198 MOZAMBIQUE 



comes Mzimbiti, and then, though some distance 

 behind Quehmane, the northern part of Inham- 

 bane district. It is a waterless land far removed 

 from mountains. The curve shows a sharp rise 

 from Mozambique to Quelimane, a drop to the 

 Zambezi, a rise again to Beira, and then a steady 

 fall to Lourenzo Marques. The records for the 

 Zambezi are disappointingly low. Judging by the 

 increase as we descend the river, Chinde has a 

 greater fall than Marromeu. This would accord 

 with the view that the prevailing easterly winds 

 precipitate their moisture rapidly as they meet 

 the radiating currents of the land, the proportion 

 left over for the interior decreasing in volume as 

 the coast is left. 



The rains in the southern part of the Province 

 precede those in the northern by over a month, 

 those of Lourenzo Marques and Inhambane usually 

 beginning in October or November, of Quelimane 

 and Mozambique in December and January. The 

 Zambezi fits itself in midway by opening the 

 season in November and December, with an 

 occasional postponement to January. No such 

 sequence, apparently, controls the termination of 

 the rains. In Mozambique they come to an end 

 in March and in Lourenzo Marques in February 

 or March ; in Inhambane, April ; the Zambezi, 



