140 THE BONDS OF AFRICA 



proportions on the Zambesi, and shortly after 

 leaving Shupanga, Mopea, another factory, was 

 reached. Here we met the stern- wheelers Scott 

 of the African Lakes Corporation, Hydra of the 

 British Central Africa Company, and the Zambesi, 

 a Portuguese boat. Just at dusk a sugar com- 

 pany's boat passed us, the sparks from her wood 

 fires making a pretty sight in the dim light of 

 the great river. 



The next day I had a touch of fever, occasioned, 

 no doubt, by a foolish swim in the Zambesi the 

 day before, a change of climate, and the crossing 

 of the African coast fever belt. I did not, 

 therefore, see much of the river that day, but 

 in the afternoon had a good view of the Mora- 

 maya sugar factory. The next morning we 

 passed the Empress, of the African Lakes Corpora- 

 tion, the largest boat on the river, and shortly 

 afterwards sighted another stern-wheeler at the 

 junction of the Chinde River with the Zambesi. 

 There are in all about twenty-five steamers on 

 the river, including a couple of Portuguese 

 gunboats, but the greater part of the lower 

 Zambesi flotilla is owned by the British Central 

 Africa Company and the African Lakes Cor- 

 poration. 



Hot, sandy Chinde was soon reached. The 

 place is rapidly being washed away by the sea, 

 and when I landed there I felt that I should 

 not care very much if the Indian Ocean devoured 

 the place in one bound. 



Many a homeward-bound passenger has gazed 

 from the deck of an East Coast liner at the 

 quaint little cluster of wood and iron houses 

 built on the shifting sands of the Zambesi Delta 

 which is called Chinde. If that passenger has 

 been of a venturesome, wandering turn of mind. 



