Mar. 9, 1857.] PARKER ON THE QUILIMANE AND ZAMBESI RIVERS. 313 



well to the eastward of the bar-passage, so as to avoid the outer 

 part of the western shoals, on which there is usually a bad sea. 

 When you get near the cross-bar, keep along it till the bluff of 

 trees on the west side of the entrance bears N.E. ; you may then 

 steer straight for it. This will clear the end of the cross-bar, and, 

 directly you are within that, the water is smooth. The worst sea is 

 generally just without the bar-passage. 



Within the points the river widens at first and then contracts 

 again. About 3 miles from the Tree Bluff is an island ; the passage 

 up the river is the right hand side of it, and deep. The plan will 

 best explain it. The rise and fall of the tide at the entrance of the 

 river being at springs 20 feet, any vessel can get in at that time, but, 

 with all these conveniences for traffic, there is none here at present. 

 The water in the river is fresh down to the bar with the ebb-tide, 

 and in the rainy season it is fresh at the surface quite outside. In 

 the rainy season, at the full and change of the moon, the Zambesi 

 frequently overflows its banks, making the country for an immense 

 distance one great lake, with only a few small eminences above the 

 water. On the banks of the river the huts are built on piles, and 

 at these times the communication is only in canoes ; but the waters 

 do not remain up more than three or four days at a time. The first 

 village is about 8 miles up the river, on the western bank, and is 

 opposite to another branch of the river called " Muselo," which 

 discharges itself into the sea about 5 miles to the eastward. 



This village is very extensive, and about it there is a very large 

 quantity of land in cultivation ; calavances, or beans, of different 

 sorts, rice, and pumpkins, are the principal things. I saw also 

 about here some wild cotton, apparently of very good quality, but 

 none is cultivated. The land is so fertile as to produce almost any 

 without much trouble. 



At this village is a very large house, mud- built, with a court- 

 yard. I believe it to have been used as a barracoon for slaves, 

 several large cargoes having been exported from this river. I pro- 

 ceeded up the river as fai* as its junction with the Quilimane river, 

 called " Boca do Eio," by my computation between 70 and 80 miles 

 from the entrance. The influence of the tides is felt about 25 or 

 30 miles up the river. Above that the stream, in the dry season, 

 runs from 1^ to 2^ miles an hour, but in the rains much stronger. 

 The banks of the river, for the first 30 miles, are generally thickly 

 clothed with trees, with occasional open glades. There are many 

 huts and villages on both sides, and a great deal of cultivation. At 

 one village, about 17 miles up on the eastern bank, and distin- 

 guished by being surrounded by an immense number of bananas 



2 c 2 



