ANOTHER VIEW OF THE ZAMBESI.
As the river descends to the ocean, it takes a southeast course. During
the rainy seasons its width increases from five hundred yards to two
miles or more, according to the amount of rainfall.
In its course to the sea the river becomes navigable from the Portuguese
town of Tete downward to the mouth. During the dry season, however,
navigation is somewhat difficult.
Working its way through the Lupata Mountains the river comes to one or
two narrow, rocky gorges which tend to make ugly rapids, except in the
rainy season, when the river is high.
About eighty miles from the mouth, the Zambesi receives the waters of
the Shire, which flows out from Lake Nyassa.
Lake Nyassa is a sheet of water about two hundred miles long. It attains
a width of fifty miles at its widest point.
The Zambesi enters the low country about fifty miles from its mouth. It
separates into various streams to form a large delta. The neighborhood
of this delta bears the reputation of being very unhealthy.
The most northern stream of the Zambesi is the Kuaka; the most southern,
and the one with the deepest channel, is the Luabo.
Various ports and entrances lie along the Zambesi. These were formerly
used by slaving vessels and others not engaged in very honorable trade.
These ports are not shown very accurately upon the maps, and it is
considered a very difficult and dangerous undertaking to attempt to
enter the river without a good pilot.
The falls and the rapids of the Zambesi region, together with its
elevated lakes and sites of settlements, are its most picturesque
features.
Tete, a Portuguese town, is about four hundred feet above the level of
the sea. The rapids of Lake Nyassa where the Shire issues from it, are
more than fifteen hundred feet higher than the ocean. A smaller lake
southeast of Nyassa is two thousand feet above the level of the sea.
The coast region drained by the Zambesi is inhabited by natives of a
pure negro type. In the central and upper parts of the Zambesi region
are tribes of a little higher grade of intelligence. They are the
conquerors of the original tribes, many of whom still exist.
The Zulu tribes occupy the elevated region which divides the Limpopo
from the Zambesi. They have overrun nearly all the territory south of
them and subjugated most of its tribes.
In the sections claimed by the Portuguese the slave trade was for many
years the shame and disgrace of the white man. All attempts to civilize
and educate the natives, by missionaries from other countries, were met
by great hostility on the part of the Portuguese. Even the best efforts
of the most unselfish and faithful of missionary workers were well nigh
fruitless. The greed and the cruelty of the men engaged in the traffic
of human beings were almost beyond belief.
Villages were depopulated, homes were laid waste, and fields once under
cultivation were despoiled. On every side, ruin and desolation were the
work of the destroying hand of the slave trader.
Torn from home, family, and country, their wretched victims were
conveyed to the coast, loaded upon some vessel engaged in the inhuman
trade, and sold into slavery.
"Faint, gazing on the dying orb of day,
As Afric's injured son expiring lay,
His forehead cold and laboring bosom bare,
His dewy temples, and his sable hair,
His poor companions wept, and cried aloud,
Rejoicing, while his head in peace he bowed,
'Now, thy long, long task is done!
Swiftly, brother, wilt thou run,
Ere to-morrow's golden beam,
Glitters in thy parent stream,
Swiftly the delights to share,
The feast of joy that waits thee there.
Swiftly, brother, wilt thou glide
O'er the long and stormy tide,
Fleeter than the hurricane,
Till thou see those scenes again,
Where thy father's hut was reared;
Where thy infant brothers played
'Neath the fragrant citron's shade,
Where, through green savannas wide?
Cooling rivers silent glide,
And the shrill cigarras sing
Ceaseless to their murmuring.
"'Where the dance and festive song
Of many a friend divided long,
Doomed through strangers' lands to roam,
Shall bid thy spirit welcome home!
Then fear no more the tyrant's power!
Past is his insulting hour!
Mark no more the sullen trait
On slavery's brow of scorn and hate;
Hear no more the long sigh borne
Murmuring on the gales of morn.
Yet we remain, far distant,
Toiling on in pain and want.
When the great sun fires the skies,
To our work of woe we rise
"'And see each night without a friend,
The world's great comforter descend.
Tell our brethren when ye meet,
Thus we toil with weary feet;
Tell them, that love's gen'rous flame,
In joy, in wretchedness the same,
In distant lands was ne'er forgot;
And tell them that we murmur not.
Tell them though the pang will start
And drain the lifeblood from the heart,
Tell them generous shame forbids
The tear to stain our burning lids;
Tell them in weariness and want
For our native hills we pant,
Where soon from shame and sorrow free,
We hope in death to follow thee.'"
Most of the productions of the tropics are found in the Zambesi region.
The constant insurrections and disturbances among the native tribes have
tended to keep the country from being extensively cultivated.
The animals of this section are very similar to those of South America.
The trade in ivory is large. Vast quantities are exported from the west
and east coasts.
The mineral wealth is considerable. There are extensive coal fields, and
gold has been found near Tete and Senna.
Livingstone relates that when he visited a hot spring near the Zambesi,
he found the valleys near Tete very fruitful and well cultivated.
The whole country lying north and northwest of Tete is hilly. These
hills are covered with trees, and present a very picturesque scene. It
was in this neighborhood that he found evidences of extensive coal
mines, which he felt sure could be worked with little labor and at
little cost.
While in the vicinity of the hot spring he availed himself of the
opportunity of visiting some former gold washing localities. The banks
of the rivulet were covered with large groves of fine mango trees. The
Portuguese used to live among these trees while they kept supervision
over the natives engaged in the gold washing.
The process of washing the sand of the rivulet was hard and very
tedious; for the gold was found in minute scales, like mica.
Towards the west various gold washing stations were pointed out to
Livingstone. One station, where gold had been found more abundantly than
in any other locality, was supposed by some to be the "Ophir of King
Solomon."
He saw at this station gold flakes as large as grains of wheat. He found
that the natives would wash for gold only when in need of a little
calico.
He was very sure that they knew the value of the gold, for they brought
it for sale, packed in goose quills, and demanded twenty-four yards of
cloth in exchange for a quill.
They were not unaware of the advantages of this section, for when the
waters of the river overflow, they leave a coating of mud upon the
banks, and the natives quickly noticed which spots dried soonest, and
would begin to dig there, in the firm belief that the gold lay in these
spots.
They had a superstition that if they dug deeper than their chins the
ground would fall in and kill them.
When they found a piece of gold,--literally a flake,--it was their
custom to bury it again. This was due to a superstition that it was the
seed of the gold. The value of the flake they knew very well, but they
preferred to lose this seed rather than a full crop in the future.
It would be interesting to read more of Livingstone's stories of the
Zambesi, but we must pass on to other topics.