6 14 THE RIVER AND ISLANDS. 



person who called this Lupata " the spine of the world " 

 evidently did not mean to say that it was a translation 

 of the word, for it means a defile or gorge having per- 

 pendicular walls. This range does not deserve the name 

 of either Cordillera or Spine, unless we are willing to 

 believe that the world has a very small, and very crooked. 

 " back-bone." 



We passed through the gorge in two hours, and found 

 it rather tortuous, and between 200 and 300 yards wide. 

 The river is said to be here always excessively deep ; it 

 seemed to me that a steamer could pass through it at full 

 speed. At the eastern entrance of I/upata stand two 

 conical hills ; they are composed of porphyry, having 

 large square crystals therein. These hills are called 

 Moenda en Goma, which means a footprint of a wild beast. 

 Another conical hill on the opposite bank is named Kasisi 

 (priest), from having a bald top. We sailed on quickly 

 with the current of the river, and found that it spread out 

 to more than two miles in breadth ; it is, however, full of 

 islands, which are generally covered with reeds, and which, 

 previous to the war, were inhabited, and yielded vast 

 quantities of grain. We usually landed to cook breakfast, 

 and then went on quickly. The breadth of water between 

 the islands was now quite sufficient for a sailing-vessel 

 to tack, and work her sails in ; the prevailing winds would 

 blow her up the stream ; but I regretted that I had not 

 come when the river was at its lowest rather than at its 

 highest. The testimony, however, of Captain Parker and 

 Lieutenant Hoskins, hereafter to be noticed, may be con- 

 sidered conclusive as to the capabilities of this river for 

 commercial purposes. The Portuguese state that there 

 is high water during five months of the year, and when it 

 is low there is always a channel of deep water. But this 

 is very winding ; and as the river wears away some of the 

 islands and forms others, the course of the channel is 

 often altered. I suppose that an accurate chart of it 

 made in one year would not be very reliable for the next ; 

 but I believe, from all that I can learn, that the river could 

 be navigated in a small flat-bottomed, steamer during the 

 whole year as far as Tete. At this time, a steamer of large 

 size could have floated easily. The river was measured at 

 the latter place by the Portuguese, and found by them to 

 be 1050 yards broad. The body of water flowing past 

 when I was there was very great, and the breadth it 



