SAND-DUNES 27 



' of building up the dunes and inducing the coast- 

 line ever seawards. 



The sand-dunes rising from the seashore are 

 dry, white, and devoid of humus ; unsuitable for 

 the cocoanut-palm. Behind the dunes, marshy 

 flats, once lake bottoms, and now often water- 

 logged in the wet season, frequently occur, upon 

 which no tree growth of any kind will flourish. 

 If the sand-dunes were but flattened out over 

 the swamps we might have ideal cocoanut land. 

 As it is, large stretches of the coastal belt of the 

 Province that could perhaps have carried millions 

 of cocoanut-trees are barren. 



This girdle of sand-dunes gives us the key to 

 the character of the soil throughout a large part 

 of the Province. The intrusive granite, which 

 forms the great barrier behind the sand, reaches 

 in a drift of mountainous peaks almost to the 

 coast-line in the district of Mozambique. Two 

 of these peaks, one called Mount Meza (table) 

 and the other Mount Pao (bread), are very con- 

 spicuous, and serve as a landmark for mariners 

 making the port of Mozambique ; the position 

 of the ship being defined when, as it is said, the 

 bread is on the table. Through the defiles of these 

 granite highlands course innumerable streams 

 collecting particles of the disintegrated rock for 

 building up the rich alluvium of the river-banks. 



