THE DEVELOPMENT OF RHODESIA. * 283 



Rhodesia is an inland country. This fact has an important bear- 

 ing on its economic development. The vital problem here, as in sev- 

 eral other parts of Africa, has been the inland carrying trade. Since 

 such an important river as the Zambezi flows through Ehodesia, it 

 might well be assumed that it would afford an easy line of access, and 

 that its waterwa}^ would become a great arter}" of commerce. But 

 on account of the configuration of the African Continent the naviga- 

 tion of the Zambezi is interrupted by falls and rapids at several 

 points where the river descends from the table-lands of the interior. 

 It is a river subject to great fluctuations of depth. During the wet 

 season it floods and rises as much as 15 to 20 feet ; at the height of 

 the dry season it is reduced to shallow and uncertain channels which 

 vessels with merely a draft of 18 inches would find hardly naviga- 

 ble. The former difficulties at the delta have been removed since 

 1889, when the navigable Chinde mouth was discovered, and the port 

 of Chinde is now the chief entrepot for the several fields of trade 

 commanded by the Zambezi highway. 



The Zambezi may l)e phvsicall}^ divided into three sections: The 

 lower river extending from the sea to the Kebrabasa Eapids — a dis- 

 tance of about 400 miles — the middle, from Kebrabasa to the Vic- 

 toria Falls, a further distance of 900 miles, and the upper, from the 

 falls to the source of the river, GOO or TOO miles. The lower section 

 up to Tete is navigable for stern-wheel and other small draft steam- 

 ers for eight or nine months in the year. During the other months 

 the shallows near Sena, where the river widens to a breadth of about 

 two miles, make navigation difficult. From Tete goods are taken 

 overland to Cachomba, a distance of over 130 miles, in order to avoid 

 the rapids. At Chicoa or at Cachomba, above the Kebrabasa, naviga- 

 tion again becomes possible to and beyond Zumbo, where the river is 

 again obstructed at the Kariba Gorge. At present goods are for- 

 warded from Cachomba either by carriers or by water to Zumbo and 

 Feira, and are distributed from these points. In order to facilitate 

 the transit of goods to the west, it is proposed to construct a wagon 

 i-oad round the Kabrabasa rapids, and ultimately a light railway. 

 From Chinde the rates are £5 per ton to Tete, £10 for each passenger: 

 to Feira £25 and £30, respectively. Several of the transport com- 

 panies are devoting their energy and enterprise to developing this 

 highway of trade and the waterway of the upper Zambezi." 



In January, 1901, at a meeting of the Ro^val Colonial Institute, 

 Major Gibbons discussed the Zambezi system as a waterway and sug- 

 gested schemes by which it might be developed into a great commer- 

 cial highway. " I look forward," he said, '' to the day when a boat 



o See Foreign Office Reports on the Trade of Chinde for the years 1902, 190.3, 

 1904; and Foreign Office Reports on tlie Trade of Tete and District for tlio 

 year 1901 (annual series, 2812) and 1903 (annual series, 3210), 



