390 THE ZAMBEZIAN CLIMATE 



these storms are a source of danger to passengers and 

 cargo, and cases have occurred of barges ladened 

 with valuable goods breaking loose from their tow- 

 ropes and foundering before measures could be 

 taken to recover them. Certainly none of those 

 frightful cyclonic disturbances are ever reported 

 which on the coast of the Province of Mozambique 

 make their periodical disastrous appearances. I 

 speak without authority, but I do not think they 

 make their presence felt very far from the sea-board, 

 and if this be correct, dwellers in the inland regions 

 have Indeed much to be grateful for. 



With its many beauties and attractions, however ; 

 with all its possibiUties of future importance, and 

 even present value, I could not truthfully say that 

 Zambezia can yet call itself a healthy part of Africa. 

 Its perils to health, it is true, are not numerous, but, 

 assuredly, few there be who wholly escape them. 

 I have often asserted that people in Europe have 

 many more dangers to health to avoid than those 

 who live in Africa, and the truth of this statement 

 will be sufficiently apparent when we come to 

 reflect that in those portions of the latter continent 

 with which we are now concerning ourselves, the 

 only serious endemic maladies consist of malaria 

 and dysentery. Occasionally one hears of a case 

 of pneumonia, and from time to time small-pox 

 makes its appearance, but happily in a form which 

 apparently does not attack Europeans. We have, 

 therefore, only two dangers to provide against, but 

 their avoidance, I must confess, is a matter of no 

 mean difficulty. 



When the rains are over, and the sodden earth is 



