,
one’s clothing becomes as completely wetted through
as though by a heavy shower of rain, and from this
it is easy to catch a chill which may lead to serious
complications.

Although within the area of cyclones, I do not
think they often occur. Storms of wind of great
violence are, however, not infrequent about the
periods of the equinox, and cause a considerable
amountof damage, not only to plantations and manu-
factures, but also to the river transport. At times

390 THE ZAMBEZIAN CLIMATE

these storms are a source of danger to passengers and
cargo, and cases have occurred of barges ladened
with valuable goods breaking loose from their tow-
ropes and foundering before measures could be
taken to recover them. Certainly none of those
frightful cyclonic disturbances are ever reported
which on the coast of the Province of Mozambique
make their periodical disastrous appearances. [
speak without authority, but I do not think they
make their presence felt very far from the sea-board,
and if this be correct, dwellers in the inland regions
have indeed much to be grateful for.

With its many beauties and attractions, however ;
with all its possibilities of future importance, and
even present value, I could not truthfully say that
Zambezia can yet call itself a healthy part of Africa.
Its perils to health, it is true, are not numerous, but,
assuredly, few there be who wholly escape them.
I have often asserted that people in Europe have
many more dangers to health to avoid than those
who live in Africa, and the truth of this statement
will be sufficiently apparent when we come to
reflect that in those portions of the latter continent
with which we are now concerning ourselves, the
only serious endemic maladies consist of malaria
and dysentery. Occasionally one hears of a case
of pneumonia, and from time to time small-pox
makes its appearance, but happily in a form which
apparently does not attack Europeans. We have,
therefore, only two dangers to provide against, but
their avoidance, I must confess, is a matter of no
mean difficulty.

When the rains are over, and the sodden earth is

THE SECRETS OF HEALTH 391

drying itself in the sun after its prolonged annual
shower-bath, its exhalations, mingling with the
unhealthy odour of the now rapidly decaying
vegetation, are distinctly prejudicial to the health
of the white man. This time of year, moreover, as
we have just seen, finds the human system less
buoyant, less capable of resistance, owing to the
enervating, weakening effect of the long period of
torrid heat which has but now come to a close.
The mosquitoes are still extremely numerous ; and
all these influences acting in unison strew malaria
broadcast along the banks of the Zambezi.

In spite of all these menaces, however, the whole
secret of the maintenance of health at this, or any
other time of the year, may be summed up in two
words which should be written in letters of gold—
Moderation and Care—moderation in all things
relating to the creature comforts of life, and care
to avoid sudden chills and needless exposure to
the sun.

Nowadays, thanks to the introduction of forms
of nourishment by home providers which enable
the remotest exile to furnish himself with an ex-
cellent and varied selection of palatable and highly
nutritious forms of food, one hears less of the
terrible waves of fatal forms of malarial sickness
which were wont, years ago, from time to time, to
literally decimate the country. We have, I fancy,
discovered a manner of life which enables us, if not
wholly to bid defiance to the rigours of climate, at
least to take such precautions as enable us to
minimise their virulence, and to fortify our systems
against the day of their attack.

892 THE ZAMBEZIAN CLIMATE

My own rule, and that of nearly all my contem-
poraries of the early nineties, has been to abstain
from nothing whose moderate use at home would
be beneficial, but somewhat to vary the hours at
which certain articles of diet—notably stimulants
—are taken. In one’s own house, and in conditions
in which but slight exposure to the sun need be
incurred, stimulants with the midday meal are in
no way harmful, and may be beneficial ; but I do
not advocate their use when, either in the form of
outdoor work or marching, considerable heat has to
be subsequently experienced. I must, I fear, plead
guilty to being a great believer in the efficacy of the
sunset whisky and soda. My view of the matter
is that this, the first spirit which should be par-
taken of during the day, is rendered necessary by
the fact that late afternoon is the time at which
the day’s fatigue first begins to be seriously felt.
Clearly, therefore, it is the hour at which the
human organisation requires assisting. I have been
told that the two occasions in the twenty-four hours
at which most deaths from natural causes occur fall
at about 4 a.m. and in the late afternoon; and,
although I do not desire to be understood as advo-
cating precautionary measures in the middle of the
night, as it were, yet I feel that nothing but benefit
can result from adopting them when the rim of
the sun disappears below the horizon. Wholesome
Portuguese red and white wines form excellent
beverages for ordinary occasions, and are much less
liable to disturb the functions of the body than
beer, except perhaps the lightest Lager.

But the fact should by no means be lost sight of

MALARIA AND THE MOSQUITO 393

that in Africa excess of food is almost if not quite
as dangerous as too much drink. A man in a
temperate climate who perpetrates the coarse in-
discretion of eating too much, usually finds that a
dose of medicine removes all fear of subsequent in-
convenience. Not so in Africa. It may do so, of
course, but biliousness is a condition which literally
invites fever, and bilious fever is a form of sick-
ness which has created great havoc in European
circles.

In a word, therefore, although Zambezia presents
certain dangers common to almost the whole of
tropical Africa, the man of careful habits, who is
abstemious without abstaining, is far more likely to
support the exigencies of the climate than the mis-
guided individual who obstinately abstains because
he has been told that it is his only chance of
safety.

I suppose one day the true cause of malaria
will be found and stamped out. The reason I
italicise the word “cause” is that, so far as I can
understand, the origin of the scourge is still hidden
from us. We know that the Anopheles mosquito
transmits the germ which propagates the fever
microbe which feeds upon your red_blood-cor-
puscles. But he must get that germ from some-
where or somebody. Medical science, by teaching
us to keep out the mosquito, has done much to
enable us to support life in tropical Africa; but
one cannot but feel that the real moment of self-
congratulation will have come when we are able to
assure ourselves that we can at last place our
fingers upon the element whence the Anopheles

394 THE ZAMBEZIAN CLIMATE

supplied himself with his mischievous germ, and
can take measures to strike boldly at the root of
the evil.

But even as we now find it, much may be done
to avoid fever on the one hand, or so to lessen the
malignity of its attacks that they do not inflict
much injury upon the system. The first necessity
is a good, comfortable, double-storied house. This
should be well ventilated and furnished with an
upstairs verandah twelve feet in width, mosquito-
proofed all the way round with efficient, small-
mesh copper net. Even the selection of the site
is an important matter, and care should be taken to
avoid low levels, especially in the vicinity of stagnant
water or clay soil. I always think that the best
positions are those from which water runs off, or
into which it sinks easily. In this way nothing
could be better than sand, which, if the depth be
sufficient, not only affords the best possible founda-
tion, but is extremely healthy. Then, ventilation
is a point which often does not receive sufficient
attention. Pure air is of the highest consequence,
especially in the sleeping rooms. That the atmo-
sphere of a bedchamber is impure is not always
perceptible to its occupant ; yet not only the air
breathed, which is thus deprived of its oxygen, but
the impurities thrown off by the skin, gases pro-
duced by the flames of candles, and lastly, the in-
visible forms of life contained in almost everything
the apartment holds, produce a necessity for a
constant supply of pure air, and for the removal

of that heated and vitiated in the process of
consumption.

QUININE 395

But a constant supply of air must in no wise be
permitted to assume the proportions of a draught,
than which there is probably no greater danger to
health in a country to which almost every ailment
suffered can be traced directly or indirectly to
the chill a draught produces. After exercise of a
heating character, therefore, no time should be lost
in bathing in warm water, assuming dry clothing,
and avoiding at all cost the least semblance of a
cold current of air.

For many years after my first arrival in Africa it
was the custom of cautious persons to guard against
malaria by taking considerable daily doses of
quinine. But, for my own part, I did not adopt
the practice, first of all because I disliked taking
quinine constantly—or any other form of drug, for
the matter of that—and secondly because I ob-
served that the habit had an injurious effect upon
the digestive functions, which were not seldom
thrown completely out of gear. As events have
since proved, I was instinctively and unconsciously
inclining in the right direction, for it has now
come to be acknowledged that the properties of
quinine as a prophylactic are sufficiently pre-
served in the system by taking the drug in
moderately full doses twice a week only, on con-
secutive evenings. This is now the practice in
even the most malarious districts of Nyasaland,
and its adoption has been attended with the most
satisfactory results.

There can be no doubt, when one comes to recall
to mind the physical condition of those settlers who
have spent a considerable number of years in this

396 THE ZAMBEZIAN CLIMATE

part of the continent, that the climate reacts in the
long run more or less prejudicially upon the con-
stitutions of most of them. Even with all the care
which is nowadays taken to study and observe such
rules of health as up-to-date medical research has
so painstakingly and successfully drawn up for the
benefit of the European in Africa, it is impossible
to get away from the fact that the climatic effect
reacts adversely. To begin with, I understand,
after a number of years in the tropics the body
temperature becomes appreciably higher than would
be apparent in the case of a person residing in
temperate climates. Then, very commonly, the
kidneys become affected by the restricted secretion
of the urine caused by the exceedingly large pro-
portion of moisture given off by the skin and lungs.
Finally, it is a perfectly well-recognised fact that
all persons who reside in the tropics become anzmic,
partly from the effect of the destruction of the red
blood-corpuscles by fever, and partly from the less
nourishing character of the food. The nervous
system also assuredly becomes less buoyant, and
the general vitality is lowered.

The only steps which I take, in addition to care-
fully observing the ordinary rules of hygiene and
health, are to keep my blood as thick and as red
as possible by means of tonics—especially iron. A
preparation known as Wyeth’s Dyalised Iron is
the best I know for this purpose; it is handy
and palatable, and I have derived great benefit
from it.

In spite of the last few paragraphs, with their
alarming hints and darkly outlined possibilities,

THE NEED OF CARE 397

however, I do not consider that, on the whole,
Zambezia is more unhealthy or exhausting than any
other part of South Central Africa. Its climate
is trying only during the summer months, and its
unhealthy period of rainy summer is one which can
be successfully supported if proper regard be paid
to reasonable precautions.

CHAPTER XV
CONCLUSION

As one of the not very numerous throng of those
remaining who have witnessed the gradual improve-
ment which has taken place in Zambezia of recent
years, I trust that the not distant future may
enable still greater strides to be made, and I would
especially hope for these in the direction of railway
enterprise and the improvement of transport and
communication.

Those who have had the patience to read the
foregoing chapters will have seen that in this vast
and fertile district, which I am satisfied is capable
of producing immense quantities of valuable ex-
ports, the chief difficulties which stand in the way
of the man who would otherwise be prepared to
invest his small capital in agricultural or other
pursuits are those which prevent him from getting
his produce to the coast. Nothing eats into your
profits like cost of transport ; and from the moment
that, in addition to river freight to the ocean steamer,
land porterage to the river must be paid as well,
it is time to figure out your estimates carefully,
and see how much margin your expenses leave you.

Such a railway as I have advocated between
398

A BRIGHT FUTURE 399

Quelimane and the British frontier of Nyasaland,
at some point which would enable it to join the
recently completed Blantyre and Port Herald
section, would do more to foster the prosperity of
Zambezia than any other scheme which could be
devised for its advancement. This assured, I can
see in the not remote future the city of Quelimane
rivalling in importance the largest and_ busiest
centres in the whole of East Africa.

No absolute prodigies of organisation are necessary
to make this a producing region of the first im-
portance. It possesses many climates, several soils,
an infinity of marketable indigenous growths, and
valuable minerals. Added to all these, the un-
healthiness of its worst months is, as I have stated,
no worse than would be found in Nyasaland or
Rhodesia, whilst the necessaries of life are plentiful
and inexpensive.

With an interest, therefore, which one naturally
feels for a part of the world whereof one has so
many pleasant recollections, I look to the next
few years to bring to Zambezia that prosperity
which I have every confidence her natural re-
sources will enable her to sustain and increase. In
a continent possessing so many huge expanses of
useless, undesirable country, we cannot disregard
those which are rich, not only in vague, unsub-
stantial promise, but in actual achievement and
work well done. Of these latter Zambezia is as-
suredly one, whilst her natural advantages are so
numerous, and her possibilities so infinite, that
her future will unquestionably prove as bright as
her past has been stormy.

INDEX

Nore.—Soientifio names given in the Appendices are not,as a rule, included.

A

Aard, wolf, 242

Abu el Mozaffir Hassan, Sultan, 15
Abyssinia, 18

Acacias, 170

Addo bush, the, 269

Aden, Gulf of, 34

Adriana, Nyani, 140, 142
Adultery, penalties for, 338
African Lakes Corporation, 282
Albinoes, 298

Albizzias, 170

Ali of Shiraz, 13

Aloes, 172

A-Mahindo, 55, 295
Amen-en-heb, 333

Amulets, 366

Ancient workings, 132
Andrade, Major A. Freire de, 199
Angola, 24, 39, 46, 47
Angoniland, 94

Ankwasi, 81

Anopheles mosquitoes, 393
Ants, 216

A-Nyanja, the, 295

Aplite, 154 et seq.

Arabs, 13, 21, 23, 27, 28
Aroangwa River, 3, 47

Aubert, Monsieur, 64
Ayvi-fauna, 196

Baboons, 266
Bamboos, 173

Bananas, 320, 321

Bandar, 82

Bango reed, the, 181

“ Banyan” traders, 23, 123, 273

Baobab tree, 167

Barn owl, 207

Barotseland, 46

Barreto, Francisco, 25, 27

Barreto, Francisco, Expedition of,
26

Bartholomew Dias, 17, 18

Barué, district of, 27, 138

Bateleur eagle, 198

Batua, land of, 27

Batuta Ibn, 14

Bazaruto, 35

Beeswax, 122, 150

Beetles, 219

Beira and Mashonaland Railway, 97

Beja, Duke of, 18

‘‘ Berrio,” the, 18

Bettencourt, Captain E. J., 86

Bitterns, 213

“Blantyre Mission,” 283

Blue wildebeeste, 260

Bofana, 146

Boiling water, ordeal by, 344

Bompona, 71

Bonga Wars, 44, 313

Borassus palms, 168

Botelho, Senhor, 43

Bovide, 263

Brava, 12

Brindled gnu, 260

British Central Africa Protectorate,
53

British Central Africa, Agent for, 53

401 26

402

British Indian merchants, 23, 123,
273

Buchanan, John, 56

Buffalo, 249

Bulbul, 200

Bushbuck, 255

Bush-pig, 252, 253

Butterflies, 214

Cc

Cachomba, rapids of, 48

Calabash gourd, 185

Calpurnia, 165

Canavalia, 165

Cannibalism, 145, 360

Canoes, native, 319

Cape Cross, discovery of, 17

Carrueira Mountain, 86

Cashew, 187

Cassava, 186

Castilloa elastioa rubber, 122

Castor-oil seeds, cultivation of, 122,
128, 186

Caterina, 51

Cats, domestic, 323

Cattle raising, 293

Centipedes, 223

Cercopithecus monkeys, 266

Changamira, 42

Charms, 366

Chemba, 100

Cheringone, 107

Chicova, massacre at, 29

Chicova, silver mines of, 29

Chief Captain of the Rivers, 41

Chifumhaze, 130

Chillies, 186, 320

Chinde, 51

Chinde, British Concession at, 52

Chinde River, 53

Chiperoni Mountain, 70

Chiromo, 60, 60

Chi-Sena, 296

Chobé River, 46

Church of Scotland Mission, 283

Circumcision, 331

Civet, 265

Clarendon Mount, 70

INDEX

Climate, 383

Coal, deposits of, 133

Cobus family, 257, 258

Cockroaches, 219

Coconut palms, cultivation of, 90
121

Coffee, cultivation of, 290

Coffee, indigenous, 322

Collectors of Revenue, 100

Colobus monkey, 266

Commandants, 100

Companhia da Zambezia, 2

Company of Jesus, 24

Congo River, 49

Congo River, discovery of, 17

Copper mining, 131

Coroabassa, rapids of, 48, 115

Corrientes, Cape, 34

Coutinho, Joo de Azevedo, 143

Covilha, Pero de, journeys of, 17

Crested crane, 210

Crested eagle, 197

Crinums, 165

Crocodile, 224

Crown prazoes, 117

Crows, 209

Cruelty, native, 346

Cuama, rivers of, 22, 39

Cuckoos, 206

D

D’Almeida, Antonio Cardozo, 31
D’ Almeida, Dr. Joio Fernandes, 42
D’Andrada, Paiva, 44

Da Silveira, Gongalo, 24, 25, 27
Death customs, 340

Death, legend regarding, 357
De Chaves, Pedro Fernandes, 37
Delagoa Bay, 45

Desmodium, 170

Dianthus, 165

Dias, Bartholomew, 17 et seg
Dilolo, Lake, 46

Dishonesty, native, 347

Dogs, native, 323

Domestic animals, 322

Dom Filippe, 39

Dominican Missions, 40, 42, 44

INDEX

Dos Santos, Friar Jodo, 24, 29, 37,
174, 356

Doves, 209

Dracena, 171

Dredging, necessity for, 134

Drunkenness, native, 348

Ducks, Moscovy, 324

Duiker, 263

Duli mortars, 318

Dungeungo River, 16

Durao, Captain A. de P., 71, 87, 92

Dzango, 145

Eagle-owl, 207
East Luabo, 51
Ebony, 173
Edentates, 267
Egrets, 213
Eland, 254
Elephant, 245
Eliot, Sir C., 14
Emozeides, 12
Euphorbia, 171
Evangelisation, first attempte at, 24

Fables, 369

Falcons, 199

Feijao beans, 320

Feiras, 36

Felspar, 154

Fernandes, André, 24

Fever, 391

Ficalho, Conde de, 17

Ficus, 170

Fishing eagle, 198

Fishing owl, 207

Flamingoes, 213

Food stuffs, 320

Fortitude, native’s lack of, 352
Fort Jameson, 282
Fotheringham, Monteith, 56
Fowls, domestic, 324
Frankenias, 165

French Agricultural Syndicate, 289

408
G

Gad-fly, 222

Gama, Vasco da, 15, 17, 18
Game Regulations, 267
Garanganza, 60

Gardens, native, 321
Garnets, 154

Geese, wild, 213

Genet, 265

Gentian, 166

Geology, 153

Giraffe, 243

Gneiss grits, 156

Goat, the, 322

Gold mining, 129

“ Gombé,” the, 54

Gonda Hill, 148

Gorongoza, district of, 139, 144
Gourds, 320

Gouveia, 139

Granite reefs, 154

Great Galago, 267

“ Green-leaf blight,” 92, 125
Ground-nuts, 122, 185, 320
Guara-guara, 97

Guengue Prazo, 81

Guinea Coast, 384
Guinea-fowl, 202

Gunboats, Portuguese river, 78

H

Hartebeeste, 260 et seq.

Hemp, 186, 320

Henry the Navigator, Prince, 16
Herons, 213

Hewitt-Fletcher, Mr. 8., 272
Hindus, 273

Hippopotamus, 248

Homem, Vasco Fernandes, 33
Hornblende, 154

Hornets, 223

Horse-fly, 222

Hospitality, native, 74
Hunting dog, 265

Hunting, native methods of, 360
Hyena, 265

Hyphone palm, 168

404
I

Ibrahim, Emir, 15
Ichneumon, 266
Impala, 262
Indian dhows, [2
Indian Ocean, 15, 53, 95
Indigo, 174
Inyala, 255
Inyamissengo, 51
Inyangoma, 73
Inyangone, 143
Inyaruca, 99

Issuf, Sheik, 15, 21

Jackal, 265

Joao II., King, 17, 18
Joao III, King, 24
John Bowie, the, 57

K

Kabuta, 46

Kamba, 24
Kambaiassa, 340, 342, 368
Kanga, 142

Kapok trees, 73
Katanga, 60
Kazembe’s country, 46
Khayas, 172

Kidd, Mr., 333
Kigelia trees, 171, 322
Kilwa, 12, 15
Kingfishers, 205
Kites, 198
Klipspringer, 264
Knysna Forest, 269
Kongoni, 51
Kota-kota, 92
Kuaziru, 36

Kudu, 254

Kungu Peak, 362

L

Lacerda, 39
Lacerdonia, 99

INDEX
Lage, Captain José Rodrigues, 144,

159
Landing, 45, 139

Landolphia rubber vines, 124, 166

Lawley, Mr. A. L., 97
Lechwe, 243

Lemons, 187

Lemuroids, 267

Leopard, 265

Lewanika’s country, 46
Liambe River, 46

Liba River, 46

Linyanti River, 46

Lion, 264

Livingstone, David, 9, 119, 174
Livingstone, Mrs., 65
Loangwa River, 47

Locusts, 223

Loureiro, Manoel Gomes, 44
Lourengo Marques, 269
Louries, 206

Luabo, 40

Luabo Company, the, 88, 105
Luanze, 36

Luapula River, 297

Luenya River, 129

Luia River, 131

Lunda country, 46
Lungo-e-bungo, 46

Lupata Gorge, 27, 82

Lurio River, 297

M

Macanga, 130

Macdonald, Mr. H. C., 260
Macequece, 152

Machila, the, 55, 303
Machinga, 131

Macorga, 155
Madagascar, 12

Madal, 107

Madziamanga, the Nyani, 142
Maevi, 156

Magalbaes, Senhor, 71, 73
Magnetite, 154

Mahindo, 107

Maize culture, 122, 320
Makaga, the, 344
Makaranga, the, 36

INDEX

Makombé, the, 27, 139

Malwacearum, 92, 126

Mamelukes, the, 16

Mango, the, 187

Mangrove, the, 60

Manica, 27, 34

Manicoba rubber, 122

Manihot rubber, 122

Manioc culture, 122, 186, 320

Manuel J., King, 18

Manoel Antonio de Sousa, 139

Mantis, 222

Manzovo, 36

Mapuru, 331

Marabou storks, 212

Maravia, 130

Marriage customs, 334

Marroméo, 64, 106

Massamba Mountain, 46

Massanzane, 97

Massapa, 36

Masseguire, 142

Massingire Prazo, 363

Massowa Hills, 77

Massudi, Abu el Hassan el, 11

Mbala-muana Mountain, 74

Mecotza-cotza, 94

Meixuera, 185

Mental capacity of natives, 347

Whanda Mountain, 144, 355

Milambe, 51

Millet culture, 122, 185, 320

Miluane, 174

Minerals, 129

Mining Regulations (Barué), 161

Mino, district of, 131

Missale, 130

M’lavi River, 131

Mlungu (God), 363

Moctezuma, Senhor J. de, 81

Mogdishu, 12, 14

Moholi Galago, 267

Mombasa, 14, 15

Monaco, H.H. Prinoe of, 107

Monclaio, Padre, 27

Mongas, the, 27

Monkeys, 266

Monomotapa, the, 14, 24, 27, 33

Monomotapa, Empire of the, 14, 25,
35, 38, 139

405

Mopéa, 51

Mopéa Sugar Factory, 126

Morambala Mountain, 66, 71, 290

Mosquitoes, 220

Moths, 216

Mountain zebra, 256

Mourning customs, 342

Mozambique, 20

Mozambique Company, 77, 88, 96,
269, 282

Mozambique Island, 84

Mozambique Province, 47

M'passo, Chief, 151

M'sassa, 331

M’sunga Mountain, 144

Mtéwéléwe tree, 316

Muali, 331, 332

Muaredzi Stream, 131

Mucuna bean, 177

Muira River, 129, 149

Mungari, 144, 152

Murchison Falls, 49

Muscat, 12, 20

Muterara, 71, 73

Mwana-katsitsi Mountain, 83

Mwavi poison, 343

Mweru Lake, 258

N

Namuli country, 94

Natal, 19

Native furniture, 318

Native Labour Agents, 281

Neganga, the, 353, 354

Ngaru, 154

Niger River, 49

Nightjars, 205, 208

Nkornuam’penemhe, 155

North-Hastern Rhodesia, 282

North-Western Rhodesia, 282

Nyarumbés, the, 340

Nyasa Company, 282

Nyasa Lake, 47, 50

Nyasaland coffee, 71

Nyasaland gnu, 260

Nyasaland Protectorate,
60

Nyasaland rainfall, 50

47, 650,

406

Nyasaland tobacco, 129
Nyasuma, 156

ie)

Officials, Zambezi Company’s, 75

Oil palm, the, 74, 122
Oman, 12

Omens, 365

Oncoba, 165

Ophitic diabase, 155
Oranges, 187
Ordeals, native, 344
Oreoles, 204

Oribi, 264

Ormuz, 13

Oryx, 242

Ospreys, 199

Oswell, Cotton, 9
Outer Concession, Chinde, 56
Oxpeckers, 203

P

Paes 6 Pinho, Manoel, 115
Palm oil, palms, 93
Palms, 168

Palm wine, 168
Pandamacua, 132
Panzu’ngoma Peak, 82
Papyrus, 184
Parinaria, 173
Parkia, 173

Parrots, 207

Parsis, 273

Partridges, 199
Pasturage, 293
Paw-paws, 187, 321
Pearce, Major F. B., 251
Pegado, Captain, 22
Pegmatite, 154

Pero d’Anhaya, 20
Persian Gulf, the, 16
Phanix reclinata, 168
Pigeons, domestic, 322
Pigeons, wild, 209
Pigs, domestic, 322
Pigs, wild, 262

Pinda Peak, 73

INDEX

Pineapples, 321

Pistia stratiotes, 184
Poison ordeal, 343
Pole-cat, 266

Polygamy, 336

Pombal, Marquez de, 43
Porcupine, 267
Portuguese Asiatics, 274
Prazoes, 5

Prazo holders, 42

Prazo system, 41, 118
Prester John, 17
Privateering, 43
Pudding stone, 155
Puku, 248, 258
Pompkins, 185, 320
Pungwe River, 144, 147, 296

Quagga, 257

Qua-qua River, 51

Quartz, 154

Quelimane, 2, 36, 40, 48, 398
Quelimane Railway, 113
Quinine, uses of, 391
Quiteve, 34

Rainfalls, 388

Rain production, 354
Raphia palms, 169
Ravens, 210

Reedbuck, 263

Remedies, 367

Rendall, Dr. P., 266
Rhinoceros (black), 247
Rhinoceros (white), 247
Rhodesia, 47

Rice, 185

Rio de Boas Signaes, 19
Rio dos Reis, 19

Roan antelope, 259
Rovuma River, 37
Rowntree’s chocolates, 329
Rubber-producing trees, 122
Buo River, 47

Sabi River, 35

Sable antelope, 258
Saddle-billed storks, 212
Saint Helena, Bay of, 19
Sajawé Mountain, 147
Salutations, native, 304
Sanca, 99

Sancho de Toar, 20

Sand martins, 206
Sansevierias, 174

Sao Gabriel, the, 18

“ 8dao0 Marcel,” fortress of, 42
Sao Martinho de Quelimane, 22
Sado Rafael, the, 18

Sapenda, the, 343

“Sausage Tree,” the, 172, 322
Scaly ant-eater, 267

Schists, 155

Scorpions, 223

Scotch engineers, 54
Sebastido, King, 25

Secretary birds, 199

Selous, Mr. F. C., 251

Sena, 22, 26, 27, 33, 35, 45, 74
Sena, seditious outbreak at, 43
Bena Sugar Factory, Ltd., 96
Serpent hawks, 199

Sesamum seeds, 186

Sharpe, Sir Alfred, 251
Sheep, fat-tailed, 322
Shipapata, 145

Shiraz, Sheik of, 13

Shiré Highlands, 37

Shiré River, 47, 50

Shirwa Lake, 297

Shorl rock, 154

Sbrikes, 204

Shupanga Mission, 65, 97, 294
Simoes, Governor, 44

Sisal fibre, 74, 93, 122
Situtunga antelope, 243, 256
Slave trade, 39, 44

Snares and traps, 350
Société du Madal, 107
Sofala, 14, 15, 20, 34, 35, 40
Sparrows, 201

Spathodea, 171

Spear grass, 180

INDEX

Spiders, 223

Spur-winged plovers, 213
Stairs, Lieut., 56

Stalkartt, Fleet-Surgeon, 256
Starlings, 202

407

Stevenson-Hamilton, Major J,, 251

Stimulants, uses of, 392
Storks, 213

Storms, 389
Sugar-planting, 126, 321
Sultan of Zanzibar, H.H., 246
Sunbirds, 203
Superstitions, 353
Supreme Being, 363
Swallows, 204

Sweet potatoes, 186, 320
Swifts, 205

T

Tambara Fort, 81, 99

“ Tandues,” 151
Tangulane, 107

Tattooing, 300

Teak trees, 173
Temperature, 389

Terra de Boa Gente, 19
Tete, 3, 22, 35, 40, 45, 48, 85
Theal, Dr. G. McC., 15
Thrushes, 204
Thunderstorms, 385
Timbwe Island, 53
Tobacco culture, 129, 320
Tomatoes, 320
Tourmaline granite, 154
Trachylobiums, 170
Tragelaphs, 254
Transhipment of goods, 52
Traps and snares, 350
Tribal organisation, 312
Trudo, Villas Boas, 43
Tsesseby, 243

Tse-tse fly, 221

Turkey buzzards, 198
Turkish route to the Haat, 16

U

Umzimkulu River, 19
Unhealthiness, 390

408

Untruthfulness of natives, 347

Upland flora, 179
Upper Zambezi, 46
Uyengo River, 46

v

Vasco da Gama, 15, 17, 18
Vatuas, 45, 139
Vice-Consul at Chinde, 273
Victoria Falls, 47, 48

Villa Bocage, 67

Villa Paiva d’Andrada, 94
Vulturine eagle, 198
Vunduzi River, 155, 296

WwW

Wa-Nyungwe, 295
Wart-hog, 252
Wa-Sena, 295, 312
Wasps, 223
Waterbuck, 257
Waterfowl, 213
Wa-Téw6, 296
Wa-Tonga, 295
Weaver birds, 203
West Luabo, 61
Widow-birds, 201

INDEX

Wild cat, 265

Wines and spirits, uses of, 392
Witchcraft, 353
Witch-doctors, 353
Woodpeckers, 205

Wyeth’s Dyalised Iron, 396

Y

Yambaji River, 46
Yao death customs, 341
Yellow baboon, 266

Zambezia, 2, 94

Zambezia Company, 2, 88
Zambezi boys, 54

Zambezian grasses, 180 r
Zambezian minerals, 129
Zambezian traders, 6

Zambezi River, 20, 26, 36, 46
Zanthism, 299

Zanzibar boys, 55

Zebra, 256

Zemelan’gombé Mountain, 144
Zimba Invasions, 36

Zui-Zuie River, 71

Zumbo, 3, 40, 45, 47

Printed by Hazéll, Watson & Viney, Ld , London and Aylesbury.

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