TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 145 



and the country becomes hilly, This continues for several miles, and then a -wilder 

 country is reached, where t he important tributary, the Lungerengere, joins the 

 main stream. The banks here abound in game, and gnu, waterbuck, buffalo, and 

 rhinoceros are plentiful. The position of the mouth was lixed by Mr. Mackay, a 

 member of the Expedition, by observation, at 7°0' 89" S. lat. and 38° 28' E. long. 

 The Lungerengere was only 20 feet in breadth and two feet in depth, but it is not 

 so tortuous as the Kingani. A few miles beyond this the main stream proved 

 no longer navigable. It was 25 to 40 yards wide, and about 8 deep in the 

 channel ; but the obstructions in the deep water became so numerous that the 

 author decided on returning. Beyond the junction of the Lungerengere the 

 Kingani is called the Mpezi ; the natives persisted in declaring it to be a separate 

 river, and could not be made to understand any civilized notions on the subject, 

 a circumstance which shows how untrustworthy must be all African geography 

 founded on the reports of natives. The result of the exploration was the con- 

 viction that the Kingani, as a navigable river, is practically useless. 



On a Visit to the Mungao District in East Africa in 1870. 

 By Dr. J. Kirk, H.B.M. Political Resident at Zanzibar. 



The Mungao district is the most southerly division of the Sultan of Zanzibar's 

 dominions, and extends along one hundred miles of coast from Kiswere, in S. lat. 

 0° 2-)', to the small stream that forms the limit of the Sultan's territory in the 

 Bay of Tungi, at Cape Delgado. Previous to the survey carried on by Capt. Gray, 

 of II. M.S. Nassau, in 1875, little was known of the different harbours of this part 

 of the coast, and before 1870 the trade of Mungao consisted of a little copal, 

 orchilla-weed, and cowries, but principally of slaves that came from the Nyassa 

 lake. During the prevalence of southerly winds slaves were sent to Zanzibar, 

 Somali-land, and Arabia ; when the monsoon changed, Arab vessels transported 

 slaves to the Comoro Islands and Madagascar. So late as December, 1873, Vice- 

 Consid Elton described the condition in which he found the Mungao district as 

 follows : — " Trade is at a stand-still ; copal-digging is entirely stopped, the diggers 

 being sold as slaves when on their way to the coast.'' Since then, Mungao had 

 not been revisited until Dr. Kirk's southerly cruise, and he was much gratified 

 at the improvement witnessed in the social condition of the people as the result 

 of one year's cessation of the slave-trade under decree of the Sultan. He found 

 that throughout the whole district the slave-trade was really at an end. The 

 principal chief who carried on the wars for slaving purposes that depopulated tho 

 district so late as 1873 had become settled and industrious, and a commerce had 

 sprung up that in one year had reconciled the people of Mungao to the new stato 

 of things, and opened up to them a new source of wealth — one which was wholly 

 incompatible with wars and slave-trade. Last year the export of India-rubber 

 from the Mungao district, under this new state of things, was 1,400,000 lb., which 

 represents approximately £90,000 value. In this new industry the chief Machemba 

 and his people, who before were the scourge of the district, had taken the lead. 

 But there are also many other sources of wealth ; for the region is suitable for 

 agriculture, and abounds in copal, cowries, orchilla-weed, ebony-wood, calumba- 

 root, and dye-woods ; while inland there is coal of good serviceable quality, and 

 iron in abundance. Wherever Dr. Kirk came in contact w r ith the people, he was 

 glad to find the want of labour generally felt and acknowledged, and to meet with 

 no sign of the slave-trade, the Nyassa caravans now passing by a direct route in- 

 land, and not through Mungao, as before. The plans and charts of this coast 

 lately published by the Admiralty showed that it abounds with spacious har- 

 bours, some of which are land-locked, with deep approaches, and capable of 

 receiving the whole British fleet. The chief of them are Kiswere, Mehinga, Lindi, 

 Mwania, Mtwara, and Mikindani. Any one of these places would afford a good 

 station as basis for operations under the scheme set on foot by the King of the 

 Belgians ; but it would be necessary to ascertain which of them were free from the 

 tsetse-fly, the presence of which would render impossible the use of bullocks for 



