MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS 505 



of the Makonde district in 1913; but some work still 

 remains to be done in the district watered by the 

 middle Lurio, and also in that to the west of the 

 Makonde district. It must be remembered in this con- 

 nection that the area of the Territories is more than twice 

 that of Portugal, and that none of the rivers permit of 

 free navigation. 



The first technical party to explore the Territories 

 of the concession was despatched in 1894 before the 

 Company took official possession. Other parties were 

 afterwards sent out, the latest being- in 1912, for the 

 purpose of surveying the route for the railway from 

 Pemba Bay to Lake Nyasa. Sub-concessionaire com- 

 panies also have investigated the mineral and vegetable 

 resources. Successive Governors and Commandants of 

 Columns of occupation have also supplied information 

 relating to the various aspects of the Territories. From 

 these sources of information the present report has 

 been compiled. 



The Territories from an Agricultural Point of View. 



The Territories of the Companhia do Nyassa, owing 

 to their geographical situation between parallels 11 

 and 14 S., are naturally adapted for the cultivation of 

 all products that flourish in tropical and sub-tropical 

 regions. 



Generally speaking, and excepting the Makonde 

 plateau, it may be said that the level of the country 

 gradually rises from the coast to Lake Nyasa, in such a 

 way as to render possible its division into three natural 

 zones, the coastal, middle, and interior, each of which 

 has well-defined characteristics. 



The first zone is naturally warm and humid, especially 

 in the north, but it is free from marshes, and therefore 

 much healthier than other African districts in the same 

 latitude. 



The coastal zone is rather narrow in the south, where 

 it quickly gives place to the second zone, which extends 

 as far as the Lugenda, and is characterized by a series 

 of uplands, each one more elevated than the last, broken 



