E.—GEOGRAPHY III 
subdivision. Therefore it may be stated in general that the population 
is everywhere contained in villages varying in size according to local 
geographical conditions. 
POPULATION DENSITY. 
I have had to spend much time in studying the distribution of native 
population, since the responses to the Committee’s request for informa- 
tion under this head varied greatly in value. The average density for the 
whole Protectorate is a little over four per square mile. The official 
figures of average density by Sub-Districts in 1931, however, at once draw 
attention to the uneven distribution of the people. Thus, two Districts 
in Barotse Province, Kalabo and Mongu, have densities of 11-6 and 16-3 
respectively ; Chienji on Lake Mweru has 13, while Fort Jameson has 
20:8. On the other hand, in a belt from the Katanga border southward 
to Sesheke the District densities vary from 1-3 to 2-5, while in the 
railway belt to the east of this, figures are between 3 and 4. A cartogram 
made from these data, however, gives but a crude representation. In 
the first place, wherever there is a nucleus of European farmers the natives 
of the vicinity have been or are being moved into reserves, thus greatly 
increasing their density per square mile in these Districts. But it is the 
examination of life conditions which brings realisation of the real 
distribution. We have seen that agricultural village sites must of 
necessity be close to water, to reasonably good soil, and to trees. In the 
central District of Mkushi the actual distribution, almost entirely along 
the river valleys, was shown on a map by Mr. C. G. Stevens, from which 
I calculate densities of from 50 to 60 per square mile instead of 2-77 for 
the District, the interfluves apparently being inhabited. The evidence 
is insufficient and the map too vague to allow of such refinement being 
made for the whole territory, but I have had no great difficulty in plotting 
approximately the more outstanding variations in density. The following 
are some of the more interesting results of the operation. 
The type of locality which carries the greatest population is that which 
provides a means of livelihood apart from agriculture ; and fishing is 
by far the most usual supplement of this kind. Indeed it becomes the 
dominant occupation around Lake Bangweolo, where the islands have 
about 80 persons per square mile, and many shore areas must be nearly 
as densely peopled. Similarly, high densities occur along the shore of 
Lake Mweru and the banks of the lower Luapula. Such areas of good 
fishing which are also excellent land for producing manioc have received 
access of population in recent years on account of the encouragement to 
market fish and meal in the mining areas to the west. 
Fishing, again, is the cause of the most concentrated population on the 
River Kafue below Namwala and round several small lakes in Kalabo. 
Here indeed, near the western border, the appearance of ground water 
from the sands seems always to draw people in an otherwise dry region. 
The great alluvial plains of the Barotse, the Kafue Flats, and the reserves 
east of the Luangwa are all relatively populous districts in which cattle 
are held by cultivators. Apart from the areas mentioned and a few 
others less notable, the population densities, calculated on the assumption 
