THE RAINY SEASON 



Inhamissane, and pushing in fact as far as the opposite 

 point of the embouchure of the Vunduzi, with the 

 result of seeing a total of three hippopotamuses which 

 are inaccessible. In compensation I was enabled to 

 map the course of the river, and to admire a magnificent 

 granite gorge of two kilometres in length, between the 

 walls of which the Pungwe, with a width of some fifty 

 yards, flows boiling, foaming, and grand. 



This river Vunduzi separates two provinces of the 

 Portuguese colony, namely the Gorongoza and the 

 Barwe. The latter territory was for a long time in 

 open rebellion against the authority of the masters 

 of the country. Even in 1900, when I visited Mozam- 

 bique, there were few white men, and particularly 

 Portuguese, who ventured to risk themselves in the 

 kingdom of Macombe, the chief of the Barwe. It 

 was not till 1903 that the Portuguese, wearied out, 

 set themselves to a serious expedition, Barwe, invaded 

 from three separate points, submitted almost without 

 resistance. Macombe took to flight, and his kingdom 

 was thereupon thrown open to civilization. It is a 

 country of the future, in all respects comparable, as 

 regards the riches of its forests, to its neighbour, 

 Gorongoza, and probably more favoured than the 

 latter from the point of view of the miner. For from 

 various points there have been reported interesting 

 indications of the occurrence of gold-bearing strata. 

 Finally, it is in Barwe that elephants are most numerous. 



Had I not killed some guinea-fowls and a couple of 



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