# Africa by Élisée Reclus/Volume 4/Chapter 8

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CHAPTER VIII.
ZAMBESE AND KU-BANGO BASINS.
N length, the extent of its basin and volume, the Zambese ranks as the fourth river in Africa, being surpassed in these respects only by the Congo, the Nile, and the Niger. But however important it still is, this great artery appears to have formerly drained even a far larger area than at present. Several copious streams which at one time joined it from the west and south-west, have ceased to reach its banks; various waterpartings have been upheaved between the central and the secondary basins, and many of these have become isolated marshy or flooded depressions, which have no longer any outflow, and whose surplus waters are carried off by evaporation alone. From the geological standpoint, the unity of the whole basin still remains evident enough; but it has ceased to constitute a single hydrographic system. Although they no longer intermingle their currents, the Ku-Bango and Zambese clearly belong to the same original area of drainage, as had in fact long been shown by the Portuguese explorations previous to the time of Livingstone.
General Survey.
But these explorations had been entirely overlooked by most geographers outside of Portugal, and for the scientific world Livingstone must be regarded as the true discover of the Upper Zambese. Numerous travellers have followed in his footsteps, notably the Portuguese Serpa Pinto, Brito Capello and Ivens, Hermenegildo Capello, who have specially undertaken the survey of this region, which in the recent general distribution of Africa has been assigned to their nation "from ocean to ocean," that is, from the Atlantic to the Indian waters. On their maps it already figures, perhaps on a somewhat too extensive scale, as a future African Portugal.
The scientific exploration of these lands, in anticipation of their political annexation, has been undertaken partly from the direction of the Lower Zambese. But this river being shallower and narrower than the Congo, and especially more obstructed by falls and rapids along its middle course, can be utilised only for a comparatively short distance by travellers seeking to penetrate into the heart of the ​continent. The extent of navigable waterways presented by its affluents is also fur inferior to that of the Congo, while its basin yields to that of the great equatorial river in natural resources of all kinds. The regions included within the Zambese area of drainage enjoy a less copious rainfall, and consequently a less diversified vegetation, and are also on the whole less densely peopled, although in certain fertile districts the inhabitants are crowded somewhat closely together. Taken in their widest sense, the joint basins of the Zambese and Ku-Bango, with the other watercourses belonging geologically to the same area, have a superficial extent of about 800,000 square miles. But according to the most
trustworthy estimates the whole population can scarcely exceed four or five millions, and of this number not more than two thousand are Europeans, including even the maritime settlement of Quelimane. The long and devastating wars that have been waged in many districts of this region sufficiently explain the depopulation of these relatively fertile lands, which might easily support two hundred millions of inhabitants.
The Ku-Bango.
The eastern slope of the continent within the contiguous basins of the Zambese and Ku-Bango begins at a relatively short distance from the Atlantic seaboard. The farthest headstreams of the Ku-Bango, or Okovango, have their ​THE KU-BANGO BASIN. 287 sources within 20O miles of the seuport of Benguella, wheroas the distance in a straight lino thence to the shores of the Indian Ocean is no less than l.'OOO miles. The Eu-Bango, rising in the Bihe district, on the southern slope of the mountains which separate its busin from that of the Cuanza, flows at first in a southerly direction parallel with the Cunene and with the axis of the Angolan coast ranges. Owing to this circumstance many explorers, and amongst others Ijadislus Magyar, accepted the native re|K>rt8 that the Ku-Bango drained through the Cunene to the Atlantic Ocean. Not far from its source the river flows for some distunce in an underground channel, and then reappears here and there for short intervals, until it again becomes a surface stream some G or 7 miles below the point where it first plunged into its rocky subterranean bed. Farther on the Ku-Bango winds through a narrow glen between grassy or forest-clud hills, then trending gradually round to the south-east receives the contributions of the Ku-Kyo, the Ku-Atir, and the Lua-Tuta, all flowing in parallel valleys in the direction from north to south. At the point where it was cro8v<ed by Cupello and Ivens on July 10th, that is some six weeks after the dry season had set in, the current had still a width of 1-30 feet with a mean depth of 10 feet and a velocity of neirly two miles an hour. What becomes of this considerable volume of water, which is greatly increased during the rainy season, and lower down more than doubled by the Ku-Ito affluent, which rises on the transverse continental waterparling south of the Kwango and Kassai, and has a total length of no less than 480 miles ? The two Portuguese explorers advance the hypothesis that the united Ku-Bango and Ku-Ito flow directly eastwards, discharging a considerable portion of their waters through the Kwa-Ndo or Chobe into the Zambese. Elsewhere they remark that " they appa- rently go to feed the southern lakes, or, in some unknown way connect themselves with the Zambese."* This is also the opinion of other travellers, and is confirmed by the reports of many native tribes. Andrew Anderson, who has crossed the district in every direction, merely indicates at this point a marshy tract, where, at least during the rainy season, there is a slow onward movement of the fluvial waters, if not a current in the strict sense of the term. But however this be, the almost perfectly level disposition of the plains traversed by the Ku-Bango, below where it begins to converge towards the Kwa- Ndo, gives rise to some remarkable hydrographic phenomena in this region of uncertain drainage. The Cunene itself would even appear occasionally to com- municate with the Zambese through the irnrmnhas of Lake Etosha, and an intri- cate system of channels spreading eastwards. Thanks to the temporary inunda- tions to which the whole region is subject, the hippopotamus has been able gradually to migrate from lagoon to lagoon as far west as the eastern foot of the Herero highlands. Several streams descend from these highlands, one of which, according to Andorsson, is perennial, never completely drying up even in the heat of summer. At the foot of the Waterberg, an extensive sandstone plateau which absorbs much rainwater, springs one of the largest of these streams, although at first scarcely perceived through the densely matted overhanging foliage. • From Baiguella to the Territory of Yaeea, vol. i , p. 93. ​Some traces still survive of the ancient inland sea which flooded this region of the continent between the uplands skirting the Limpopo and the Damara highlands, before the waters of this vast basin were drawn off through the gorges of the Zambese. Over the old lacustrine bed are still scattered numerous flooded depressions, which become displaced, enlarged, or reduced in size according to the abundance or scarcity of the rains and the deposit of alluvial matter. The long presence of water in a vast continental lake is clearly shown, not only by the almost perfectly level disposition of the land, but also by the formation of extensive lacustrine deposits. The whole plain is floored, as it were, by a kind of
tufa more or less soft according as it is exposed to the air or covered with organic débris. Wherever the soil is turned up freshwater shells are brought to the surface, analogous to those still found in the Zambese.
The bed of the Ku-Bango, as well as those of the streams flowing from the Damara uplands, and ramifying over the great plain, are flanked by depressions where the surplus waters are gathered in temporary lakes during the rainy season. Moreover, these rivers branch off into distinct channels, the so-called molollas of the natives and laagten of the Dutch Boers, which also receive much of the periodical overflow, but in which the current sets in the opposite direction and thus rejoins the main stream during the dry season. In this way is produced a sort of ebb and flow, regularly following the annual alternations of the climate. ​LA£E NOAMI. 289 The Tonk^ (Tonka, Tiog^), which receives the surplus waters of the lower Ku-Bango, but which is at times completely dry, is everywhere skirted by mo- loUus, some with the normal others with the reverse current. The bed of the Tonk^, which is here and there obstructed by a few rapids, is generally followed by the Bushmen in their migrations. After the ruins the Tonk^ usually discharges into Lake Ngami ; but in 1886 it hud shifted its bed and discharged into a vast morass, whose waters were carried off through various channels eastwards and south-eastwards to the Chobe and the Zuga. Every successive explorer who pene- trates into these solitudes describes and figures differently the currents of the lacustrine basins and the network of their influents and effluents. Lake Noami. Lake Ngami, Nagabi, or Naabi, that is " water " in a pre-eminent sense, or according to Chapman, " Giraffe Lake," is one of those basins with ever-chunging margins, like the Shotts of Algeria and Tunis. No traveller traces its outlines in the same way. The least shifting shore lies on the south side, where the land is some- what more elevated. It even develops at some distance from the lake the chain of the Makkapolo hills, rising 1,200 feet above the level of the lake, which by different explorers is itself estimated at from 2,600 to nearly 3,000 feet above the sea. When discovered by Livingstone in 1849, Ngami appeared to stretch for about 60 miles from east to west, but was much narrower from north to south, the opposite shores being plainly visible in this direction. The natives calciilutod the circum- ference at a three-days' journey, but its circumnavigation would have presented almost insuperable difficulties, the water being so shallow that in many places the boatmen are unable to use their oars, and are obliged to propel their light craft or reed rafts with poles. The lake acquires its greatest expansion usually between the months of April and July, when its waters, diluted by its numerous aflBuents, become sweet and potable ; but according as they subside they grow continually more saline, at last even leaving crystalline efflorescences on the surrounding reeds, which in some places form a green border several miles wide. The basin has been subject to frequent changes of level, which are evidently due to the difference of baro- metric pressure on the shallow lagoon waters, combined with the deviations in the volume of liquid brought down or carried off by the Tonke and other tribu- taries or emissaries. The waters are also displaced by the regularly alternating morning and evening breezes, the former setting from the east and driving them westwards, the latter driving them back again to the east. Thus, as the natives say, the lake goes every day to graze and then returns to the kraal. According to Livingstone, Ngami is fed not only by surface streams but also by underground contributions issuing from the southern hills, or from porous sandstones resting on a bed of impermeable rock. In many parts of the surround- ing district the land is sufficiently watered to support an arborescent vegetation, rivalling in exuberance and splendour that of the aliuvial tracts along the Lower ​240 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. Zaml>esc. But elsewhere nothing ia visible except thorny plants, scrub or even dreary wastes of sand. During the greater part of the year, Lake Ngarai discharges its overflow east- wards through the Zuga emissary, which, after flowing for some distance in that direction, trends to the south and again round to the east as far as the extensive saline tract known as the Makarakara, or Mukarikari, that is, the " Mirage." This shallow depression is occasionally flooded with a little water, which like Ngami, is constantly disi)lace<l by the prevailing and alternating winds. Between both basins, for a distance of no less than 240 miles west and east, Anderson's measurements could detect no difference of level, a few inches at the most probably representing the actual incline along this section of the ancient lacustrine depres- sion. Hence the least obstruction, the slightest change of barometric pressure, the smallest alternation between atmospheric dryness and moisture, the growth of a few tufts of reeds, suffice to affect the flow of the waters wandering with unde- cided course over the plain of the "thousand lakes." The whole region is tra- versed in every direction by fluvial beds alternately flooded or empty, by meres, swamps, and salines constantly displaced and restored. So intricate are the ramifying branches of the Indgten, that during the period of high water the natives venturing in their frail barks on the sluggish stneams often lose their way and spend days in searching for the right channel to cross the inundated plain. Even the Zuga, the only perennial river in this region of imperceptible slope, reverses its current, which in April and May sets steadily from Ngami,. but during the two following months flows back to the lake. During the floods the Mababe branch of the Zuga trends towards the north, and while a portion of its contents disappears amid the surrounding sands, another portion reaches the Chobe, which is itself a tributary of the Zambese. Thus the hydro- graphic systems of the Ku-Bango and Zumbese become periodically intermingled, and the original unity of the whole of this area of drainage is temporarily re-established. At this season the almost boundless watery horizon is relieved here and there by pleasant stretches of woodlands, clumps of -graceful palms, or gigantic isolated baobabs. A few eminences, assuming the aspect of lofty hills, appear as Islets and archipelagos in the midst of the ancient inland sea thus annually revived during the rainy period. The periphery of this level plain consists to a great extent of "volcanic formations. The Chobe. The Chobe or Kwa-ndo (Cuando), whose lower course connects the Ku-Bango with the Zumbese, rises like both of these rivers on the southern slope of the transverse waterparting, which stretches from the Bihe territory across the continent in an oblique direction to the region of the great equatorial lakes. The Chobe trickh s us a tiny brook from a swamp which fills a depression confined between two hills, and according to Serpa Pinto, standing at an elevation of ​4,500 feet above sea-level. It flows at first towards the south-east, and is soon swollen by the contributions of innumerable streamlets into the proportions of a veritable river navigable for the greater part of its course, although obstructed here and there by forests of tall reeds. In this region its basin is separated by a scarcely perceptible sill from that of the Zambese properly so called. Nevertheless it still maintains its independent course west of this low parting line, flow-in a southerly direction parallel with the main stream, and at last emerging on the great alluvial plain which also receives the discharge of the Ku-Bango. The
Kwa-Ndo even occasionally effects a junction with this river during exceptional floods, and then sweeps round to the east, here expanding into the serpentine Lake Chobe, which in many places takes the aspect of a river. When Livingstone explored it, the current had a mean depth of from 14 to 16 feet, but would nevertheless be inaccessible to a steamer of any size owing to its extremely sharp windings.
The junction of the Chobe with the Zambese is effected through an intricate labyrinth of little channels and passages, in the midst of which stands an island
118 — ar ​242 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. of volcanic origin. Like all the other watercourses of this region, the Chobe has excavated its deep channel in the layer of soft calcareous tuffa formerly depo- sited on the bod of the great lacustrine basin. Daring the floods, which last from December or January to March, all inequalities of the ground disappear beneath the vast and always limpid sheet of water formed by the junction of the two streams. The annual difference between the high and low water levels varies from 20 to 24 feet. The Liba or Upper Zambese. The little river Liba, which has its source not from that of the great Lu-Lua tributary of the Kassai, is usually regarded as the true upper course of the Zambese, although both the Ku-Bango and the Chobe take their rise at a far greater distance from the Indian Ocean. One of the affluents of the Upper Liba is the Lo- Tembwa, a stream flowing from Lake Dilolo, which was discovered by Livingstone, and which presents the rare phenomenon of communicating with two distinct fluvial systems, those of the Zambese and the Congo. A great number of other " children," as the natives call the tributaries of the Liba, send their contributions to the *' mother," which soon becomes the Liambai or Zambese, that is, the " river " in a superlative sense. But the greater part of the rainfall, being precipi- tated on a too uniformly level surface, is unable to reach the main stream. It lodges in stagnant pools scattered over the reed- grown plains, which from a dis- tance resemble a boundless prairie with here and there a few wooded islets rising above the tall, waving grasses. Amongst the pci-ennial watercourses of this region, all infested throughout the year by numerous hippopotami, the most important is the Lua-Ena, whose basin stretches fur to the west. Some sixty miles from the point where the Zam- ^bese begins to become navigable, the Lua-Ena mingles its blackish waters with the yellowish current of an affluent which Livingstone regarded as the true main stream, but which is inferior to it bpth in the length of its course and in volume. This is the Kabombo tributary, first explored by Capello and Ivens. Below the confluence of the two rivers the mainstream is swollen by the waters of the Lua-Ngo Nbungo, which rises not far from the sources of the Kwa-Ndo, and traverses the extensive Lobule plains — grassy fens or waterless steppes accord- ing to the season. Beyond this junction the aspect of the land still remains unchanged, the united stream flowing directly southwards over a plain standing at a dead level, where the flood waters expand in vast shallow lagoons during the rainy season. On the surface are borne along great masses of tangled vegetation swept down by the current. With the return of dry weather the waters subside, and this apparently boundless sea assumes the aspect of a regular channel winding between steep banks of alluvial sc il intermingled with sands and many-coloured clays, where the wasp-eater and kingfisher have their nests. The river thus flows rapidly but at a uniform speed for a distance of over 180 miles, after which, beyond some wooded islands, it changes the direction of its
cliffs, which gradually converge, soon leaving a 8i)ace from bank to bank of from 60 to 100 yards. Pent up within this rocky bod, the current, which during the rainy season rises from 50 to GO feet above the normal level, rushes along in furious eddies at a speed which renders all navigation impossible. But above these rapids, known as the " Gonye Falls," there is a free stretch of over 250 miles as far as the neighbourhood of the waterparting towards the Kassai affluents which is accessible to riverain craft, doubtless one day to be replaced by steam. Below the Gonye Falls the Zambcse is continually interrupted by reefs and rocky ledges, some of which are disposed athwart the current, forming connecting ridges between the cliffs on either bank. Here every rapid, every cataract, pre- sents a different aspect. One reef crosses from side to side at a perfectly uniform height, the water gliding over it without a ripple as over on artificial barrier ; another is pierced with gaps and openings, through which the water pours as through the gates of a lock. Elsewhere the current is obliquely stemmed by boulders piled up in disorder, or broken by rocky islets rising amid the seething whirlpools. In a stretch of about 12 miles Ilolub reckoned no less than forty-six cataracts and rapids of all sorts, some of which are extremely dangerous either to shoot or to turn. It would even be quite impossible to make the attempt but for the fact that the crocodiles themselves are obliged to avoid the neighbourhood of the cascades. The boatmen ascending the stream are thus enabled to approach the reefs, deposit their cargo on some convenient ledge, and haul their boats up to the smooth stretch above the fall ; then nimbly resxmiing their seats, they safely continue the journey up this reach amid these voracious saurians swimming about in the still, deep waters. The last of the series of cataracts is the Katima Molelo, above which the Zambese presents an open course free from all obstruction for a distance of nearly 120 miles, as far as the network of channels ramifying south- wards in the direction of the Chobe lagoons above the great falls. The Victoria Falls. The Mosi-oa-Tunya, or " Thimdering Smoke," * which afforded an escape to the great inland sea of which Ngami is but a puny remnant, presents aa abso- lutely unique spectacle. Doubtless many other streams" plunge at a single bound into a deeper abyss, or roll down a mightier liquid volume. But nowhere else is a great river seen to suddenly disappear in a narrow rocky chasm, whose very bed is completely veiled by the overhanging vapours, and whence the timiultuous waters escape through a fissure which is not even visible except from the vantage-ground of some dangerous headland. The Zambese seems, as it were, suddenly to vanish in the very bowels of the earth. Discovered, or at all events rediscovered, in November, 1855, by Livingstone, and by him named the Victoria Falls, this stupendous spectacle is thus described by the illustrious traveller: — " After twenty minutes' sail from Kalai we came in sight, for the first time, of
ing, " Smoking caldron." ​the columns of vapour, appropriately called 'smoke,' rising at a distance of five or six miles, exactly as when large tracts of grass are burned in Africa. Five columns now arose, and bending in the direction of the wind, they seemed placed against a low ridge covered with trees; the tops of the columns, at this distance, appeared to mingle with the clouds. They were white below, and higher up became dark, so as to simulate smoke very closely. The whole scene was extremely beautiful; the banks and islands dotted over the river are adorned with sylvan
vegetation of great variety of colour and form. At the period of our visit several trees were spangled over with blossoms. There, towering over all, stands the great burly baobab, each of whose enormous arms would form the trunk of a large tree, beside a group of graceful palms, which, with their feathery-shaped leaves depicted on the sky, lend their beauty to the scene. The silvery motonono, which. in the tropics is in form like the cedar of Lebanon, stands in pleasing contrast with the dark colour of the motsouri, whose cypress form is dotted over at present with its pleasant scarlet fruit. Some trees resemble the great spreading oak, ° ​THE MIDDLE ZAMBESE. 845 others assume the character of our elms and chestnuts ; but no one can imagine the beauty of the view from anything witnessed in England. ' " The falls are bounded on three sides by ridges 300 or 400 feet in height, which are covered with forest, with the red soil appearing among the trees. When about half a mile from the falls I left the canoe by which we had come down thus far, and embarked in a lighter one, with men well acquainted with the rapids, who, by passing down the centre of the stream, in the eddies and still places caused by the many jutting rocks, brought me to an island situated in the middle of the river, and on the edge of the lip over which the waters roll. Though we had reached the island, and were within a few yards of the spot a view from which would solve the whole problem, I believe that no one could perceive where the vast body of water went ; it seemed to lose itself in the earth, the opposite lip of the fissure into which it disappeared being only 80 feet distant. Creeping with awe to the verge, I peered down into a large rent which had been made from bank to bank of the broad Zambese, and saw that a stream of 1,000 yards broad leaped down 100 feet, and then became suddenly compressed into a space of 15 or 20 yards. The entire falls are simply a crack made in a hard basalt rock from the right to the left bank of the Zambese, and then prolonged from the left bank away through thirty or forty miles of hills. In looking into the fissure on the right side of the island, one sees nothing but a dense white cloud, which at the time we visited the spot had two bright rainbows on it. From this cloud rushed up a great jet of vapour exactly like steam, and it mounted 200 or 300 feet high ; there condensing, it changed its hue to that of dark smoke, and came back in a constant shower which wetted us to the skin." The narrow gullet through which the whole body of water escapes is only 100 feet broad at the entrance, that is about thirty-six times narrower than the river above the falls. Widening at times, and again contracting to the first dimensions, it winds abruptly through its rocky bed, hemmed in between black porphyry clifPs, trending first to the west, then to the east, and repeating the same meanderings before finally emerging from the gorges and gradually expanding to its normal size. The rocky walls are broken by deep lateral ravines, and every fissure is clad with a forest vegetation. The higher terraces resemble hanging gardens, whence the designation of Semiramis ClifP, given by Holub to the eastern promontory commanding the entrance of the gorge. At a comparatively recent geological epoch, before the Zambese had opened this gorge by eating away the barriers damming up the lacustrine waters, it flowed at a higher level in a lateral valley. This valley is now traversed by the Lekone, a northern tributary of the main stream, which flows in a contrary direction to the old current. The Middle Zambese. Below the Victoria Falls the Zambese at first continues its easterly course, then trends to the north-east, and again sweeps round to the east. Even here the current is still obstructed, rushing at one point over the Kansalo rapids, at another ​traversing the narrow Hariba gorge. Then it is joined by its great Kafukwe (Kafwe) affluent, which comes directly from the west, and which is reported to be interrupted only by a solitary cataract about a day's journey above the confluence. Still farther up this river would appear to be free from all obstructions as far as the neighbourhood of the waterparting between the Zambese and Congo basins. The valley of this river has consequently already been indicated as probably offering the best route to be followed by the future trans-continental railway from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean.
Farther down the copious Loa-Ngwe sends to the Zambese the whole drainage of the southern slope of the waterparting between Lakes Nyassa and Tanganyika. With this contribution the mainstream has acquired nearly the full measure of its
liquid volume, when it strikes against the roots of the mountain-range running north and south athwart its seaward course. The Chikarongo Falls, followed by the Kebrabassa rapids, mark the point where the Zambese is deflected by this barrier towards the south-east, a direction which, with the exception of a few short meanderings, it henceforth pursues to the delta. At this point, marking the commencement of its lower course, its waters begin to lose their limpid clearness, clouded by the muddy deposits and organic remains here lining its banks. Above the rapids it preserved a relative transparence even during the season of the periodical inundations, but it has now become a turbid stream of a brownish or dirty red colour. Along the upper reaches the banks and riverain tracts are covered with a dense herbage, where the current is filtered by depositing most of the sedimentary matter held in solution. Here also the banks are consolidated by ​LAKE NYASSA. 247 the binding effects of the roots, and thus prevented from falling in and disturbing the stream, as is the case lower down. The gorge where the Zambese pierces the transverse range which forms a northern continuation of the Manica uplands, has become famous in the history of African geographical research. By tradition it had been transformed to a tremendous defile, flanked by marble walls of prodigious height, and covered on top with a snowy mantle. The very name of Lupata, which simply means glen or gorge, has been interpreted as signifying the Spina Mundi, or " Backbone of the* "World," and the place came accordingly to be regarded as constituting the main continental axis. Yut the cliffs skirting these narrows are exceeded in height by many similar formations in European river gorges, not to mention the stupendous canons of North America. The highest cliffs, standing on the west side, rise vertically to an altitude of over 650 feet, everywhere presenting all kinds of folds and faults in the strata of its silicious schistose rocks. But the eastern or opposite side is greatly inclined and completely forest-clad, rising in steps towards the mountains stretching away to the east. The Zambese, from 200 to 300 yards broad in the defile, and contracting to little over 40 yards at the narrowest point, flows everywhere at a depth of 60 or 70 feet, and being entirely free from reefs might easily be ascended by steamers. The Lupata gorge has a total length of over ten miles, tenninating at its issue in a sort of gateway formed by two cone-shaped porphyry hills. Beyond this point the river broadens out between its receding banks, leaving ample space for a chain of alluvial islands in mid-stream. Farther down it branches off into two arms, one of which, the Ziu-Ziu, on the north side, traverses a low-hing swampy district to its junction with the Shire from Lake Nyassa. The river craft usually take this channel, not only when bound for the upper Shire, but also when they want to reach the lower reaches and the delta. The two branches are separated by the large triangular island of Inha-Ngoma, which is itself cut up into numerous secondary islets by passages and backwaters, where boats frequently get lost amid the reeds. All these intricate streams are known as the Rios de Senna, from the name of the nearest town, and in this region the river itself usually takes the designation of Cuama (Kwama). Lake Nyassa. While the lakes of the Upper Zambese have ceased to exist, or have been replaced by swamps and salines, the Shire still receives the overflow of the vast lacustrine basin of the Nyassa, which belongs to the system of the East African inland seas. The term Nyassa (Nyanja) simply means "Lake," nor has this great body of water received any more definite name from the natives, while its European discoverers or explorers have conferred no special designation on it, as they have on other equatorial lakes, such as the " Victoria " and the " Albert " Nyanzas. Formerly, when it was still known only through the reports brought from Africa by the missionaries and the Portuguese officials, it was commonly known by the ​248 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA. name of Maravi, like the populations dwelling on its banks. At the same time this Maravi, with an alternative Nhunja Mucuro, figured on the maps of Africa under the most diverse forms and outlines, being in some cases made to occupy nearly the whole of the unknown regions of the interior. But all these vague guesses were for ever swept away in the year 1859, when its true formation was first revealed to the outer world by Livingstone. Since that time it has been traversed in every direction by explorers, and European settlements have even been founded on its shores. Nyassa presents a striking resemblance to its Tanganyika neighbour. Both basins are disposed very much in the same direction, except that the axis of Nyassa approaches nearer to th6 line of the meridian ; both appear to fill the beds of cracks in the crust of the earth, produced by the same pressure, but that of Nyassa stands at a lower altitude on the surface of the continent, being scarcely five hundred feet above sea-level. It also presents, like Tanganyika, the aspect of a broad valley, the sinuosities of whose sides mutually correspond, with, however, some deviations here and there. At its two narrowest parts it is only 14 or 15 miles wide, while in other places it expands to 55 or 60 miles. Excluding the windings of the shore-line, it has a total length of over five degrees of latitude, or about 300 miles, with a superficial area, according to the most recent surveys, of about 12,000 square miles,* and depths ranging from fifty to a hundred fathoms, and upwards. Young found sixty-four and even ninety fathoms close to the east side, while at any distance from the shore the sounding-line of a hundred fathoms almost everywhere failed to touch the bottom. Towards its north-east extremity the lake is dominated by a lofty range, with steep rocky cliffs sinking sheer down to the water's edge. In some places the cascades, sparkling on the slopes like silvery streaks, mingle their spray with the foam of the waves breaking on the rock-bound coast. Shallows are rare, and except at a few points on the west side the explorer may sail for days together close in shore without meeting any shelving beach or reed-grown shoals. But some of the bays and inlets are studded with islets which are visited by the hippo- potamus, swimming over from the adjacent mainland. So pure are the waters of Nyassa that the sheathing of the vessels launched on its bosom by the English missionaries remains perfectly clean for years together ; the boilers of the steamers are also almost entirely free from any trace of sediment. The fierce gales which sweep over the lake lush its surface waters into formidable waves, compared by seafarers to the billows of the South Atlantic itself. Hence, although its shores present numerous creeks and inlets with good anchorage, especially under the shelter of the islands, the European navigators have often run imminent peril of foundering. But since the discovery of the easily accessible estuary of the Rombash River, at its northern extremity, they are able to venture on its waters with a greater feeling of security. About forty-eight hours now • Ojmparativc areas of the great African lakes and of the largest lacustrine basins in other conti- nents: Victoria NyiiHza, 26,000 square miles; Tanganyika, 15,000; Nyassa, 12,000; Lake Superior
At times the whole surface of the lake becomes enveloped in a thin silvery mist or haze, shrouding all the mountains and veiling the bright solar rays. This kungu, as it is called, is entirely due, not to any aqueous or aërial vapours, but to countless myriads of tiny white-winged gnats, which, when alighting on vessels or houses, cover the whole surface as with flakes of snow. The natives gather these midges by the basketful and knead them into cakes.
Lying, like Tanganyika, in a fissure of the ground, Nyassa is almost entirely encircled by mountains, which are not merely the escarpments or outer slopes of
the plateaux, but constitute in some places real elevated ranges. On the northeast side especially they even assume the aspect of an Alpine region, towering with some of its peaks to an altitude of nearly 7,000 feet, and, according to some explorers, even exceeding 10,000 feet. Seen from the lake, this northeastern range, which has received the name of the Livingstone Mountains, in honour of the illustrious traveller and discoverer of Nyassa, appears to terminate towards its northern extremity in a superb pyramidal peak. Southwards it is continued parallel with the axis of the lake, gradually breaking into less elevated heights and low hills, connected by numerous saddles, which give access from the lacustrine basin to the valleys watered by the headstreams of the Rovuma. On the eastern slope the range rises here and there but slightly above the surrounding plateau, in which it rapidly merges altogether. Towards the sources of the Rovuma the culminating point is Mount Mtonia, which rises over 5.000 feet above the lake ​260 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. On the west side of Nyassa there occur no ranges comparable to the Living- stone chain, and here the ground rises in some places but little above the mean level of the phitcau itself. Nevertheless, certain isolated masses present a very imposing effect. Such is Mount Chombe, to which the English missionaries have given the name of Waller, and which commands one of the narrowest parts of the lake, near Florence Bay. Chombe forms a pyramidal sandstone mass with alter- nating grey and blackish layers, and rising to a height of 5,500 feet. Other less elevated peaks follow in a southerly direction along the coast between the lake and the plateau, as far as the Molomo Mountains, which project between the Zambose and the lower Shire. Carboniferous deposits of easy access have been discovered in the valleys of the Mount Waller district. Being thus pent up round about most of its periphery by elevated land, Nyassa is fed by no large affluents. At its northern extremity, along the axis of the lacustrine depression, where the explorer Young reported the probable exis- tence of a large emissary, nothing occurs except a few rivulets flowing from the mountains forming the waterparting between Nyassa and Tanganyika. The most copious streams come from the western slope, that is, from the side where the general relief of the land is lowest. On the east or opposite side the parting- line between the waters flowing to Nyassa and the Indian Ocean, runs at but a few miles from the margin of the lake, which consequently from this direction receives only some small affluents, often falling through a series of cascades down to the shore. Altogether Nyassa possesses an extremely limited area of drainage compared with its great superficial area. Hence the water is maintained through- out the year nearly at the same level, the rise and fall scarcely exceeding three feet. According to the report of the missionaries there was a continuous slight subsi- dence during the period from 1875 to 1880. At its southern extremity Nyassa terminates, like Tanganyika, in a " horseshoe," but even more sharply outlined, and this horseshoe is disposed in two secondary bays or inlets, tapering gradually southwards. The Shire and Lower Zambese. From the eastern and longer of these bays, the lacustrine overflow escapes through the outlet of the Shire Eiver. The current is at first broad and sluggish, and soon expands into the little Lake Pamalombe, whose flat banks are every- where overgrown with tall reeds. Beyond this point the Shire continues its southerly course down to the edge of the terrace formation, whence it tumbles over a scries of cataracts in the direction of the Zambese. At these cataracts, which have received the name of the Murchison Falls, all navigation, whether for boats or steamers, is completely arrested, but is resumed lower down and continued with little further obstruction as far as the sandbars blocking the mouths of the Zambese. Throughout the whole of this stretch the only impediment to the traflic are the accumulated masses of tangled aquatic vegetation — nympheacecB and other plants, such as the piitia stratioics and alfasinha, or " lettuce " of the Portu​Portuguese, through which the boatmen find it difficult to penetrate, especially during the months of May and June, when the vegetable growth is most vigorous.
South of the confluence of the Ruo or Luo, which flows from the Blantyre uplands, and which is navigable by boats for 50 miles, a huge nearly isolated and
The Zambese Delta.
The united current cf the Zambese and the Shire, which at certain points is stated to be no less than eight miles wide from bank to bank, flows below the confluence in a south-easterly direction; it then trends to the south and again to
the south-east before ramifying into several distinct branches to form its "goosefoot" delta. All the waters ultimately find their way seawards through numerous mouths, such as the Melambe on the south, the Inhamissengo or Kongoni towards the north, the eastern Lu-Ebo, the Muzelo or Catherine, the Inhamiara, and others. The western Lu-Ebo, or Luasse, a channel winding to the coast on the extreme south, is connected with the delta proper only during the periodical ​THE ZAMIJICSK DELTA 2M inundations. Of all tlio branches tho most copious is the eastern Lu-Ebo, tho true Zumbosc, although shipping moHt usually prefers the Inhamissongo, whore the depth ranges from 10 to 23 or 24 feet, according to the season and the tides. But all the channels are frequently modified by storms and floodH, und both on the north and the M)uth side of the delta are seen old watercourses which were formerly mouths of tho erratic river, but are now merely winding streams or backwaters, cither completely separated from tlie Zambcsc or only temporarily connected with it during tho Hoods. Scu-going vessels can easily ascend the Ix)wer Zumbese an far as the foot of Mount Mirambula, sailing before the east wind which mostly prevails in this region. Geologically the delta is far more extensive than it appears at present. It may be said to Ix^gin almost immediately below the Shire confluence, where the channels of backwaters and false rivers, survivals of an ancient current, and still flooded during tho inundations, are seen to diverge gradually from the mainstream in the direction of the east. Here they effect a junction with the sluggish current of tho Rio Muto, which formerly communicated with the Quelimune estuary, but which is now completely obstructed by alluvial deposits and aquatic plants. Hence the necessity of seeking another channel or outlet for the riverain craft, which was found somewhat lower down tho Zambese at a portage leading to the Barabuauda, better known as the Kwa-Kwa (Quu-Qua), or " liiver of Forced Labour," because the natives are compelled to deepen or keep it ojHjn by dredging. This watercourse winds in the direction of Quelimane, which seaport it reaches after a course of over 70 miles. For more than half of this distance above the port it is navigable for steamers drawing G or 7 feet of water, and the whole distance for light craft. During the annual inundations of the Zambese, its banks are completely flooded, ,and tho mainstream thus becomes united with the Quelimane River through an intricale network of marshy depressions. The river has moreover recently shifted its bed, and now reaches the coast some 6 miles farther north, that is, so much nearer to its periodical Quelimane branch. The abandoned channel is still visible, now transformed to a circular lagoon. The sjime erosive action is still progressing northwards, and tho " African Lakes Company " has already had to forsake a building which till recently stood about half a mile from the bank, and erect another some considerable distance farther to the north. Should this northward tendency be continued much longer, the Zambese will effect a permanent junction with the Kwa-Kwa, and tho original delta will be restored to its full dimensions. In any case a navigable communication might easily be established between the Zambese and Quelimane by cutting a canal through the intervening low-lying portage. Southwards also tho Zambese communicates during the inundations with several streams traversing the Gaza territory. Here the junction is effected by a lagoon belonging to the Zangwe tributary to its lower course, and by a succession of channels and backwaters extending as fur as the River Pungwe, on the Sofala coast. ​254 SOUTH AND EAST Af'EICA. Climate of the Zambese Basin. In such a vast area of drainage as that of the Ku-Bango and Zambese river Bystems, the climate naturally presents many contrasts according to the aspect of the laud, its general relief and distance from the sea. About the region of the farthest sources, comprising a portion of the plateau where the Cuanza and the Kassai also take their rise, the climatic conditions are the same as those of the Angolan uplands. Here the rainfall is abundant, thanks to the moist west winds from the Atlantic ; but the transitions are at times very sudden from heat to cold. So also on the extensive level plains traversed by the Lower Ku-Bango, cool weather alternates with intense heat, although here little moisture is precipitated by the normally dry atmosphere. These regions form, in fact, a northern continuation of the Great Karroo and of tho Kalahari Desert, and almost everywhere present nearly the same meteorological phenomena. Farther east, the Middle Zambese region in the same way reproduces the conditions prevalent in the Transvaal, while the zone of coastlands, being abun- dantly watered and exposed to the regular action of the trade-winds and marine breezes, belongs rather to tropical Africa. The fierce hurricanes so destructive on the high seas, are unknown on this seaboard of the Zambese delta. The most carefully studied part of the whole basin is that of Lake Nyassa, where European missionaries have been stationed for some years. Here the rains, which begin in December and last till April or May, are sufficiently copious, even in a compara- tively dry year, amounting to 90 inches at Bandawe. Towards the south the rainfall gradually diminishes, being scarcely more than 33 inches at Tete, on the Zambese.* Flora. A striking contrast is presented between the wealth of the vegetation on the seaboard and its poverty farther inland. To the rich flora of the coastlands the aspect of equatorial forests is imparted by the great variety of palms, including even a species of the banyan, or as it is here called, the "many-legged tree." But in the interior an exuberant vegetation occurs only in the districts more favoured by a copious rainfall or an abundant supply of running waters. Such are, for instance, the summits of the cliffs exposed to the heavy vapours constantly rolling up from the bottomless chasm of the great Victoria Falls. Speaking generally the Zambese basin, which is entirely comprised within the torrid zone, yields in richness of vegetation to that of the better watered region of the Congo. Its flora is mainly composed of forms common to that botanical zone, but also includes a few species which have penetrated from the Cape northwards beyond the tropic of Capricorn. One of these immigrants is the • Temperature at Bandawe, on the west side of Nyassa, 1 1° 4' S. latitude : mean for November, hottest month, 85' F. ; May, coldest month, 60° ; extreme heat, 99° ; extreme cold, 64°. Mean tempe- rature at Tete, 16' 10' S. latitude, 62° F.: mean for November hottest month, 83'; July, coldest month, 72° F. ​FAUNA OF TILE ZAMBESE BASIN. 256 silver-tree (ieucademlron argenteum) which is met as far inland us the Upper Zambese. A number of plants belonging to the Capo flora also occur on the high- lands skirting the shores of Lake Nyassa at elevations ranging from 5,000 to 6,500 feet above the sea. The southern limits of the fluvial basin coincide very nearly with the zone over which the baobab has spread. Fauna. In certain parts of the Zambese region the fauna is still surprisingly rich both in numbers and diversity of forms. At the time of Livingstone's explorations, before the white man with his firearms had yet invaded the land, the multitudes of animals roaming over the riverain savannahs is described as " prodigious," and these countless herds still grazed fearlessly near the haunts of man. The elephant, buffalo, and wild boar had not yet learnt to avoid his presence, and the guinea-fowl in flocks of many hundreds perched confidently on the neighbouring trees. According to Ilolub, the naturalist, who has most carefully explored the Zambese basin, this region, so abounding in animal forms, has no less than seven species of rhinoceros, four of lions, and three of elephants. Even quite recently Capello and Ivens still speak of the plains watered by the Liba as a vast " zoo- logical garden," where the sportsman has his pick and choice of the game needed to supply the wants of the expedition. In some districts lions are so numerous that at night they lay siege to the villages, and keep up an incessant roar till the '* small hours." But in other parts of the fluvial basin the hunter has already done his work of extermination. Prudence has taught the lion to be dumb ; the hippopotamus, which snorted loud enough to be heard half a mile off, has learnt the wisdom of silence, and now swims about with bated breath, or at sight of the canoe takes refuge amid the tall reeds. Since the introduction of firearms some wild mammals have already dis- appeared altogether in the hunting-grounds visited by Europeans. The white rhinoceros, a gentle and trusting beast, has been rapidly extirpated ; but the black species, which has a savage temper, still survives in districts remote from the beaten tracks. On the northern slope of the Zambese neither the ostrich nor the giraffe is now seen. Both of these animals appear to have been arrested in their migrations northwards by the course of the river, for they are still numerous farther south in Mashonaland and the Kalahari Desert. According to Oswell and Livingstone, the wild animals of Austral Africa diminish in size in the direc- tion from south to north. Thus the antelopes become smaller and smaller as they approach the equator, and even the elephant loses in bulk, while by a singular contrast his tusks acquire a larger growth. A marked difference has also been observed in the proportions of domestic animals of both regions. The homed cattle bred by the Bechuanas are much larger and stronger than those belonging to the Batokas of the Zambese. The rule, however, has its exceptions. In some of the river valleys of the Upper Zambese, and probably also in the ​256 SOUTH AND EAST AFBICA. Kafukwe basin, there exists an extremely curious species of antelope, whose broad feet are better adapted for swimming than for bounding over the plains. These quishobos, as they are called by the people of Bih^, pass nearly aU their life in the water, in which they are often seen to dive, leaving nothing above the surface except their two twisted horns. At night they leave the river to browse on the surrounding grassy plains. Their absence from the lower reaches of the river may perhaps be attributed to the crocodiles, which are here very numerous and exceptionally voracious. The tiakong, another almost amphibious species of ante- lope, inhabits the muddy swamps which receive the discharge of the Chobe River. The enormous size of his foot, which is no less than twelve inches to the extremity of the hoof, enables the nakong to pass easily over the trembling quagmires with- out sinking. Like the quishobo, he also grazes at night, concealing himself during the day amid the tall reeds. When pursued he plunges into the stream, leaving nothing exposed except his back-curved horns and the tip of his nozzle. The natives set fire to the reeds in order to compel the nakong to leave his marshy lair ; they report that he will allow his horns to be consumed before quitting the water and resuming his flight. Except in the Upper Zambese, where animal life is comparatively rare, the main stream as well as the riverain lagoons teem with several kinds of fishes. One of these, the Mosheba, which inhabits the waters of the Middle Zambese, has the power of flight, like the oceanic flying-fish. After the passage of boats it darts into the track, and rising above the surface by the strength of its pectoral fins, follows in the wake for a distance of several j'ards. The fish-eagle {cuncuma vocifer) destroys an enormous quantity of fish, far more than he can possibly con- simie. Usually, he selects only the dainty morsels on the back of the animal, and often does not even take the trouble of capturing the prey himself. When he spies a pelican with its pouch dilated with store for future consumption, he drops like a plimimet, all the time beating his wings. This so scares the pelican that it raises its head and opens wide its great mandibles, from which the eagle, passing like a flash, snatches the captured prey. All the marshy tracts are frequented by flocks of aquatic birds as numerous as the penguins and seagulls on certain oceanic islands. The parra africana, one of these fish-eaters, is provided with such broad feet that he is able to advance into mid-stream on the outspread lotus leaves without bending them, walking, as it were, on the surface of the water as on solid ground. The Zambese waters are also infested by crocodiles, which are here extremely dangerous, thus differing from their congeners in so many other rivers, where they never willingly attack man. Every year reports are constantly heard in the riverain villages of women and children snapped off on the banks of the streams, of travellers and boatmen killed or mutilated by these voracious reptiles, which in the lower reaches of the Zambese are said annually to devour about two hundred and fifty natives. Amongst all the riverain populations any person wounded by the crocodile is regarded as impure, and expelled from the tribe to avert the calamity his presence would be sure to cause. ​
Inhabitants of the Ku-Bango, Ngami, and Upper Zambese Regions.
The region of the great divide where the headstreams of the Ku-Bango and Zambese take their rise is no more a parting-line for its human inhabitants than it is for the animal species. On both slopes dwell tribes of the same race and of the same speech, who migrate from one side to the other according to the vicissitudes of social life common to all. At present this migratory movement is setting in the direction from north to south. The Kiokos, who on the opposite slope are invading the Lunda territory, are also encroaching southwards on the Ganguella, Lushaze, and Amboella domains, and some of them have already been met as far south as the plains of the Lower Ku-Bango. In the Kassai basin they are gradually attracted beyond their ancient frontiers, chiefly by the inducements of trade; but the motive which, on the other side, impels them towards the south, is rather
the gradual disappearance of game from the formerly well-stocked hunting-grounds.
The Upper Ku-Bango and the Ku-Ito valleys are occupied mainly by the Ganguellas, who are akin to those of the same name in Angola, and who, here as there, are divided into numerous communities, destitute of all political cohesion. A dialect of the Ganguella language is also spoken by the Lushazes of the Upper Ewa-Ndo, who are noted as skilled agriculturists and artisans, manufacturing highly prized iron implements, wicker-work objects, and woven fabrics, Far less vain of their personal appearance, and devoting less attention to elaborate head-dressing than most of their neighbours, the Lushazes still clothe themselves in wild beasts' skins and robes of macerated bast.
The Amboellas, also kinsmen ef the Ganguellas, are spread in small groups over a space of at least 300 miles from west to east, throughout the gently sloping regions watered by the Ku-Bungo, the Ku-Ito, and the Kwa-Ndo, ​268 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. before these rivers eraergo on the plains. The timid Amboella tribes shun the open plain, most of them seeking the seclusion of the fluvial islands or the marshy riverain tracts. Their reed huts, containing few objects beyond calabashes used for diverse purposes, are all erected on piles and defended by the stream or the sur- rounding quagmires. Although magnificent gruzing-grounds cover the greater part of their territory, which is also entirely free from the tsetse pest, the Amboellas breed no cattle, their only domestic animils being some poultry. But they are excellent husbandmen, raising fine crops, usually of maize, haricots, manioc, sweet potatoes, groundnuts, gourds, and cotton ; and, thanks to the great fertility of the soil, their industry generally enables them to keep well-stocked granaries. Being of an extremely gentle and hospitable disposition, they cheerfully welcome strangers visiting them, entertaining them with songs and music, and treating them as inti- mate members of the family circle. To the migratory movement drawing numerous northern peoples down to the /ambese basin corresponds an opposite tendency, by which the Bushmen and Hottentot tribes are attracted to the Ganguella and Amboella domains in the region of the Upper Ku-Bango. Of these the most important are the Mukassekeres (Mu-Kassckcre), a timid folk, who dwell in the woodlands and are ever ready to take flight at the approach of danger. Building no abodes of any kind, they encamp at the foot of the trees, living on wild berries, roots, and such animals as come within reach of their arrows. Occasionally they do a little bartering trade with the Amboellas, exchanging ivory and wax for manioc and other provisions. In some districts they have been enslaved ; in others they are still hunted like wild beasts, and are accused of all the crimes and outrages committed on them by their neighbours. Farther south, on the plains which gradually merge in the . Kalahari Desert, wander other Bushman tribes, who also live on roots and game. But their favourite diet consists of bull- frogs and large lizards. They have even a trick for compelling the boa to disgorge his half -digested antelope, finishing the meal in his stead.* The Ba-Yeye and Ba-Lunda Nations. On the Lower Ku-Bango and the plain of the " Thousand Lakes '* mention occurs of numerous groups, such as the Daricos, Ba-Yikos, Mukossos, and Ea- Najoas. The last named, instead of cabins construct platforms supported by tall piles, amid which fires are kindled to drive away the raosquitos. The Ra-Najoas are of Bechuana stock, like their western neighbours the Ba-Toanas, who about the beginning of the present century parted company with their Bamangwato kinsmen and sought fresh camping- grounds on the banks of Lake Ngami. Although far from numerous, the Ba-Toanas have become the masters of the land. But after first settling on the eastern margin of the lake they have been compelled to remove their chief residence to the Lower Ku-Bango, settling in the midst of the surrounding swamps in order to escape from the inroads of the JSlatebele people.
I ​THE BA-LUNDAS. 259 The primitive population of the country, who are also of Bantu speech, are known by the name of lia-Kuba, that is, " Serfs; " but their own tribal designa- tion is the more dignified Ba-Yeye, or "men." These Ba-Yeye, who according to Chapman number as many as two hundred thousand altogether, are a peaceful, honest, and industrious people, who are chiefly occupied with fishing, hunting, and collecting salt from the surrounding salines. Their pursuits requiring them to be constantly wading about in the shallow waters, they have become attached to their swampy fens and lagoons, even founding their settlements in the midst of the reeds. The Ba-Yeye are very superstitious, and like the Damaras worship or invoke certain " mother trees." Amongst them, as amongst most of the neighbouring tribes, the stranger has to chot>se a friend, who becomes answerable for his conduct to the community, and who provides him with food, an ox, and a wife in exchange for his commodities. East of the Amboellas the whole of the alternately dry and swampy Lobale plains, as well as the Upper Zambese basin, are inhabited by the Ba-Lundas, who are akin to the Ka-Lundas of the Congo basin, and who officially recognise the suzerainty of the Muata Yamvo, although their chiefs are practically independent. The national usages are much the same on both sides of the waterparting between the Zambese and the Congo basins. The southern Ba-Luudas file their teeth and tattoo their bodies like the northern Ka-Lundas ; like them, also, they go nearly naked, smearing themselves with the oils extracted from various oleaginous vegetable substances as substitutes for the more highly valued fat of oxen, which, when por- curable, is reserved for the chiefs. As on the banks of the Kassai, the prevailing ornament amongst the Upper Zambese populations is brass wire. Great personages appear in public with their legs laden with this metallic encumbrance, the fashion requiring them to walk swaying heavily from side to side, as if a great effort were needed to raise the foot. Etiquette is strictly enforced amongst the excessively ceremonious Ba-Lunda people. On meeting a superior in social rank everyone hastens to fall on his knees and rub his breast and arms with dust. Endless prostrations, all regulated by established custom, are exacted of those approaching the king, who is seated on a throne holding in his hand a fly-whisk made of gnu-tails. Both the Christian and Mohammedan styles of salutation have penetrated into the country, following in the track of the traders. Thus some of the Ba-Lundas salute strangers with a low bow accompanied by the expression " Ave-ria," a corruption of " Ave Maria," while others utter the word " Allah ! " as an exclamation of surprise. Thanks to the fertility of their always abundantly watered territory, the Ba-Lundas enjoy a superfluity of provisions, which they willingly share with their visitors. Profusely hospitable, they are at the same time of a peaceful, genial dis- position. No trace of cannibalism has been discovered amongst them ; neither do they slaughter women or children to accompany the departed chief to the other world. The Ba-Lunda women enjoy a relatively large share of liberty, the wives of the elders always taking part in the tribal deliberations, while many commu- nities are even governed by queens. At the death of these queens, the royal ​260 ' SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. residence, with the whole village, is abandoned, the natives rebuilding their huts and reclaiming fresh land in another district. Although unknown to European e-xplorers, the Ba-Lundas long maintained indirect commercial relations with the Portuguese of the western seaboard through the agency of the Biheno people. The beeswax exported from Loanda and Bcnguella comes for the most part from their forests, where it is collected in bark hives suspended from the trees and protected by terrible fetishes from the rapacity of marauders. The Barotse Empire. The various tribes inhabiting the Zambese valley properly so called, below the confluence of the Liba with the Kabombo, have been united in a single state among the South African peoples variously known by the name of Barotse (Ba-Rots^), Ungenge, Lui, or Luina. Sebituani, founder of this empire, was a Basuto con- queror, who led a host of warriors victoriously across the whole region comprised between the Orange and the Zambese, enrolling under his banner all the young men of the conquered tribes along the line of march. On reaching the Zambese and Chobc confluence, Sebituani and his Makololo followers took possession of this peninsular region, which being protected by vast swampy tracts served as the centre of the new kingdom, and was soon peopled by at least three hundred thousand souls. It was here that Livingstone visited them, and their capital, Linyati, a town of over fifteen thousand inhabitants, situated on the north bank of the Chobe, became the centre of his explorations in all the surrounding Zambese lands. But the missionaries who succeeded him met with less favour, and several of them having succumbed either to the effects of the climate or to poison, the report was spread abroad that some calamity was pending over the Makololos. The storm was in truth already gathering. The Luinas, or Barotses properly so called, who had reluctantly submitted to their foreign rulers, now broke into revolt, and falling suddenly on the unsuspecting Makololos, massacred them almost to the last man. Two only, with their wives and children, were said to have been spared in the whole peninsula. Terror-stricken by the news of the overwhelming disaster, the Mako- lolos dwelling south of the Chobe fled westwards and sought a refuge amongst the Ba-Toanas settled on the banks of Lake Ngami. By them they were received with apparent friendship, but as soon as the unarmed suppliants ventured within the royal enclosure, they were suddenly attacked and slaughtered by the Ba-Toana warriors. Thus perished the Makololo nation. Their women were distributed amongst the conquerors, and their children brought up under other names in the vilhiges and encampments of the Barotses. But despite this change of masters, the kingdom founded by Sebituani was maintained at least south of the Chobe. The Barotses themselves did not venture to cross the line of natural defence formed by the surrounding marshes. But north of this limit they took the place of the Makololos as rulers of the land, and soon after annexed the whole of the Mabunda (Ma-Mbunda) territory, which had been inherited by a queen too weak to maintain herself on the throne. When ​THE BABOTSE EMPIRE. 961 Holub visited the Barotee kingdom in 1875, as many as eighteen large nationK. subdivided into over a hundred • secondary tribes, were represented by their dele> giites ut the court of the sovereign und the regent his sister. Moreover, u Lirge number of fugitives from other tribes — Matebeles, liumungwutos, Makalukos — dwelt within the borders of the state, to which they paid tribute. From the Zambcse and Chobe confluence to the northern frontiers there was reckoned a distance equal to a journey of from fifteen to twenty dayH, and the superficial area of the whole kingdom exceeded 100,000 square miles, with a population of pro- bably about a million. Each of the tribes in the vast empire speaks its own dialect, but Scsuto, that is — the language of their exterminated Makololo masters — serves as the common medium of general intercourse, and as the official language of the state. The Makololos have disappeared, but their inheritance has remained, and thanks to them the range of the Sesuto tongue has been enlarged tenfold. The administrative system of the Barotse state is also, at least to some extent, a legacy from the Makololos ; but the penal code and many practices are of an extremely sanguinary character, so much so that " no one grows old in the Barotue country." According to Serpa Pinto, the king is assisted by a council of three ministers, one for war and the two others for the foreign affairs of the south and the west, the latter having the management of all negotiations with the Portuguese on the west coast, the former treating with the English and Dutch powers in South Africa. The regent, sister or mother of the sovereign, and like the king saluted with the title of " Lion," marries whom she pleases, her husband taking the title of "Son-in-law of the Nation." Europeans are barely tolerated in the country, and allowed to cross the Zambese only at a single point. Nevertheless their influ- ence is considerable. European clothes are now worn by most of the natives, having almost everywhere supplanted the national dress of tanned skins and capacious robes or skirts. The Barotses, properly so called, inhabit the banks of the main stream between the Kabompo and Chobe confluences. They are skilled boatmen, with chest and shoulders highly developed compared with the lower members ; but leprosy is a prevalent disease amongst them. The Zambese supplies them with abundance of food, including besides fish, the hippopotamus, the flesh of which animal is highly esteemed. Special hunters are also stationed at intervals along the banks of the river and lateral channels, whose duty it is to keep the royal household well supplied with this game. The alluvial soil in this section of the river exceeds in fertility all other parts of the valley, and yields magnificent crops of grain and vegetables. Cattle also thrive well on the pasturages of the bottom lands, which skirt the escarpments of the plateau to the east and west. The part of the fluvial valley peopled by the Barotses is in some places at least 30 miles broad, and throughout the whole of this territory "famine is unknown" (Livingstone). In order to protect themselves from the annual inundations, which enrich their land and make it another Egypt,
distinct tribeo subject to the Barotse. ​262 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA. the natives are obliged to build their villages on artificial mounds, scattered like islands amid the inland sea caused by the periodical floods. The Mabundas, who share the government of the country with the Barotses, inhabit the more elevated terraces which skirt the north side of the Zambese plains. All are very religious or superstitious peoples, invoking the sun, worship- ping or paying a certain homage to the new moon, and celebrating feasts at the graves of their forefathers. Belief in the resurrection is universal, but it takes rather the character of a metempsychosis, the wicked being bom again in the lower animals, the good in more noble forms, but nobody caring to resume the human state. In this life provision may also be made for the future transforma- tion by eating the flesh of the animal intended to be our " brother," by imitating its gait and its voice. Hence a Ma-Rotse * will occasionally be heard roaring like a lion, in preparation for his leonine existence in the next world. Of the other nations subject to the Barotse empire some are reduced to a state of servitude differing little from downright slavery ; others have preserved their tribal independence, or at least a large measure of self-government for all internal affairs, but paying tribute either in cereals, or fruits, matting, canoes, or other manufactured wares, or else such products of the forests and the chase as ivory, beeswax, honey, and caoutchouc. The Masupias (Ma-Supia) are serfs employed in fishing and hunting for the Barotses in the region about the Chobe and Zambese confluence. Farther south dwell the Madenassanas (Ma-Denassana), a people of mixed descent, resembling the Bechuanas in stature and physical appearance, the Central African Negroes in their features. Like the Masupias, they are enslaved hunters and peasants, as are also the Manansas (Ma-Nansa), whose services form a bone of contention between the two neighbouring Matebele and Barotse nations. A still more important reduced tribe are th? Butokas (Ba-Toka), who occupy the left or north bank of the main stream above the Victoria Falls. All the Batokas of both sexes extract the incisors of the upper jaw on arriving at the age of puberty, and this practice, which, like circumcision among the neighbouring peoples, is performed in secret, has assumed a purely religious character. But when questioned as to the origin of the custom, they reply that its object is to make them look like oxen. It is noteworthy that the not yet evangelised eastern Damaras observe the same practice and attribute it to the same motive. The incisors of the under jaw, being no longer hindered in their growth by those of the upper, project forward and cause the lip to protrude, thus giving the natives a repulsive appearance characteristic of decrepit old age. In the Kafukwe basin, stretching north of the Batokas, dwell the Bashuku- lompos (Ukulombwe), a people who go naked, and are said to till the land with hoes of hardened wood. They distinguish themselves by their style of headdress from all other African tribes, amongst whom there nevertheless prevails such a surprising diversity of taste and fancy in this respect. Saturating or greasing their fleecy curls with butter, and mixing them with the hair of sundry animals, • Jfu i« the singular, lia the plural personal prefix ; hence Ma-Sotte equals one member of the tribe, Ba-RoUc equals the whole nation. ​they arrange the whole in the form of cones of various sizes, some disposed vertically, others made to project forwards, Livingstone met a chief whose superb tiara, terminating with a little rod, towered to a height of three feet above his head. The only European travellers who have yet penetrated into the Bashukulompo country are Silva Porto and Holub. The latter was fortunately accompanied by his wife, whom the astonished natives took for a supernatural being. She was proclaimed queen by one tribe, and on many occasions her presence saved the expedition from complete disaster.
East of the Bashukulompo territory stretches the North Manica country, a state which is quite distinct from the Manica district on the south side of the Lower Zambese. This region, which is contiguous to the Msiri territory, in the
Upper Congo basin, is governed by a king who, like so many other sovereigns in Nigritia, "never eats;" that is to say, no subject is permitted to enter his residence when he is at table. At his burial several of his wives are slaughtered and interred with him.
Topography of Barotseland.
In the Barotse empire are met the first centres of population which may be said to possess any commercial or political importance. But most of these towns are displaced with each fresh accession to the throne. All public misfortunes are attributed to the baneful influence of the ground, and a more favourable site is consequently sought in order to escape from the evil spirits who are supposed to have caused the death of the last ruler. The inundations of the Zambese have ​264 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. also destroyed many places by sapping the artificial mounds on which they were built. In this way Nabiele, the ancient Barotse capital, has ceased to exist, or is represented only by a cluster of wretched hovels. Libonta, residence of the queens, visited by Livingstone, has also been dethroned, and Serpa Pinto, who passed close to its site, does not even mention it by name. In 1878. when this traveller traversed the Barotse valley, the royal residence had been shifted to Liatui, some 12 miles to the east of the river, and beyond the low-lying zone covered by the floods during the rainy season. Below the Nambwe cascades and rapids the new village of Sesheke (Kisseke, Shisheke), which succeeded to another Sesheke consumed by a conflagration in 1875, has in its turn become an imperial capital, or rather a trysting-place for the chiefs and their retainers. On the other hand, Linyanti, formerly metropolis of the Makololo kingdom, has lost all its importance. It is now nothing more than a group of huts standing on the north bank of the Chobe in the midst of a maze of marshy streams and backwaters. At the time of Livingstone's visit in 1853 Linyanti was the largest market town in the interior of South Africa north of Shoshong. At present the chief place in the Chobe Valley lies in the upper course of the river, and is known as Matambi/ane's, from the name of its chief. A part of the trade of Linyanti has passed to the village oiMpalera {Impalera, Mparira, Emhanm), which stands on a sandy island at the Zambese and Chobe confluence, above the Victoria Falls. In a neighbouring quagmire a copious thermal spring wells up, although covered by the periodical flood waters for three months in the year. Panda ma Tenka, a market lying in a thinly peopled district two days' journey south of the falls, serves as a sort of wayside station on the route from the Lim- popo to the Zambese, and is usually visited by the English traders from the south, by the Mambari, a half-caste Portuguese people, and by the European mission- aries. Here the Jesuits had founded a mission, which they have had recently to abandon. Matebelelam) and Inhabitants .of the Middle Zambese. The territories of three empires converge at the gorge into which the Zambese plunges over the Victoria Falls. To the north and north-west stretches the terri- tory of Barotseland ; southwards lies the Bamangwato domain, comprising the plains whi(!h are continued westwards in the direction of the Makarikari swampy saline wastes ; lastly, the kingdom of the Matebele (Ama-Ndebeli) nation occupies in the south-east the basins of the Gwai, Sanyati, Panyame, and Mozoe Rivers, the crj'stalline Matoppo Mountains whence these streams flow to the Zambese, and the whole of the opposite area of drainage southwards to the Limpopo. The Matebeles themselves, that is, the " Vanishing " or " Hidden " People, so named because concealed in battle behind their enormous oval bucklers, roam as masters over the whole land as far west as the shores of Lake Ngami, whence they procure their supplies of salt.
MATEBELELAND. 266 not 80 much a nation as a military host. At first a mere detachment of Zulus, themselves a heterogeneous horde brought together from every tribe, the Matebele band recruited itself under the terrible Mussclckatsi from the young men of all the enslaved or exterminated races attacked during their marauding expeditions. In 186 (, when the missionary Mackenzie visited the Matebele king, nearly all the veterans whom he saw in the army were.Aba-Zanzi, that is, Kafirs originally from Natal and Zululand. The warriors in the prime of life were members of the various Hcchunna tribes reduced by Musselekatsi during his ten years' residence in the region which is now known as the Transvaal. Lastly, the younger soldiers were Makalakas and Mashonas, originally from the Limpopo and Zambese water- parting which now constitutes the Matebele kingdom. All these warriors had begun their career as captives. At first their only duties were to tend the royal herds ; then they followed the troops to the wars some- what in the capacity of sutlers or conveyers of arms and provisions, on some expedition calculated to test their courage and endurance, liut once accustomed in this way to the sight of blood they became warriors in their turn, slaying men and women, as their own kindred had been slain. Until their assegais had " drunk blood " they were held as aliens and slaves, and the meat thrown to them was first rubbed in sand ; they were not reckoned as men till their first victims had fallen. Like Chaka's Zulus, they were forbidden to marry or to bring up a family, for the ranks of the all-conquering host had to be recruited exclusively from prisoners of war. A violent death alone was held in honour ; the sick and ailing were put away and placed in charge of a medicine man, by whom they were either restored to the camp after recovery, or else when dead thrown into the bush ; those enfeebled by age were stoned. Thus trained to pursue their human quarry, the Matebeles had become extremely skilful at their trade of butchers. According to the king's " great law," they could never retreat before any odds, and cases occurred of whole regiments allowing themselves to be massacred rather than yield even to overwhelming numbers. At the bidding of their master, warriors armed only with the assegai fearlessly attacked a lion or a buffalo, and often captured it alive. Proud of their wounds, proud of their m trtial deeds, the Matebeles were abject slaves in the presence of their sovereign, whom they hailed with shouts of " Great King ! Ruler of Men ! " Yet, by a strange contrast, this very chief, whose most glorious title was that of " Cannibal," was personally of an extremely sensitive nature. He disliked the sight of suffering, and in his presence the herdsmen had to lay aside the lash, guiding their droves with large branches or encouraging them with kindness. Such a system could be kept together only by constantly renewed campaigns. The army itself could procure supplies only by pillage, recruits only from the captured in battle, although their country was one of the most fertile in the world. War being their exclusive purfeuit, the Matebeles did not even await their ruler's orders to fly to arms ; they often set out spontaneously to plunder the surrounding lands, killing the men, carrying off the women, children, and cattle. All traditions ​266 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA. haN-ing been broken by expatriation and the military life, the Matebeles no longer remembered either the songs, the sayings, or the beliefs of the various races whence they sprang. Having no religious rites of their own, they left the sacrifices, charms, and incantations to the professional wizards of the various distiicts over which they roamed. Nevertheless a certain sentiment of nationality has at last been developed amongst these heterogeneous communities, while the state of chronic war has at the same time had to give place to a social system more in harmony with that of the surrounding agricultural tribes. Even before the close of Musselekatsi'e reign the laws forbidding the fighting men to marry had already fallen into abeyance. Family groups have now been formed, and the warriors have become field labourers. But they still retain their peculiar headdress, now become the emblem of their manhood. Through the influence of the missionaries and traders commercial routes have been opened across Matebeleland, while the neighbourhood of disciplined British and Dutch troops inspires counsels of prudence in the heir of the great conqueror. He may even have reason to fear that the coveted auriferous deposits abounding in his territory may be the means of at last reducing him to a state of vassalage. When envoys from the Transvaal Republic came to ask Musse- lekatsi's authorisation for European miners to survey the land they were met with a flat refusal. " Take these stones," he said, " and load your waggons with them. But I will have no Dutch women, cattle, sheep, or goats brought here, nor any houses built in my country ! " The Ba-Nyai, Makalaka, and Mashoxa Nations. A certain number of tribes tributary to the Matebeles are still so far removed from the royal residence, or else so well protected by their natural defences, that they have been able to preserve some measure of political independence. Such are the Ba-Nyai people, who occupy the southern slope of the Zambese valley above the Kafukwe confluence, and who usually select rocky strongholds as the sites of their settled abodes. The Ba-Nyai are generally a fine race of men, tall, strong, and somewhat proud of their relatively light complexion. They are also dis- tinguislied from most of the neighbouring populations by their love of cleanliness, and, like so many others, pay great attention to their hefjddr«^ss, dividing the hair into little tresses, which they twine round with the bark of a tree dyed red. The hair thus disposed in stiff little tufts gives them an aspect somewhat recalling that of the Egyptians of three or four thousand years ago. When travelling they gather all the locks in a single knot on the crown of the head. Unlike their more servile neighbours, the Ba-Nyai choose their chief by general suffrage. The electel king is no doubt as a rule the son of the last king's sister ; but the electors, dissatisfied with this candidate, have not unfrequently sought a ruler amongst some other communities. When the popular choice is announced the new chi( f at first declines the honour, as if the burden were too great to be borne. But this is merely a formality or a legal fiction ; the authority ​THE MASHONAS. 267 remains in his hands, and with it the wives, children, and effects of his predecessor. In no other African tribe do the women enjoy so much influence as amongst the Ba-Nyai. In all domestic affairs the decision rests with them. When a young man seeks a girl in marriage he addresses himself to the mother, and if accepted by her, quits his own roof and comes to reside with his mother-in-law, whose faith- ful servant he becomes, and towards whom he is expected always to pay the greatest deference. In hor presence he dare not be seated, but falling on his knees squats on his heels, to show his feet being regarded as a great offence. The children are the mother's property, and the husband, whenever tired of his domestic life, may return to his own home. But in that case he has to renounce all paternal claims and privileges, unless they have been purchased by the gift of a certain number of cows and goats. The Makalakas and Mashonas, former masters of the land now ruled by the Matebeles, have been for the most part exterminated, while the few warriors are reduced to a state of servitude. The Makalakas were the greatest sufferers. Dis- persed by the Mat«bele irruption, some towards the Zambese, some to the Limpopo or the Kuluhari Desert, they have forgotten their very language, and now speak only a debased Zulu dialect. Although formerly excellent husbandmen and skilled blacksmiths, they have in many |)lace8 lapsed to the primitive condition of hunters, living on the spoils of the chase, or even on pillage. They have thus, in two or three generations, reverted to such a state of savagery that they are no longer able to build themselves huts. Nevertheless the Makalakas still continue, as of old, to be honourably distinguished above all their neighbours for their domestic virtues and consideration for their women. The wife is highly respected, and oaths are taken in the name of the mother. Soon after birth, however, the women are sub- jected to an extremely cruel process of tattooing. On the breast and lower parts alone the operators make over four thousand incisions disposed in thirty parallel lines, and if the skin is not then sufficiently ridged and blistered the scarification has to be repeated. The Makalakas bury their dead in caves, but never allow strangers to be interred in their territory. Hence the followers of the two explorers Gates and Grandy, who had died in the country, were obliged to carry their bodies beyond the frontier. The Mashonas, who constitute the substratum of the population on the Zambese or northern slope of the uplands, have been better able to resist oppression, because their industry renders them indispensable to their new masters. Although, like the Makalakas, much degenerated, and by the Matebeles regarded and spoken of as Manholes — that is, " slaves," they alone practise the industrial arts, till the rice- ticlds, make the household implements, weave the cotton fabrics, cut and embroider the leather shields, and forge and sharpen the assegais and other weapons. Small- pox has made fearful ravages amongst them, and this disease is so dreaded that its victims are often thrown alive into the bush. Some of the Mashona communities, protected by the mountainous nature of the land, have been able to set up independent republics. But they live in constant ​terror of the Matebeles, and take refuge, with their active little cattle, on isolated crags, the only approach to which is blocked by strong palisades. Their huts, raised considerably above the ground, cun be entered only by means of notched poles. They have good reason to fear the attacks of the Matebele warriors, who "approach as stealthily and as invisibly as snakes, crawling as closely on the ground, and concealed by the undergrowth, watch the movements of their intended victims, the timid Mashonas. Then, when a favourable opportunity occurs, up they rise like a wild black cloud of destruction, Hissing and shrieking their fiercest battle-cry they bound and leap from rock to rock, dealing with fearful precision the death-giving blow of the assegai, and ever and anon shouting with
Amongst the wandering outcasts whom the traveller meets in Matebeleland, some are commonly known as Bushmen and Hottentots, whatever be their real origin. The Ama-Zizi, conjurers and medicine men, appear to be really of Hottentot stock. Some of the natives, known to the Portuguese by the name of Pandoros, have acquired great influence over the other blacks by their magic arts. They frequently withdraw to the woods in order to assume their true form of wild beasts, but never condescend to show themselves abroad except in the appearance of men.
Topography of Matebeleland.
The centre of the Matebele empire, whose population is variously estimated at from 200,000 to 1,200,000, is situated within the basin of the mainstream, near ​TOPOGRAPHY OF MATEBEI.ELAND. 269 the sources of the Um-Eosi, which, under another name, discharges into the Zambese over 00 miles above the Victoria Falls. Quhultirayo, the royal residence, formerly stood in the neighbourhood of the granitic water-parting between the Zambese and the Limpopo. But like most of the native towns in the interior of Austral Africa, its site has been changed, and Bithttcaijo, which is the more correct form of the word, now lies somewhat farther to the north. The royal residence, a house of European construction, crowns a hill in the centre of the village, and is encircled by a number of hive-shaped huts, all comprised within a stout palisade. The dwellings of the traders are scattered over the surrounding plain. Besides those traders, who have settled in the neighbourhood of the capital, several others have attached themselves to the king's suite, in order to supply the wants of his officials and warriors. Ilence they generally accompany the court on its frequent journeys to Inyati and the other towns which follow towards the north-east and the south-west in the hilly Matoppo district. Both Protestant and Catholic missionaries have also penetrated into the Matebele territory, and to these have now been added the miners, who had hitherto long been refused admittance to the country. On the other hand a large number of temporary emigrants proceed every year in search of employment to the British and Boer states beyond the Limpopo. The Tati mines, the first that were dis- covered in the Limpopo basin, are now worked by a company with its head management at Cape Town. Hero have been found the traces of ancient mining operations carried on by some now forgotten people. Numerous villages belonging to the Makorikori tribe lie to the north of the Matebele and Mashona territories in a rugged mountaincms region, whence impe- tuous torrents flow towards the Zambese. The ^Makorikori, no less industrious than the Mashonas, are specially noted for their skill in the treatment of leather, which they draw out in narrow strips and then twist and plait into all kinds of ornaments. The women pierce the upper lip for the insertion of a ring made of tin wire, which is sometimes embellished with pearls. Farther north, in the valley of the main stream, dwell the Mtande peo|»le, whose women also pierce the upper lip, into which they introduce the jnjn, an ivory or wooden ring. This district lies within the zone of the tsetse-fly, which the women collect and dry, reducing it to a powder with the bark of a certain root, and mixing the preparation with the food supplied to their domestic animals, goats, sheep, and dogs. On the opi)osite, or left side of the Zambese, certain ruins still mark the limits of the territory formerly occupied by the Portuguese in the interior of Africa. These are the remains of the ancient town of Zumho, which, however, was far less a town than a rural market-place. During the season thousands of native dealers assembled here to purchase European wares from seven or eight so-called " Canarians," that is merchants from Goa, in the Kanara country on the west coast of India. During the period from 1836 to 1863 Zumbo remained completely abandoned by the Portuguese; but since 1881 it has again been occupied, and is now the residence of a Capitao Mor, or head governor. Hence it is again resorted to by traders of various races, who find customers among the members of the sur​270 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. rounding Buscnga (Ba-Senga) tribe. This raarket-placf has been well chosen at the confluence of the Lua-Ugwe and Zambese, below that of the Kafukwe, in a fertile and well-timbered country, encircled by picturesque hills. Zumbo can scarcely fail to recover its former importance whenever the Portuguese carry out the project of establishing new factories along the course of the Upper Zambese, and working the coal, iron, and gold mines of the surrounding district. Tcte (Tette), covering the slope of a hill on the right bank of the Zambese, is at present the most inland town occupied by the whites, or MazungoH, as they are called by the natives. The European houses are all grouped within the ramparts under the guns of the fort, while the huts of the blacks, made of mud and foliage, are scattered over the outskirts round about the walls. This Portuguese town was formerly a prosperous place, doing a large trade in gold, ivory, cereals, and indigo. But it was ruined by the slave-hunting expeditions, which left no hands to till the land and gather the crops. At present it is little more than a group of wretched hovels, where " solitude reigns supreme. On every side you see the wasting work of Time's relentless hand. You see it in the crumbling ruins of the houses at one time inhabited by prosperous merchants. Indigo and other weeds now rise rank amid the falling walls, and upon spots where houses once stood. You see it in the church which has now crumbled to the ground. Departed glory is knelled to you by the bells which toU from the slight structure where the Jesuit fathers and their small flock now perform the rites of their creed." * The little importance still enjoyed by Tete is derived from its position as a garrison town and fortified outpost in the midst of a more or less hostile native population. It has occasionally been cut off from all communication with the coast by the incursions of the predatory Landins, or Zulu marauders. But the sur- rounding district has the great advantage of being entirely free from the tsetse, or pepse, as this scourge is called in Zambeseland ; but stock-breeders have hitherto turned this great advantage to little account. The riverain tracts on the opposite side are extremely fertile, and here most of the rich traders had their residences. The Tete district, both north and south of the Zambese, promises one day to become one of the most important mining regions in the whole of Africa. Here are extensive coalfields, as well as auriferous deposits and rich iron ores, long utilised by the Basenga and Mukalaka blacksmiths. TheSerra Maxinga (Mashinga Range), which rises northwards above the surrounding solitudes, was formerly worked by Portuguese miners. Here the rock containing the precious metal is said to be so soft that the women are able to cnisb it between two blocks of wood, and then wash it for gold. Auriferous deposits also occur to the south of Tete, in the Makorikori territory, and especially in the valleys of the Mozoe and its aflHuents. Paiva de Andrada describes as a sort of future Eldorado the Shangamira district, which Mauch had previously designated by the name of the " Emperor William Mines." A few ruins of old monuments are scattered over these gold- fields, where, according to Kuss, the natives are in the habit of sowing nuggets in the confident hope of gathering a rich golden harvest. . • Kerr, op. dt. ii. p. 42 ​TOPOGRAPHY OF MATE BELF:L AND. 871 Further auriferous deposite were brought to light by Mr. F. C. Selous during an exploring expedition to the Miuhona country, from which he retunicd in Junuary, 1888. A considerable tract of uUuviul gold-fields was discovered, besides a very remarkublc excavation in solid rock, which Mr. Selous believes to be a mine of very ancient date. On this subject he writes : " At Sinoia, near the river Angwa (a tributary of the Munyame), there is an immense circular hole about a hundred feet or more in depth and sixty feet or more in diameter, at the Ixjttom of which is a pool of water which extends some hundred and eighty feet into a vast cavern in the rock. The water is of the most wonderful colour — a deep cobalt blue — and very clear, as pebbles are visible at a great depth on the bottom. There is a slanting shaft or tunnel running at an angle of about forty- five degrees from a point about u hundred yards distant from the top of the hole, which strikes the bottom of the latter just at the edge of the water. We are inclined to think that all these excavations are the result of old gold-workings, and that a vein of quartz has been worked out down the tunnel, and that eventually a spring was tupiK?d, the water of which, welling up from below, has formed the subterranean lake. If the whole thing is the work of man, a truly extraordinary amount of labour must have been expended in this place. The natives have built a stockaded town round the old gold mine, or whatever it is, and go down the tunnel to draw water. We bathed in it and swam up the cavern to the other end of the pool ; the water was quite warm. The rock on each side is covered with innumerable scorings, which look as if they had been done with some kind of iron instrument." * Senna, or Sao-Margal, the "moribund," which lies on the right bank of the 2^mbese, at the foot of a high blutf, and over against the navigable Ziu-Ziu branch communicating with the Shire, is even a more decayed place than Tete. It has often had to pay tribute to its Umgoni (Angoni Zulu) neighbours, and even to barricade itself at night against the lions. The climate also is unhealthy, the atmosphere being charged with malarious vapours rising from the stagnant waters left by the river, which is here gradually shifting its bed in the direction of the north. Hence it has been proposed to remove the town to the left or north aide of the Zambese, which is swept by the current, without leaving any lagoons or sluggish backwaters. Iniiahitaxts of the Nvassa and Shire Basins. South of the Zambese the military empires of Gazaland and ^latebeleland were founded by warlike Zulu conquerors, advancing from the south. North of the river vast territories have also been occupied by invaders of the same martial race. But being here divided into independent bunds, without any national cohesion, they have been unable to found any powerful states. These Kafirs, variously known as Mavitis (Ma-Viti) and Mazitus (Ma-Zitu), are the Munhaes of Gamitto, and are also called Mangones (Ma-Ngone), a name almost identical with that of the Umgoni invaders and conquerors of the region comprised between the
Zambese and the Limpopo. In appearance also they closely resemble the southern Zulus, and probably at no very remote date dwelt in their neighbourhood. They speak the same language, which even has a " click " sound, resembling that of the Boutbem Zulu- Kafir idiom. Their warriors arrange their hair by means of gum and an argillaceous ochre in such a way as to form the curious circular nimbus by which the Zulu fighting men are also distinguished. The well disciplined Maviti hordes always rush upon the enemy without wait- ing to reply to volleys of musketry or arrows, and fight at close quarters with sword and assegai. But although they have crossed the Zambese they have not penetrated so far north as other branches of the conquering race, for the formidable Vua-Tutas of the Unyamezi country, on the east slope of Lake Tanganyika, also came from the region of Natal or Zululand, and most African historians agree in recardinn- as belonging to the same race the terrible Jaga hordes, who overran the kino-doin of Congo towards the close of the seventeenth century. The Maviti of the Nyassa region carried out their work of destruction with terrible thoroughness. Passing to the north side of the Zambese towards the middle of the present century, they overran the Rovuma and Rufiji territories in raj)id succession, burning the villages, slaughtering all adult men, enrolling the voung warriors in their own ranks, and selling the women to the slave-dealers. "S^Tien driven farther inland the devastating Maviti hordes at last settled down in the hilly regions west of Nyassa, which extend towards the sources of the Lua- Ngwa, while those left behind on the east side of the lake gradually merged in the surrounding indigenous populations. Although much reduced in strength, the fighting bands, which still held together, continui^d till recently to spread havoc amongst the Wa-Chungu and Marimba (Manganya) peoples dwelling on the shores of Nyassa. The villages exposed to their attacks ure now protected by double and treble enclosures of stout palisades, while others have been built on piles in the lake, or else on strongly fortified narrow headlands. The English have also made a special treaty with the Maviti, binding them to respect the European stations. Some Mohammedan practices have already been adopted by these pagan Kafirs. Funerals are con- ducted according to the Moslem rite, and the grave is always turned towards the holy city of Mecca. The bodies of slaves and criminals, however, are still thrown into the bush, where they are supposed to be devoured by the wizards in the form of hyajnas. The Eastern Makololos. In this region there is a great complexity of tribes, often differing greatly in their usages and language. No less than seven different forms of speech are current along the west side of the lake. The Makololos of the Shire, between Nyassa and Zambese, present a remarkable instance of the way distinct tribal groups are often developed in the interior of the continent. Were their history not well known, these Makololos would certainly ​THE EASTERN MAKOI.OLOS. 878 be rogurded us of the same race as the Mukololos of the Chobe Valley, who, afler entering that district us conquerors, were almost entirely extirpated or driven west by the liarotAOS. Hut, although not belonging to thi^ group, the Makulolos of the Shire have at least preserved the same name. In 185i) Sckeletu, chief of the western (Chobe) 3klakololos, placed under the guidance of Livingstone some twenty youths, with orders to make their way to the coast, and fetch thence a jwwerful me<Iicino against leprosy, from which the king was suffering. Of this little band two members alone were of Makololo stock, all the others belonging U) various conquered tribes, such as the Barotse, Butoka, Baselea, like most of the warriors enrolled under the Makololo invaders. Finding it inconvenient to return to their sovereign, Livingstone's party settled on the right bank of the Shire, below the falls, choosing one of their number as chief. Under his leadership they became conquerors in their turn, and at the same time retained the name of 3Iakololo, of which they were naturally proud, while fugitives from numerous other tribes hastened to place themselves under their protection. Thanks to the moral influence of Livingstone, they abandoned the practice of slave- hunting, prevalent amongst so many of the surrounding ptHjples, and the security enjoyed under their government in a few years attracted to the district con^sideruble numbers of runaways and others from all quarters. Thus was constituted, in less than a single generation, the powerful tribe of the eastern or Shire Mukololos. At the time of Young's visit in 1876 all the riverain valleys lying between the last cataract and the Ruo confluence were subject to their rule. In all these communities the national salutation was the English "gowl morning," perpetuated since the time of the famous missionary and explorer, undi r whose guidance the founders of the new state hud originally left their homes in the west. Young pays a tribute of admiration to these industrious Mukololos for their strict honesty and love of work. When he had to transport above the cataracts, piece by piece, the steamer J/a/a, the first ever launched on Lake Nyassa, he had to employ a whole army of some eight hundred porters, iho plied their work free as air, far from all supervision, along a rough road, where anything might have caused a mishap. Yet at the end of this long portage of f) miles every piece, to the last rivet, had been faithfully conveyed to the upper reaches without a single accident. The men were perfectly satisfied ; all had worked with a will, not one attempting to shirk his share of the labour, for which thn only reward was a few yards of calico. The bulk of the Makololo nation consists of members of the Maganya (Ma- Ganya, Ma-Nyanja) tribe These natives, whose name means " Lake j)eople," are still found J dwelling in distinct communities among the uplands filling the tri- angular space comprised between the Zambese and the Shire. Generally coHfused with the ijcople at one time famous under the name of Maravi, the Maganyas are noted less for their j)r wess than for their intelligence. They display «,'nat skill at wiekerwork, forging, and weaving, and also till the land vith extreme care. Men, women, and the young folks all work together in the fields, while the children disport themselves in the shade of the neighbouring trees. The Maganyas 115-AF ​clear the land much in the same way as the backwoodsmen in America. Felling the trees with the axe, they make a great bonfire of the heaped-up branches, and when the ashes have been blown about by the wind they sow the corn between the still standing charred stumps. When tracts covered with tall grasses have to be reclaimed they remove the top soil, burning it together with the herbage in order to enrich the ground. Mapira, or sorgho, is their chief crop, but they are also, acquainted with nearly all the other alimentary plants of Central Africa, as well
as with tobacco, hemp, and two species of cotton, the kaja and manga, that is to say, the native and foreign.
Except in time of mourning, all the Maganya women wear the pelele, as they call the,jaja that is to say, the disc or ring inserted as an ornament in the upper lip. The material is either of wood for the poor or of tin and ivory for the upper classes, while in size this frightful incumbrance ranges from two or three to as many as five inches in circumference. The action of laughter causes the lip to rise, concealing both eyes, but revealing the nose through the opening, as well as the whole row of teeth all filed to a point. But it is even worse in the case of widows, whom fashion compels to remove the lip-ring, when the lip falls, and the i great round hole, called hupelele, shows the teeth and jaw quite plainly, especially when they speak. "How any people in all the world," exclaims Mrs. Pringle, ​KARONOA— BANDAWB. 875 '^ can admire such a fashion bufHcs our comprehension. Howeyer, it is evident that this custom of lucerutiug the lips is dying out, for one rarely sees it among the young." * The Magauya women are very swift- footed, generally carrj'ing off the prizes at the races. Topography op thb Nyassa and Shirk Basins. In the basin of Lake Nyassa there are no Portuguese stations. The northern- most outpost met on the Shire is Shiron;'i, below the Ruo confluence. North of this place the only European settlements are those founded by the English, or rather Scotch, missionaries, followed by the traders of the same nationality. By them both the river and the lake have been converted into a regular highway of commerce, and at the northern extremity of Nyassa this highway is continued by a well-planned route running in the direction of the village of Chiunda and Lake Tanganyika. A missionary station has also been founded at Muiitimuatita, 60 miles from Nyassa. Karongn, lying on the north-west shore of the lake, a short distance south of the main highway, is the centre of the densest population in the whole of the lacustrine basin. But the district is rendered very unhealthy by the extensive swamps and plains which are laid under water during the rainy season. The villages of the Rikuru valley enjoy a much more salubrious climate, and in the upper part of this valley lies the settlement of Mombcra, chosen by the Scotch missionaries as a health-resort. Facing it, on the east side of Nyassa, follow numerous villages built on piles, like those of the old lacustrine peoples in JIurope. In this part of the lake the best-sheltered port is Bampa (Mbampa), which is well protected from the southern gales by a peninsula and some neighbouring islets. About the middle of the west side of Nyassa lies the large village of liandairc, near which place the missionaries have founded their chief station. But it has no natural haven, although a port might easily be constructed at a small outlay. Bandawe has the advantage of being situated near the point where the regular passage is made from one side of the lake to the other. The native craft, starting from this place are able to seek shelter under the lee of the two islands of Shisi- molo and Dikomo. The corresponding station on the opposite or east side is the village of Chifesi, although it lies on a beach exposed to the full fury of the surf. Lisscira is also one of the landing-places on this side. But on the whole periphery of the lake the most frequented port and chief centre of trade, and till recently the great market for slaves, is Kota-Kota^ which lies on the west coast, over 120 miles from the southern extremity of Nyassa. It stands on an almost landlocked bay, which, thanks to their light draught, is acces- sible to the Arab boats. The Zanzibar traders have here settlecl in such nunibt^rs that Ei-Swahili has become the dominant language in Kota-Kota. This Moham- medan colony has the advantage of possessing some thermal springs in its vicinity ;
Great expectations were originally formed respecting Livingstonia, the first station founded on the shores of Nyassa, where were supposed to be united all the elements of future greatness — geographical position, well-sheltered harbour, fertile soil. But there was one fatal drawback, a relaxing and unhealthy climate, which compelled the missionaries to abandon all their establishments so pleasantly situated on the peninsula here projecting into the lake and separating its southern extremity into two spacious bays. When Livingstonia was visited by Kerr in 1885 nothing wus to be seen except the cheerless sight of abandoned houses which lined
the streets, The missionaries, as the natives assured him, were "all dead, all gone to Bandawee."
In the interior of the Zambese basin the chief focus of European activity is at present the town of Blantyre, which is situated about 90 miles to the south of Nyassa in a valley of the Shire uplands, whose geographical position has been fixed with astronomic accuracy by the explorer O'Neill, and connected with the whole network of routes between the Zambese and Tanganyika. Blantyre was so named in 1876 from the little Lanarkshire village where Livingstone was born. Thanks to its elevation of nearly 3,400 feet above the sea, it is a relatively healthy place for Europeans, who are here able to perform manual labour without risk. The surrounding district has also the great advantage of being free from the tsetse fly. The community of missionaries, its original founders, has since been reinforced by some traders and by a few planters, who cultivate coffee and the sugar-cane. The ​BLANTTBR 277 native chiefs have also been replaced by Europeans in the administratioa of tribal affairs. Notwitlistunding its distance from Nyassa, IMuntyre, or rather the ncighlxmring village of Maitdalu, has become the central station of the " African Loike Society," a commercial association which was founded in 1878 for the purpose of aiding the missionaries, while at the same time trading on its own account. This society carries on a considerable traffic in produce of all kinds us far as the Upper Congo basin, and already possesses twelve factories between Quilemane and I^ke Tangan- yika. It is satisfactory to know that by the terms of its charter it is forbidden to supply the natives with alcoholic drinks. Through Blantyro passes the missions route, a portage 70 miles long, which skirts the east side of the Murchison Falls, on the Shire, between the Matopo bend and that of Katongo, where the steamers stop. Other carriage-roads, lined with plantations of eucalyptus, connect Blantyre with the chief villages of the surrounding district, as well as with some of the stations grouped round about the central mission. Although situated on the debatable frontier of the two hostile Anyassa and Ajawa (Yao) tribes, and although the whole region was formerly often laid waste by the Maviti marauders, Blantyre has never yet been attacked by any of the neighbouring tribes. This circumstance is all the more remarkable that the pni- tected territory for several miles round about is to a great extent peopled by run- away slaves escaping from the Arab traders. Thus, like the free cities of mediitval Europe, Blantyre owes its prosperity to the hospitable protection it has given to the refugees and outlaws from every quarter. One of the most salubrious stations in the district is the village of Zomba, which stands 400 feet higher than Blantyre, and some 30 miles farther north, on the slope of a hill commanding an extensive view in one direction of the river Shire, in the other of the sparkling waters of Lake Shirwa. Here some Scotch planters have founded a considerable settlement, devoted to the cultivation of sugar, coffee, and oleaginous seeds. The hundred thousand coffee shrubs possessoil by this establishment have all sprung from a single plant reared in the Edinburgh Botanical Garden. Some cinchonas have also been planted on the surrounding slopes. East of Blantyre rises the lofty Mount Choro, the abode of a powerful spirit venerated far and wide. On all occasions of public danger or disaster he is con- sulted in the name of the people by his bride, chosen from amongst the most beautiful young women of the district. Administration of the Lower Zamhese. In the region of the Zambese delta the populations are of a very mixed character. Here also the primitive usages of the natives have In^en considerably modified by continuous contact with Europeans during the last three centuries. Along the banks of the river the Portuguese hold military and trading stations, round which is centred the political and social life of the riverain population. Till recently Lusita​278 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. nian influences were doubtless on the wane. Inland stations had to be abandoned ; important establishments were falling to ruins ; the very communications between the whitw of the interior and the seaboard were frequently interrupted by the devastating Uragani (Maviti) hordes, known to the Portuguese by the name of I^ndins, that is, Ama-Landi, or " Couriers." Nevertheless the commercial rela- tions and intercourse between the foreign and native races had never at any time been entirely suspended. Nor did the Mambari, or half-caste Portuguese adven- turers, ever cease to visit all parts of the interior, while at present the mother oountrv has again revived her interest in her remote colonies on the banks of the Zambcse. Her attention has even been directed towards the distant region of the waterpartings, and surveying expeditions have been organised for the purpose of preparing the ground for the construction of the trans-continental route which must sooner or later connect Mossamedes on the Atlantic with Quelimane on the Indian Ocean. But the Portuguese have no longer the field all to themselves. The restless spirit of enterprise which is impelling the growing populations of Austral Africa still northwards, irresistibly attracts traders, squatters, miners, and missionaries towards Zambeseland, and the most inviting points along the middle course of the mainstream have already been selected as centres of future enter- prise. One of these points is Sesheke, capital of the Barotse empire, standing in the middle of the basin formed by the junction of the Zambese with the Chobe above the Victoria Falls. Another Zambese region towards which have already been directed the efforts of Europeans, represented mainly by British missionaries, is the Nyassa ba^^in, destined to become the future highway leading to Lake Tangan- yika and the Congo Even in the region of the Lower Zambese the Portuguese Government exercises little or no direct action. The territory is divided into great domains, the so- called prazos da coroa, or crown lands, some of which are almost little kingdoms in themselves, covering an extent of 20,000 square miles, and administered by practi- cally independent farmers-general. By thera are levied the mnssoro, or imposts, generally in the nature of a hut tax, payable in kind, at the valuation of about three shillings and sixpence for every native cabin. These great manorial lords also undertake to develop to the utmost of their power the natural resources of their vast domains. "When this system was originally introduced the crown lands were conceded for three generations, and the order of succession was to be through the female line, on the condition that the women married Europeans. It was hoped by this arrangement to attract settlers to the country; but the very opposite result was produced, and the great landowners, becoming powerful satraps, sold into slavery their own subjects, whereby the whole land became depleted. Officially this system has been abolished since 1854, but it has been virtually maintained under a slightly modified form, and immense grants continue still to be made to a few potent lords, who pay little more than a nominal revenue to the
Topography of the Lower Zambese.
Below the Shire confluence the Lower Zambese can scarcely be said to be inhabited. One of the principal villages on the right bank is Shupanga, near Fig. 60. — Quelimane. the spot where the spreading branches of a mighty baobab overshadow the lonely grave of Livingstone's wife, one of the victims of that fatal "Zambese Expedition" which in 1862 cost the lives of 80 many intrepid followers of the illustrious missionary. The tomb is still carefully looked after by the natives, who clear away the rank growth of weeds springing up with the return of every rainy season. Not far from the same place repose the remains of other explorers, who had accompanied Owen on his survey of the Lower Zambese.
Below Shupanga, but on the opposite bank, stand the stations of Mopea and Masaro, half embowered in the dense foliage of overhanging mango-trees. These villages enjoy some importance as landing-places for the riverain traffic, and as guardians of the portage between the Zambese and the Kwa-Kwa, or river of Quelimane. Recently, a domain of 125,000 acres, stretching along the left bank of the Lower Zambese as far as the neighbourhood of the Shire, was granted by the Portuguese Government to an "Opium Company," in the hope that it might compete successfully with the British growers of the baneful drug in India. The company also enjoyed several other privileges, besides the right of levying the mussoro tax on the natives. Nevertheless it proved a failure, having been purtly ruined by a revolt of the black populations in the
year 1884. ​280 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. Luafjo, an old Portuguese town built noir one of the mouths of the river, has been gruduully destroyed by the erosive action of the stream. Since its disap- pearance the principal factories have been established about the Inhamissengo mouth. Although lying to the north of the Zambese delta, on on estuary which communicates with the mainstream only through uncertain or periodical channels, Qiteliniane is practically the only seaport of the whole basin. Its position as such will be permanently secured whenever the proposed route from the estuary to Lake Xyassa is constructed. Although founded three hundred and fifty years ago, it has always remained a small town, not only in consequence of its unhealthy climate, but also because of the vexatious customs regulations. lief ore 1853 the port had not been open to foreign trade, and its chief traffic was in slaves exported to the plantations of Brazil. Its white population consisted for the most part of Portuguese convicts banished from the mother country. It was from Quelimane that Lacerda started on his memorable expedition to the interior of the continent. Quelimane, or Sao Martinho, as it is officially called, is known to the natives by the name of Chiiambo. Its port is of difficult access, owing to a bar at the mouth of the estuiry which vessels drawing over ten or twelve feet can hardly attempt to cross in safety. But this obstruction once passed, the inner waters ofEer excellent anchor- age all the way to the town, which lies some 12 miles to the north of the coast, on the left bank of the Kwa-Kwa, familiarly known as the Quelimane River. The Kafirs constitute the bulk of the urban population, and also occupy numerous villages in the surrounding district, where they enjoj' the protection secured to them by the little Portuguese garrison. Although generally unhealthy, the climate of (iuelimune is said to be favourable to invalids affected by chest complaints. Unfortunately the residents have np health-resort, where they might escape from the malarious atmosphere of the neighbouring marshes and rice-grounds. The foreign trade of Quelimane, which is chiefly directed towards Bombay, and which increased threefold between the years 1876 and 1885, is partly in the hands of Banyans and Arabs. But the great development of the exchanges during the last few ye:irs is m linly due to the enterprise of the British settlers about the shores of Lake Nyassa. (Quelimane has supplanted the port of Mozambique for tjje export trade in ivory, which is now brought down by the steamers plying on the Zanibcse, whereas it was formerly conveyed overland to a large extent by the gangs of slaves bound for the coast. As a rule, about twice the quantity of ivory is forwarded from the east as from the west coast of the continent. Between the years 1879 and 1883 about 640,000 pounds were shipped on the western and 1,270,000 on the eastern seaboard, jointly representing a money value of £800,000 and the spoils of some 65,000 elephants.
* ↑ W. M. Kerr, The Far Interior, i. p. 104.
* ↑ Op. cit. ii. p. 185.