1866.] PRESENT STATE OF THE ROVUMA. II 



farther we receded from the river. The whole is flooded at 

 high tides, and had we landed all the men we should have 

 been laid up with fever ere we could have attained the higher 

 land, which on the right bank bounds the line of vision, 

 and the first part of which lies so near. I thought I had 

 better land on the sand belt on the left of Eovuma Bay, and 

 then explore and get information from the natives, none of 

 whom had as yet come near us, so I ordered the dhow to 

 come down to the spot next day, and went on board the 

 Penguin. Lieutenant Garforth was excessively kind, and 

 though this is his best time for cruising in the North, he 

 most patiently agreed to wait and help me to land. 



24th March. — During the night it occurred to me that 

 Ave should be in a mess if after exploration and informa- 

 tion from the natives we could find no path, and when I 

 mentioned this, Lieutenant Garforth suggested that we should 

 proceed to Kilwa, so at 5 a.m. I went up to the dhow with 

 Mr. Fane, and told the captain that we were going there. 

 He was loud in his protestations against this, and strongly 

 recommended the port of Mikindany, as quite near to 

 Eovuma, Nyassa, and the country I wished to visit, besides 

 being a good landing-place, and the finest port on the coast. 

 Thither we went, and on the same evening landed all our 

 animals in Mikindany bay, which lies only twenty-five miles 

 N. of Eovuma. The Penguin then left. 



The Eovuma is quite altered from what it was when first 

 we visited it. It is probable that the freshets form banks 

 inside the mouth, which are washed out into the deep bay, 

 and this periodical formation probably has prevented the 

 Arabs from using the Eovuma as a port of shipment. It 

 is not likely that Mr. May* would have made a mistake if 

 the middle were as shoal as now : he found soundings of 

 three fathoms or more. 



* The Commander of H.M.S. Pioneer in 1361. 



