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
was stated 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, being in 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 Merambala is 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 both _day_ and _night_. 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 to them 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 to Angoxa. 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, or allowed 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 be navigable; 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 are always 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 in the 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 waters retire, 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 to indulge 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 (_vide_
Lyell’s _Manual 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 of _Medicinal Botanical_ trees, 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.