60 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY 



within certain limits, a passenger may at present 

 ascend these rivers in comfort. A voyage which I 

 made from Chinde to Tete a few months ago 

 stands out in my memory as among the most 

 agreeable I have ever undertaken. Nothing was 

 lacking on this Portuguese river steamer, and the 

 days on board spent in watching panorama after 

 panorama unfold, each as it seemed more varied 

 and beautiful than the last, passed all too quickly. 



There are, I understand, running on the Zambezi 

 and Shir^ Rivers, or available to do so should 

 inducement offer, no less than twenty stern- wheel 

 passenger and cargo steamers, and 108 barges and 

 lighters, with a total carrying capacity of some 

 4,756 tons. These transport to Chiromo, the port 

 of entry of Nyasaland, large quantities of mer- 

 chandise for local consumption, and increasing 

 consignments in transit for Rhodesia, and even for 

 such far-away points as the Katanga and Garan- 

 ganza countries bordering upon the eastern fron- 

 tiers of the distant Congo Free State. The amount 

 of cargo actually carried by the British and other 

 transport companies duringl906 amounted to 18,327 

 tons, these figures representing both imports and 

 exports. 



As one ascends the Chinde River, as that dreary 

 branch of the Zambezi Delta is called, the banks 

 are seen to be fringed by dense forests of gloomy 

 mangroves, forming an impassable, or almost im- 

 passable, screen or barrier which for many miles 

 shuts out any ghmpse of the grassy plains beyond. 

 It is probable that persons who have never quitted 

 the United Kingdom may regard the mangrove, by 



