THE ZAMBESI. 627 



others ; for whereas in the Catrina and Cumana I have 

 obtained drinkable water a very short distance from the 

 month, in the Iyuabo I have ascended 70 miles without 

 finding the saltness perceptibly diminished. This would 

 facilitate navigation, and I have no hesitation in saying 

 that little difficulty would be experienced in conveying 

 a steam-vessel of the size and capabilities of the gunboat 

 I lately commanded as high as the branching off of the 

 Quilimane river (Mazaro), which, in the dry season, is 

 observed many yards above the I^uabo (main stream) ; 

 though I have been told by the Portuguese that the freshes 

 which come down in December and March fill it tem- 

 porarily. These freshes deepen the river considerably 

 at that time of the year, and freshen the water many 

 miles from the coast. The population of the delta, except 

 in the immediate neighbourhood of the Portuguese, 

 appeared to be very sparse. Antelopes and hippopotami 

 were plentiful ; the former tame and easily shot. I 

 inquired frequently of both natives and Portuguese, if 

 slavers were in the habit of entering there to ship their 

 cargoes, but could not ascertain that they have ever done 

 so in any except the Quilimane. With common pre- 

 caution the rivers are not unhealthy ; for, during the 

 whole time I was employed in them (off and on during 

 eighteen months) in open boats and at all times of the 

 year, frequently absent from the ship for a month or 

 six weeks at a time, I had not, in my boat's crew of 

 fourteen men, more than two, and those mild, cases of 

 fever. Too much importance cannot be ascribed to the 

 use of quinine, to which I attribute our comparative 

 immunity, and with which our judicious commander, 

 Commodore Wyvill, kept us amply supplied. I hope 

 these few remarks may be of some little use in confirming 

 your views of the utility of that magnificent river. 



A. H. H. Hoskins." 



It ought to be remembered that the testimony of these 

 gentlemen is all the more valuable, because they visited 

 the river when the water was at its lowest, and the surface 

 of the Zambesi was not, as it was now, on a level with and 

 flowing into the Mutu, but 16 feet beneath its bed. The 

 Mutu, at the point of departure, was only 10 or 12 yards 

 broad, shallow, and filled with aquatic plants. Trees 

 and reeds along the bank overhang it so much, that, 



