REGION OF yO RUXXIXG WATER 29 



always running and tlow through bountiful 

 lands. 



The region of no running water is defined by 

 a range of hills about 120 miles from the coast, 

 from which a number of streams flow straight 

 into the sea. The rainfall of this region being 

 less than 30 inches, these rivers flow in the wet 

 season only — are indeed but mountain torrents, 

 which dry up in the dry season, when they are 

 most wanted. The Lurio and the Lygonha, 

 arising in the highlands behind, penetrate with 

 brimming banks this arid zone, with which they 

 have no part, and form the boundaries of the 

 administrative district of Mozambique. 



With the exception of a narrow fringe of 

 crystalline limestone at the coast, the formation 

 of the district is granite ; the soil changing 

 rapidly from light-grey sandy to red loam, the 

 latter being the richer and preferred by natives 

 for their clearings. 



A tropical country with a rainfall of less than 

 30 inches only just escapes being a desert. 

 Cocoanuts produce scanty crops, and, except in 

 a few favoured spots at Angoche, such as the 

 low sandy flats in the estuaries of the rivers, 

 just high enough to escape inundation by the 

 high tide, or particularly retentive red soils 

 bordering upon mangrove, cocoanuts can be 



