30 DESCRIPTIVE 



deforestation it is certain that at one time it was 

 the dwehing-place of some very populous native 

 division. At present the people have, as a whole, 

 taken up their abode upon the banks of the rivers, 

 and left the interior, which supported their fore- 

 fathers, to the unchallenged occupation of the 

 wild beasts. 



The plains, of Zambezia occur chiefly to the 

 south of the great river's delta, where there 

 are grassy expanses so vast that they could 

 scarcely be crossed in less than two or three long 

 days' march. These interesting expanses, which 

 occur for the most part in the area lying between 

 the Inyamissengo mouth of the Zambezi and 

 the Mupa River, and run inland from the coast 

 probably for nearly one hundred miles, are the 

 practically undisturbed resorts of large quantities 

 of game, and possess for the hunter no small 

 interest, not only on that account, but also by 

 reason of the little that is known of them. 

 When I described them just now as grass plains, 

 I should perhaps have mentioned that they 

 contain in addition extensive swampy areas 

 full of reeds and papyrus rushes — ^the midday 

 haunt of hippopotami and buffaloes — and curious 

 island-like patches of isolated forest trees called 

 " Ntundus." These, as described in my book 

 Portuguese East Africa, are apparently composed 

 of timber of the usual species, but inexplicably 

 growing far apart from the rest of the forest 

 trees, and looking for all the world like so many 

 islands surrounded by the ocean-like plain. These 

 also are great game resorts. At certain times of 



