PREFACE 



The task of writing some account of the Portuguese 

 section of the River Zambezi is one which I first 

 proposed to myself some years ago, and although 

 the work has, for a variety of reasons, progressed 

 but slowly, I have found it much more of a pleasure 

 than a toil, and must confess to having completed 

 the final chapter with a feeling akin to one of 

 regret. 



My recollections of the region I have endeavoured 

 to describe are as pleasant as those of my numerous 

 Portuguese friends still labouring in it are cordial, 

 and, consequently, I am not unconscious of a sense 

 of vague misgiving lest I should have failed to 

 convey adequately a reasonable impression of a 

 district in the greatness of whose future I for one 

 have the firmest confidence. 



Although I have spent considerable time in 

 gathering together the material of which this book 

 is composed, I fear that the result is only a founda- 

 tion upon which, I trust, more competent and 

 highly trained observers may one day build. What 

 we know about these regions is, after all, but little 

 as yet. There is still a wealth of interesting and 

 important information waiting to yield itself up to 

 scientific searchers after the secrets of Afi-ica. The 



