CHAPTER XI.The River Zambesi—Luavo Mouths—Killimane—River Shire—Valley of the Shire Abounding in Elephants—How Salt is Made on the Zambesi—From the Ocean to Kaord Vasa Navigable at all Seasons—Water Rises Sixty Feet in Narrows of Lupata—Access to the Cazembe Territory by the Zambesi—Three Seams of Coal Discovered—Products.
The River Zambesi—Luavo Mouths—Killimane—River Shire—Valley of the Shire Abounding in Elephants—How Salt is Made on the Zambesi—From the Ocean to Kaord Vasa Navigable at all Seasons—Water Rises Sixty Feet in Narrows of Lupata—Access to the Cazembe Territory by the Zambesi—Three Seams of Coal Discovered—Products.
The river Zambesi is one of the most remarkable of the mighty streams of the African continent, and is destined to work great changes in the future of that vast portion of the globe.
The course of this river was but imperfectly known until the recent publication of the travels of the enterprising missionary, Dr. Livingstone.
Like all the great rivers of Africa, it was supposed to have its source in one of two great lakes communicating with each other; and thus it wasstated that the Nile, the Niger, the Congo, and the Zambesi had one common origin.
This idea of the most ancient geographers, strictly speaking, has been found to be erroneous; but the march of discovery shows us that, in a general sense, ancient geographical writers had a very fair conception of the physical formation of the interior of Africa.
The existence of a large hydrographical basin, draining Central Africa, and affording the sources of the main streams discharging themselves into the oceans and seas surrounding that continent, has been clearly indicated by Sir Roderick Murchison; while the task of exploring the paths pointed out by this great geologist has been cheerfully undertaken by our countrymen, Livingstone, Burton, and Speke, whose explorations have won for themselves a world-wide celebrity, and maintained for this country the proud pre-eminence of her sons, even in this region, being the first in the path of discovery.
By the achievements of our countrymen at present, we are aware that there are four large lakes in Central Africa, viz., the Nyanza,Tanganyika, Nyassi or Maravi, and Nyngesi, doubtless affording the sources of the White Nile, the Zambesi, and its feeders, and perhaps, more remotely, those of the Niger.
The object of the present work being to draw attention to East Africa as a rich field for commercial enterprise, geographical and historical disquisitions are studiously avoided, as they have been deemed unsuitable to the general reader, whose attention to this neglected portion of the globe it is my earnest endeavour to attract. I shall, therefore, at once proceed to view this great river in a practical light, remarking upon the products of the country through which it runs, and the suitableness of this stream as a highway for commercial relations between the Indian Ocean and the interior of Africa.
The mouths of the Zambesi extend from 18° to 19° S. Lat., or a distance of 90 miles along the coast. The most southern of these are called the Luavo Mouths, the two principal of which are known as the East and West Luavo Mouths. The East Luavo Mouth was surveyed by the late Captain Hyde Parker,R.N., in 1850; and we also had an imperfect survey of the West Luavo Mouth; but the channels leading from them to the Zambesi at the Boca do Rio were not explored, and therefore deemed unnavigable; although the Portuguese have known all along that these Luavo Mouths were navigable, and they have been used by the Portuguese authorities engaged in the slave-trade for the ingress and exit of vessels engaged in this traffic, while the British cruisers have been detained at anchor off the Killimane Mouth of the river, and their boats have been kept under specious pretexts of information received relative to an embarkation of slaves being about to take place in the Killimane branch of the river, while vessel after vessel was sailing away from the Luavo Mouth full of slaves.
The present Zambesi expedition, under the command of Dr. Livingstone, has dispelled the mystery which hung over the mouths of this great river, for he entered the East Luavo Mouth in the “Pearl” steamer, in June, 1858, and thence ascended the Zambesi in the exploring steam launch, “Ma Robert.”
The town of Killimane (Quillimane) stands on the north bank of the most northern mouth of the river, having the same name as that of the town. From the descriptions already given of Inhambane and Sofala, the intelligent reader may draw for himself a picture of this Portuguese town, or, as we should term it, “dirty village.”
After leaving Killimane, on the left hand ascending the river, we arrive at Iñhasuja, which is about two leagues from Killimane. Here a stream runs to the sea. On the same side of the river, we next come to Interro, about three and a-half leagues farther, where there is another stream running to the sea. From this place, about four leagues distant, is Maenboosha; about four leagues more, Mangara, where there is another stream running to the sea; three leagues farther is Chataunga; four leagues onwards Mejerumba; and six leagues farther is Mazaro, at the Boca do Rio. This was believed to be the main mouth of the river, as its name indicates. A long musket shot from Mazaro, on the same side of the river, but looking down the Luavo, is Maruro.
The tide reaches Mangara, which is about twelve or thirteen leagues from Killimane.
It takes three days going from Killimane to Mangara by water, in the native boats or large Portuguese launches, while by land one may reach the same place in one day.
Boca do Rio, leading to Killimane, is dry when the Zambesi is low; but there is always plenty of water in passing Mazaro to the sea, by way of the Luavo mouths.
Above Boca do Rio, on the left hand ascending the river, immediately opposite Mazaro, is Shupanga, where the Zambesi is, both during the wet and also the dry season, at least two miles wide.
On the right hand going up (the left bank of the river), from Boca do Rio to the Rio Shire, the land is called Magangha. The Rio Shire, in the rainy season, has as large a volume of water as the Zambesi; and at the Boca do Shire (or mouth of this river) the Zambesi rises very high in the rainy season, which causes the water at Mazaro to flow down to Killimane, and enables one to enter the Zambesi by that mouth during the whole period of its affluent, the Shire, beingin flood; at the other season, as already stated, the Killimane branch is dry, and its bed may be observed at Boca do Rio to be some eight or ten feet higher than the surface of the water in the river during the dry season.
Even in the dry season the Rio Shire is navigable, but the stream is not so rapid as in the Zambesi. The natives ascend it in large canoes, making voyages of from twelve to twenty days, to trade with a people called Magengheros. This river flows past the western flank of the Merambala Mountains (that is to say, these mountains are to the east of it), which are very high. In ascending the Zambesi, this ridge is seen first from Mangara, and it is in sight until after passing Seña.
With reference to the navigation of this affluent of the Zambesi, Dr. Livingstone states, in a letter from Tete, dated Feb. 19, 1859, to Sir George Grey, the great Governor of the Cape Colony:—
“I may mention that we went up the Shire about the beginning of January, and found it a good navigable river for at least a hundred miles from its confluence. The mountain Merambalais four thousand feet high, and has a wonderfully well cultivated large top. Lemon trees grow quite wild in the woods, and so do oranges and pine-apples. There are several fine little fountains, with water slightly chalybeate; the people independent, and very hospitable. The view from the top of the Shire, winding across an extended plain, inhabited by real Solophagi, is magnificent; and, as you may judge from the height, we had quite a different climate from that of the plain. The vegetation is very like that of Loanda and Angola. We have also a fine hot sulphureous fountain at the base (174). Yet no advantage has been taken of this splendid sanatorium by the Portuguese. The valley of the Shire at one part abounds in elephants, and if you come to see us about January, I undertake to show five hundred of these animals grazing in one plain. We saw more than that; as there are branches of the river which form islands, we sometimes chased them with this vessel. They had magnificent tusks. I think that they were attracted down from the hills by the sweet fruit of wild palmyras, of which there are fine forests there.
“The people are very suspicious of us—never having been visited by Europeans before—but treated us civilly. Our wooding parties were never molested, yet a guard was set over us bothdayandnight. They are well armed with bows and poisoned arrows. The women insert an ornament exactly the size and shape of the rings for table napkins, into the upper lip. The effect is frightful. It is a most unaccountable ornament. They cultivate largely on the upper third of the Shire valley, and we purchased abundance of provisions at a cheap rate, besides specimens of their cotton yarn. They have two kinds of cotton, and both very good in quality.
“Our first object was to gain their confidence, and seeing them so suspicious, though we had pretty certain information of the Shire becoming smooth again beyond the cataract which stopped our progress, and that Arabs from Zanzibar were in the habit of coming down in canoes from Lake Nyanja, we thought it imprudent to leave the vessel in their power, and go overland. We leave them, to allow our first visit to have its effect, and in the course of a month return tothem again. The reason why the Portuguese have not gone farther up about Merambala is, probably, the steady rapidity of the current—two and a half knots. There are no still reaches, and with the heavy Zambesi canoes, it is difficult to get on in a current. The people, too, have had a bad name. They are said to have killed some native traders. In 1856, when I was coming down past the mouth of the Shire, I was told that an expedition had been sent up, but was unable to go far because the river was blocked up with duckweed. Quantities of that were then coming out of the river; but at twenty-five miles from the confluence the duckweed ceases, so that the expedition could not have gone far. Above that the river widens a little, but it is free from sandbanks, and deep. Indeed, it may be said to be superior to the Zambesi for steam navigation. We could get on at night even.”
Here we find the intrepid explorer, Dr. Livingstone, opening the Shire to navigation, and determined to reach its source in the Nyngesi, out of which, I was informed by Moors, that river flows to the harbour of Mozambique, and also toAngoxa. And yet we shall find that when he has accomplished this great feat, a Portuguese minister will spring up and claim the honour of prior discovery for some Canareen who never existed.
On ascending the Zambesi, before arriving at the mouth of the river Shire, one meets with many small islands which have no names, and which disappear during a very wet season; but close to the Boca do Shire, and just below it, are two considerable islands, the first of which is called Ilha Muinha; the second, which is larger, is called Ilha Mozambique, and has about three hundred natives living on it. Ilha Muinha (in Kaffir) means “Salt Island;” and on this island, at Caia, and at Sone (close to Seña), the salt used by those living on the banks of the river is made. Along both banks of the Zambesi the salt is made thus:—A portion of earth (taken up any where) is placed in an earthen vessel with a crack in the bottom of it; this is placed over another vessel, water is poured into the upper vessel, and the earth is moved about; the water that comes through the upper into the lower one is boiled, orallowed to evaporate in the sun; the residuum is very fine salt, proving that the valley of the Zambesi was formerly the bed of the ocean. The country in the interior, opposite the mouth of the Rio Shire, is called Chiringoma, from which to Sofala is eight days’ journey, and by land to Seña, twelve days’ journey.
After passing the Boca do Shire, and on the opposite side of the Zambesi, is Caia, where the best fish in the river abound; the fish are salted and dried in the sun; some are also smoked, but the former are preferred in the native markets. From Caia to Seña is two days’ walking (about ten leagues); by water about three and a half days’ (sixteen leagues). After passing Caia, you immediately come to Inhamudendundo, meaning, in the Maravi language, “large country.” It runs along the river about five leagues, when one arrives at Inhamatuze, which, in the Seña language, means “dirty island,” as in the rainy season it is entirely surrounded by water, at which season, before it was brought under cultivation, it was the resort of numerous animals, who made their lairs there;—it is one league from Seña.
Above the Boca do Shire, on the same side of the river, and nearly opposite to Inhamudendundo, is Santa Beze, in the rear of which, and all the way from the Boca do Shire, is a range of low, rocky mountains, dividing the streams of the Zambesi and Shire, the latter river running between this range and the Merambala Mountains.
Between Seña and Tete there are numerous islands and banks, and even some rocks, and a few eddies; but when the river is in flood, there is no difficulty in the way of steam navigation; and the river may be confined into a narrow channel, at some of the shoaler places, so as to have at all times a channel for navigation.
The Zambesi, even in the dry season, is navigable from the Luavo Mouth to the rapids of Kaord Vasa, for a vessel drawing four feet. During the rainy season, the water rises about sixty feet in the narrows of Lupata, when the rapids of Kaord Vasa are entirely covered, and only require a powerful steamer to overcome them, as Livingstone has just reported. At the same season it will be found that the two rapids above Kaord Vasa will also benavigable; so that the steamer may soon be lying opposite the city of Zumbo, where one of the affluents, or branches, of the Zambesi will give it access to the country of the Cazembe, and even to Londa. Behold what the energy of one Englishman can do! But to carry out this great feat, leading to incalculable benefits to Africa, Livingstone must be provided with a proper steam launch, fitted with a screw (as proposed by me for the exploration of the river Niger, in 1852), instead of the trumpery paddle-wheeled “Ma Robert,” very properly designated by Livingstone the “Asthmatic,” in allusion to her shortcomings.
As I have already stated, the tide in the Zambesi reaches Mangara. The current is from two to six miles per hour, according to the season. The river is about 3,000 yards wide at Tete; at Seña, 1½ miles; at Killimane, about 800 yards; at Killimane Bar, more than 2 miles; and at the Luavo Mouths, from 200 yards to nearly a mile.
There are no fords. In some dry seasons there are rapids between Seña and Tete; they arealways passable. The bed of the river is mud, gravel, and sand.
In the dry season, the water of the river is clear and transparent; in the rainy season, it is brown, and at times approaching to a bright yellow. At this season, the Mozambique Channel is discoloured at a distance of 80 or 100 miles from the Killimane Bar.
In the neighbourhood of Tete, gold, coal, and iron are found in close proximity. Dr. Livingstone has worked the “Asthmatic” with the coal of the country; and he states, in a letter to Sir George Grey, dated Tete, December 18, 1858, that “the Geologist reports having found three seams of coal:—1st, seven feet thick; 2nd, thirteen feet, six inches; 3rd, twenty-five feet thick in a fine cliff section. It was fired by lightning a few years ago, and burned a long time.”
Opposite to Tete the country is almost overrun by the sugar-cane. The natives make sugar, but it is of an inferior quality, owing to their not understanding the manufacture of it.
Dr. Livingstone is supplied with a small steam engine, for the purpose of showing the natives inthe interior what machinery can do. By the last accounts he had erected this little steam-engine, with which he had sawn timber into planks; and intended trying his hand at making sugar as soon as the cane was fit to cut.
Large quantities of wheat are grown at Tete and in the surrounding country, which is considered the granary of the Zambesi, and may become that of Southern Africa; both Seña and Killimane are already supplied by Tete, which exports 6000 Portuguese bushels of wheat. Any quantity of this wheat may be raised at six shillings per quarter.
The people of Tete have a great advantage over other parts of the river, for in the rear of the town, and only a mile distant from it, is the Karuera, a high mountain, said to be from 3,000 to 5,000 feet in height. Here they have their plantations, consisting of different varieties of Indian or Kaffir corn, peas, beans, sweet potatoes, cabbages, onions, &c.; and close to the village is a place called Ilhalutanda, having an area of from ten to twenty square miles, which, in the rainy season, is more or less flooded. When the watersretire, they plant rice, corn, wheat, beans, &c.; so that, should the plantations in the high lands fail for want of rain, they have a crop below; and if the floods destroy the crop below, they have a supply in the mountains. In the rainy season, there is generally a great fall of rain, accompanied by very high winds from the south and south-west.
At times, when it is very hot, after continued calms, they have violent whirlwinds, which destroy everything in their course, breaking trees, and taking up houses, and whirling them in the air as if they were straw mats. Some years, in the months of June and July, they have a hot wind from the south-west, which burns up everything that may be in the ground; but this is unusual.
From Iñhasuja (which is close to Killimane) to Mazaro, and even in different parts of the river, as high as Seña, the natives build their huts on stakes, about twenty feet above the ground, so that in the rainy season they will not be endangered by the floods, which are constant and sudden. During this time it is not unusual for a native toindulge in the luxury of fishing out of his bed. In 1855, thousands of the natives were drowned by the river rising higher than usual; many who escaped the flood fell victims to the famine that succeeded it.
Fish of different species abound in the Zambesi. Buqueña; a long fish, long head, no scales; white; from one to six feet in length, weighing about eight pounds; very oily, and without any small bones. Pende; from six to twenty inches in length, broad scales, black; from one to four pounds in weight; no small bones. Muja; from one to six feet in length; long scales; round head, sides silver, back black; from one to ten pounds in weight. Cação; shark, called in the salt water Tuberaõ. Similarly, certain fish of this family ascend the Senegal, Amazon, and other great rivers, to the distance of several hundred miles from the ocean (videLyell’sManual of Elementary Geology, 5th edition, p. 126; and the Proceedings Geol. Soc., No. 43, p. 222). There are many other fish, and none poisonous.
The principal feeders or tributaries of the Zambesi are, the Shire, between Mazaro and Seña,which is now being explored by Dr. Livingstone; the Zangué, just below Seña (it is small); the Aruenha, between Massangane and Marangue; the Revubue, nearly opposite to Tete, besides the Loangwa, the Luambesi, and a host of others above the rapids of Kaord Vasa.
The banks of the river are well wooded with large timber; many varieties of which are well-adapted for ship-building, and all for household furniture and cabinet purposes.
The timber is to be found close to the stream. In the dry season it may be cut down, hewn into logs, placed on the banks of the river, and there formed into rafts, which, with the rising waters, could be easily navigated to the various mouths of the river, and supply the increasing wants of this country for ship-building timber. Here, as on the west coast of the same continent, side by side with the heavy teak wood, whose specific gravity is so great that it will barely float, and even sometimes sinks in the water, may be found the cork-wood tree, wherewith to float the heavy timber to the shipping.
See the Appendix A, for a list ofMedicinalBotanicaltrees, herbs, and plants, and some of the uses to which they are put by the natives.
A list of woods to be found on the Zambesi, specimens of which were brought home by me, and are to be seen at the rooms of the Royal Geographical Society, will be found in Appendix B.