DESCRIPTB"E 19 



garded as consisting extends from the lith parallel 

 of south latitude, at a point about 60 miles west 

 of Lake Xyassa. to the 19th degree or thereabouts, 

 taking in the whole of the islands formed by the 

 delta of the Ziambezi, and a considerable portion 

 of its southern bank. It is an immense wedge 

 of irregular shape driven into the heart of the 

 great continent, with a width of nearly nine 

 longitudinal d^rees, and separating our Xyasa- 

 land colony from Southern Rhodesia by a re- 

 spectable area almost exactly the shape of a 

 horse's head, and some 240 miles long by 300 

 wide. This wedge, however, is only a portion of 

 Zambezia — certainly much less than half its full 

 extent, and, whilst following the north bank of the 

 Zambezi from the Loangwa or Aroangwa River 

 all the way down to the coast, it yields to the 

 chartered Mozambique Company (Companhia de 

 Mogambique) the occupancy of the southern 

 margin over not quite half of that extent. Before 

 plunging into the main motif of this book, there- 

 fore, I desire to devote a few pages to giving my 

 readers some idea of what the cotmtry consists of, 

 and its appearance at different points at the time 

 of year at which the hunter of big game com- 

 mences to unpack his cherished rifles and look 

 once more to his camp equipment. 



From June to November, then, the South 

 Central African winter is at its height, and, during 

 that p)eriod, the climatic conditions are most 

 favourable to hunting and travelling in the far 

 interior. The days are warm and simny, whilst 

 the nights and mornings are cool in the lower 



