Chap. XVIII. SCENERY ON THE ROVUMA. 34 9 



left without a medical attendant, in an unhealthy region, 

 at the beginning of the most sickly season of the year, and 

 without means of reaching the healthy highlands, or of re- 

 turning to the sea. We dreaded that in the absence of medical 

 aid, and all knowledge of the treatment of fever, there might 

 be a repetition of the sorrowful fate which befell the similar 

 non-medical Mission at Linyanti. It was well that we 

 objected so strongly, for we afterwards found that the Bishop 

 had purchased our fever pills at the Cape, which must 

 have been made of dirt instead of drugs. The Bishop 

 at last consented to proceed in the Lyra man-of-war to 

 Johanna, and there leave the members of the Mission with 

 H.M.'s Consul, Mr. Sunley, while he himself should ac- 

 company us up the Eovuma, in order to ascertain whether 

 the country round its head-waters, which were reported to flow 

 out of Nyassa, was a suitable place for a settlement. 



On the 25th of February the Pioneer anchored in the mouth 

 of the Eovuma, which, unlike most African rivers, has a mag- 

 nificent bay and no bar. We wooded, and then waited for the 

 Bishop till the 9th of March, when he came in the Lyra. On 

 the 11th we proceeded up the river, and saw that it had fallen 

 four or five feet during our detention. The scenery on the lower 

 part of the Eovuma is superior to that on the Zambesi, for 

 we can see the highlands from the sea. Eight miles from the 

 mouth the mangroves are left behind, and a beautiful range of 

 well- wooded hills on each bank begins. On these ridges the 

 tree resembling African blackwood, of finer grain than ebony, 

 grows abundantly, and attains a large size. Few people were 

 seen, and those were of Arab breed, and did not appear to bo 

 verv well off. The current of the Eovuma was now as strong 

 as that of the Zambesi, but the volume of water is very much 

 less. Several of the crossings had barely water enough for our 

 ship, drawing five feet, to pass. When wo were thirty miles up 



