THE ZAMBEZIA COMPANY 89 



tion of accounts and reports, and the general offices 

 of the association are situated in the Portuguese 

 capital. 



I do not think it would interest my readers 

 much if all the multifarious rights and privileges 

 of the Company were here laid bare ; it will, 

 therefore, doubtless be sufficient to say that in 

 exchange for the annual payment of £14,964, plus 

 four per cent, on the value of all shares issued, they 

 were granted the indisputable and exclusive right, 

 among many others, to engage in such attractive 

 occupations as pearl-fishing, gold-mining, ivory 

 exploitation, and the development of every descrip- 

 tion of tropical agriculture ; they are also empowered 

 to construct roads, railways, and canals, to collect 

 the hut-tax from a vast population of natives, and 

 are granted the power to sub-let portions of their 

 huge area on advantageous terms to such approved 

 applicants as may present themselves. Naturally, 

 with such an enormous slice of East Africa to 

 administer, the Zambezia Company has done the 

 only thing possible for an association of its by 

 no means extravagant capital. It has divided up 

 such portions of its concession as were found too 

 far removed from centres of effective governance, 

 and leased them as prazoes to companies and 

 individuals with, in certain cases, very conspicuous 

 success. 



If we except the rapidly developing mineral 

 areas existing, and now regularly crushing, in the 

 north-western portion of this territory, and the 

 promising experiments now being made with 

 cotton, coffee, and other profitable forms of agri- 



