52 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY 

 which I was on the point of saying still remains, 

 but I remembered in time to stay my pen that 

 such a statement would be wholly inaccurate. A 

 place which we call Chinde exists, it is true, but 

 not the Chinde whose acquaintance I made fifteen 

 years ago. That Chinde has long ago been borne 

 away in suspension in the eroding waters of the 

 Zambezi, and now lies either at the bottom of 

 the river, or has gone to strengthen the innumer- 

 able bars and sand-spits which constitute such 

 a danger to vessels entering the tiny port. In a 

 word, the Chinde of the early nineties has been 

 gradually washed away, and the present aspect and 

 appearance of the townlet is as of one which the 

 waters have suddenly invaded, engulphing one 

 portion and still menacing the other. It will, I fancy, 

 enable me still to lay claim to accuracy if I say 

 that, since I have known Chinde, a valuable strip 

 of fully 200 yards has completely disappeared from 

 the existing river bank, the width of the stream 

 at this point having proportionately increased. 



In 1891, as the result of an Exchange of Notes 

 between the British and Portuguese Governments, 

 a piece of land which I believe I am right in 

 saying was about 100 acres in extent, was leased 

 by Portugal to the authorities of the British 

 Central Africa (now known as the Nyasaland) Pro- 

 tectorate, for the landing, storage, and transhipment 

 of goods intended for transport to that British 

 sphere. A year or two after, when I first landed 

 in Chinde, this piece of land, called the British 

 Concession, securely fenced in, and fulfilling the 

 functions of a gigantic bonded warehouse, con- 



